Medicine Feeder

Abstract

To provide a medicament feeder to be suitably adopted in a medicament delivery device without having a robot mechanism, and also to provide the medicament delivery device for adopting the medicament feeder.SOLUTION: A medicament feeder 5 includes: a medicament container 20 for storing a powdered medicine; a container holding part 16 for holding the medicament container 20; and weight measurement means 25 for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the medicament container 20. Then, the powdered medicine is discharged from the medicament container 20 by vibrating the medicament container 20, so as to detect the discharge amount of the powdered medicine by the weight measurement means 25. The medicament container 20 includes: an opening / closing member for opening / closing a powdered medicine discharge part; and an opening / closing mechanism part. The opening / closing mechanism part directly or indirectly applies force to the opening / closing member so as to open / close the powdered medicine discharge part by moving at least a part of the opening / closing member. The force is applied to the opening / closing member in respective cases to open and to close the powdered medicine discharge part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medicine feeder for measuring and dispensing a predetermined amount of powdered medicine. The medicine feeder of the present invention is suitably used as a device for supplying powdered medicine to a powdered medicine dispensing device that dispenses powdered medicine. The present invention also relates to a medicine dispensing device having a built-in medicine feeder. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, large hospitals and large pharmacies have introduced powdered medicine packaging devices and medicine dispensing devices equipped with a powdered medicine packaging function. The conventional drug dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires a person to manually remove a medicine bottle containing the prescribed powdered medicine from a medicine shelf and measure the total weight of the specific prescribed powdered medicine using a scale such as a balance, and therefore cannot be considered a fully automatic device. In order to address this problem, the present applicant has put into practical use the medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3.

[0003] The medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 (prior art medicine dispensing devices) employ a medicine feeder formed by combining a medicine container with a container mounting device. The container mounting device has a horizontally oriented vibration member and a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the medicine container. The medicine container is mounted on the vibration member, and the vibration member is vibrated to discharge the medicine little by little from the powder medicine discharge section, and the amount of medicine discharged is detected by the weight measuring means.

[0004] The drug containers disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are substantially rectangular prism-shaped and are placed in a horizontal position on a container mounting device. In the medicine feeder disclosed in Patent Document 2, medicine containers each having a substantially rectangular prism shape are placed horizontally on a container mounting device, and when assembled as a medicine feeder, the height of the medicine container is shorter than its horizontal length. Furthermore, in the medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3, a robot is used to transport medicine containers to a predetermined position and to open and close the lids of the medicine containers.

[0005] Patent Document 4 also discloses a powder medicine supply device for use in a powder medicine packaging machine. In the powder medicine supply device of Patent Document 4, powder medicine is stored in each of multiple cassettes, and the cassettes are moved to a supply position and then the powder medicine is discharged from the cassettes. Specifically, the cassette has a screw, a shutter that closes a discharge port formed by a cylindrical tip, and an agitating blade that rotates with the screw, and the shutter is configured to be forcibly maintained in a closed state by a spring. The actuator at the supply position is connected to the rear end of the screw's rotating shaft, causing the screw to move while rotating. This causes the screw to press the shutter, and the shutter moves against the spring's biasing force, opening the discharge port. Meanwhile, the rotation of the screw and agitating blade causes the powder medicine to flow toward the discharge port. As a result, the powder medicine is discharged from the cassette.

[0006] In the powder medicine supply device of Patent Document 4, the cassette automatically moves to and from the supply position. Furthermore, as described above, the powder medicine feeder in this powder medicine supply device discharges powder medicine by rotating the agitator blade and screw, rather than by vibrating the entire cassette. Furthermore, the powder medicine feeder is formed by an actuator at the supply position and a single cassette, and the actuator simply supplies power to the cassette's screw. In other words, the cassette contains all of the mechanisms for discharging powder medicine. Furthermore, the shutter is moved in the closing direction by a spring. That is, the shutter opens by temporarily applying a force in the opening direction to the shutter, which is always intended to remain closed. To close the shutter, the force applied to the shutter is released. In other words, the shutter opening degree is not adjustable. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-85703 [Patent Document 2] JP 2018-35001 A [Patent Document 3] WO2015 / 076267 / A1 publication [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-132135 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] The medicine feeders disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem in that they occupy a large area when installed. Furthermore, the medicine dispensing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 have a problem in that they have a large number of parts. Furthermore, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose drug dispensing devices that use a robot to transport drug containers and open and close the drug container lids. However, such drug dispensing devices often have the problem of being large overall, making them difficult to introduce into small pharmacies. To solve this problem, when considering a device that eliminates the robotic mechanism and manually places drug containers in predetermined positions, there is a desire to make the lid opening and closing mechanism as compact as possible and incorporate it into another component, thereby reducing the overall size of the device. In this case, since the drug containers are transported manually, it is preferable to consider ease of handling. Furthermore, the medicine dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 4 has room for improvement in terms of finely adjusting the amount of medicine discharged with a simple structure.

[0009] The present invention (related invention) focuses on the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and aims to provide a medicine feeder that can be suitably employed in a medicine dispensing device that does not have a robotic mechanism, and also aims to provide a medicine dispensing device that employs such a medicine feeder. An object of the present invention is to provide a medicine feeder that can bring the powder medicine discharge portion of the medicine container closer to the distribution tray than conventional ones, thereby reducing the splashing of powder medicine. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] One aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a drug feeder having a drug container in which powdered medicine is stored, a container holding section that holds the drug container, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the drug container, wherein the drug container is provided with a powdered medicine discharge section that discharges the powdered medicine to the outside and an opening / closing member that opens and closes the powdered medicine discharge section, and the weight measuring means detects the amount of powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section to the outside, the container holding section functions as a vibrating member that vibrates the drug container, the vibrating member has a horizontal section and a vertical wall section, and further has an opening / closing mechanism section that is arranged at one end of the horizontal section and applies force directly or indirectly to the opening / closing member, moving at least a part of the opening / closing member to open and close the powdered medicine discharge section, and the drug feeder applies force to the opening / closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is in an open state and when it is in a closed state. A preferred embodiment is a drug feeder that further comprises a support base, a support side vertical portion, and a vibration means, wherein the support base holds the vibration member and has the support side vertical portion facing the vertical wall portion, the vibration means is arranged between the vertical wall portion and the support side vertical portion, the vibration member is held on the support base by the vibration means, the vibration member is vibrated by the vibration means, the vibration of the vibration member vibrates the drug container, and the powdered drug in the drug container is discharged from the powdered drug discharge portion. In a further preferred embodiment, the opening / closing mechanism has an engaging piece holding portion and an arm, the engaging piece holding portion has an engaging portion and a transmission member attached to the opening / closing mechanism, the transmission member has an engaging portion, the engaging portion of the transmission member engages with the engaging portion of the engaging piece holding portion, and the arm moves, causing the engaging piece holding portion to move, and the transmission member moves in conjunction with the movement of the engaging piece holding portion, thereby opening the powdered medicine discharge portion. In a more preferred embodiment, the vibrating member further has a vibrating-side horizontal portion perpendicular to the vibrating-side vertical portion, and the vibrating-side horizontal portion is in contact with the bottom wall of the medicine container. In a further preferred embodiment, the drug container further has an engagement portion, and the vibration side vertical portion further has an engagement portion, and the engagement portion of the drug container engages with the engagement portion of the vibration side vertical portion, thereby holding the drug container on the vibration side vertical portion. In a more preferred embodiment, the drug container is a rectangular parallelepiped drug feeder, and the drug container further has a front wall, two side walls, and a top wall. In a further preferred embodiment, the container support portion further has a support side horizontal portion perpendicular to the support side vertical portion, the support side horizontal portion and the vibration side horizontal portion are not in contact with each other, and the weight measuring means is arranged below the support side horizontal portion. A further preferred embodiment is a drug dispensing device that removes a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a drug container, divides it into a predetermined number of parts, and then packages and dispenses them individually, and has a distribution tray that is rotated by a power and has a drug insertion groove, and multiple drug feeders as described above are installed near the distribution tray, and the drug dispensing device dispenses the powdered medicine from the drug container and inserts it into the drug insertion groove of the distribution tray. Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a drug feeder that has a drug container that contains powdered medicine, a container holding section that holds the drug container, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the drug container, and that vibrates the drug container to discharge the powdered medicine from the drug container and is capable of detecting the amount of powdered medicine discharged by the weight measuring means, wherein the drug container discharges the powdered medicine to the outside from the powdered medicine discharge section, and is equipped with an opening / closing member that opens and closes the powdered medicine discharge section, and further has an opening / closing mechanism section that applies force directly or indirectly to the opening / closing member and moves at least a part of the opening / closing member to open and close the powdered medicine discharge section, and applies force to the opening / closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is in an open state and when it is in a closed state.

[0011] In the medicine feeder of this embodiment, the opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes the open / close member applies force to the open / close member, allowing for precise control of the opening and closing of the open / close member. This allows for precise adjustment of the discharge amount by adjusting the degree of opening (i.e., the degree of opening) of the powdered medicine discharge section. In other words, more precise adjustment of the discharge amount is possible compared to when the discharge amount is adjusted only by adjusting the vibration amount.

[0012] In the above-mentioned aspect, it is desirable that the drug container can be manually held in the container holding portion and manually removed from the container holding portion, and that removing the drug container from the container holding portion causes the drug container to separate from the container holding portion and the opening / closing mechanism portion.

[0013] By employing the medicine feeder of this aspect in a medicine dispensing device, the device can be made smaller.

[0014] In the above aspect, when the powdered medicine discharging portion is in the open state, it is desirable that the degree of opening of the powdered medicine discharging portion be adjustable in stages.

[0015] According to this embodiment, the amount of powdered medicine discharged can be precisely adjusted.

[0016] In the above-mentioned aspect, the powdered medicine discharge section is a slit extending in a diagonal direction, the opening / closing member has a closing wall that moves below the powdered medicine discharge section, the closing wall has a shape that extends in the width direction of the medicine container, and as the opening / closing member moves in the closing direction, the overlapping portion between the closing wall and the powdered medicine discharge section becomes larger, and it is desirable that the opening width effective for discharging powdered medicine at the powdered medicine discharge section becomes smaller.

[0017] This embodiment also allows precise adjustment of the amount of powdered medicine discharged.

[0018] In each of the above aspects, it is desirable that the container holding portion has a vertical wall, the vertical wall is vibrated by a vibrating means, and the drug container is fixed to the vertical wall and vibrated.

[0019] According to the medicine feeder of this aspect, the medicine feeder can be placed in a vertical position, thereby reducing the area it occupies. That is, it has the advantage of being able to accommodate a considerable amount of powdered medicine while still occupying a small area when installed.

[0020] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the drug container has a large-area side surface and a small-area side surface, is tall relative to its width, has the powdered drug discharge section on the edge of the bottom surface and / or on the side surface near the bottom surface, has a partition member with an opening near the bottom surface, and the powdered drug passes through the opening and enters between the partition member and the bottom surface, and when the drug container is vibrated, the powdered drug that has passed through the opening moves between the partition plate and the bottom surface and reaches the powdered drug discharge section.

[0021] The medicine container employed in this embodiment is narrow in width and tall in height, and therefore is narrow in width despite being capable of containing the same amount of medicine as conventional medicine containers. The medicine feeder of this embodiment is narrow, and many medicine feeders can be arranged in a small space.

[0022] In each of the above aspects, it is desirable that the powdered medicine discharge portion has a slit shape extending in an oblique direction.

[0023] According to this aspect, the area for discharging powdered medicine can be widened.

[0024] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the drug container has a large-area side and a small-area side, is tall relative to its width, the large-area side can be opened, the drug container is detachable from the container holding part, and the large-area side can be opened when the drug container is removed from the container holding part and filled with powdered medicine.

[0025] According to this embodiment, it is easy to put the powdered medicine into the medicine container.

[0026] In each of the above-described aspects, it is desirable that a temporary receiving plate in the shape of an eave is provided at the middle of the height of the medicine container.

[0027] According to this aspect, the weight of the powdered medicine in the upper layer can be supported by the temporary receiving plate, and the powdered medicine in the lower layer is not pressed down. Therefore, the movement of the powdered medicine is not easily hindered when the medicine container is vibrated.

[0028] In each of the above aspects, it is desirable to have a locking mechanism that locks the opening and closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is closed, and to release the locking mechanism by holding the medicine container in the container holding section.

[0029] According to this aspect, the medicine is less likely to spill when the medicine container is removed from the container holding part.

[0030] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the container holding portion has a vertical wall with a holding portion side engaging portion on the vertical wall, the drug container is held in the container holding portion by the holding portion side engaging portion, the drug container has an engaging portion, and the container holding portion has a detachment assisting member that engages with the engaging portion and presses the drug container in a direction to detach it from the container holding portion.

[0031] According to this aspect, the drug container can be easily removed from the container holding part.

[0032] In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that there is a powdered medicine passageway connected to the powdered medicine discharge section within the medicine container, the powdered medicine moves through the powdered medicine passageway and is discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section, the powdered medicine passageway has a ceiling wall, the opening / closing member has a protrusion that protrudes toward the powdered medicine passageway when the powdered medicine discharge section is closed, the ceiling wall has a partition that protrudes downward within the powdered medicine passageway, and the protrusion reaches the vicinity of the partition when the opening / closing member closes the powdered medicine discharge section.

[0033] According to this aspect, when the opening / closing member is in the open state, the medicine is less likely to spill out of the powdered medicine discharge portion. Furthermore, according to this aspect, it is possible to prevent the powdered medicine from splashing or being blown out of the powdered medicine passage while the medicine is being dispensed.

[0034] The invention relating to a medicine dispensing device is a medicine dispensing device that removes a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a medicine container, divides it into a predetermined number of parts, and then packages and discharges them individually.The device has a distribution tray that is provided with a medicine insertion groove and rotated by power, and multiple medicine feeders described above are installed near the distribution tray, and the powdered medicine is discharged from the medicine container and inserted into the medicine insertion groove of the distribution tray.

[0035] However, the conventional medicine dispensing device described above has room for improvement in terms of not only the difficulty of miniaturizing the entire device, but also the speed at which the powdered medicine is dispensed. That is, in the above-mentioned medicine dispensing device, when it is decided to execute the operation of dispensing the powdered medicine, the medicine container is moved from the storage position to the supply position, and then the powdered medicine is dispensed. In other words, time is required to transport the medicine container, and there is room for improvement in terms of speeding up the operation of dispensing the powdered medicine.

[0036] Therefore, one aspect of the present invention related to the present invention for solving such problems is a drug dispensing device in which powdered medicine in an amount greater than the amount of a single dose to be dispensed is allocated one-to-one, the device comprising a plurality of drug feeders each having a drug container containing the powdered medicine, a mounting base for holding the drug container, and a vibration device for vibrating the drug container, and a distribution tray which has an input groove for holding the powdered medicine and is rotated by a power source, the plurality of drug feeders being fixed around the distribution tray, a drug feeder being selected from the plurality of drug feeders, and a single dose of powdered medicine being dispensed from the selected drug feeder to the distribution tray.

[0037] Furthermore, one aspect of the above-mentioned related invention is a drug dispensing device comprising a distribution tray having a ring-shaped drug feeding groove that is rotated by power, and a plurality of drug feeders, each of which has a drug container containing powdered medicine, a mounting member that holds the drug container, and a powdered medicine discharge means that discharges the powdered medicine from the drug container, wherein each mounting member holds a drug container containing a predetermined powdered medicine, one or more drug feeders are selected from the plurality of drug feeders, and a predetermined amount of powdered medicine is dispensed from the selected drug feeder to the distribution tray.

[0038] According to these aspects, the overall size of the device can be reduced, and the operation of dispensing powdered medicine can be increased in speed. [Effects of the Invention]

[0039] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a medicine feeder that can be suitably employed in a medicine dispensing device that does not have a robot mechanism, and a medicine dispensing device including such a medicine feeder. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0040] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of a medicine dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which the top cover is open. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a distribution tray of the medicine dispensing device of FIG. 1. [Figure 3] 1 is a perspective view of a drug feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the medicine feeder of FIG. 3 with information read / write means omitted. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the medicine feeder as viewed from a different direction from that of FIG. 4. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the feeder body of the medicine feeder with the medicine containers removed from the holding members. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a side view of the feeder body of the medicine feeder with the medicine containers removed from the holding members. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a side view of the feeder body modeled as shown in FIG. 7. [Figure 9] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the feeder body of the medicine feeder, with the medicine containers removed from the holding member, observed from a different direction than in FIG. 6. [Figure 10] 10 is a perspective view of the feeder body, with the drug container removed from the holding member, observed from a different direction from FIGS. 6 and 9, and shows an enlarged outline of the shutter opening / closing mechanism. FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a holding member of the feeder body. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the holding member of the feeder body in further detail. [Figure 13] 10(a), (b), and (c) are explanatory views showing the process from attaching a medicine container to a feeder body to discharging powdered medicine, and enlarged cross-sectional views of a part thereof. FIG. [Figure 14] 10, and the right figure is a perspective view showing the engagement piece holding portion 56 of the shutter opening / closing mechanism. (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the engagement piece of the feeder body sunk into the opening on the left, and the right figure is an explanatory diagram showing the engagement piece of the feeder body protruding from the opening. [Figure 15] FIG. 2(a) is a perspective view of the medicine container with the lid member open, and FIG. 2(b) is a front view thereof. [Figure 16] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the posture when powdered medicine is filled into the medicine container. [Figure 17]10(a), (b), and (c) are front views of the lid portion of the medicine container, showing how the lid member is fixed to the container body. [Figure 18] 1(a) is a diagram showing the periphery of the fastening piece in the above-mentioned drug container when the lid member is closed, the left figure being a perspective view and the right figure being a plan view. FIG. 1(b) is a diagram showing the periphery of the fastening piece in the lid member closed state in a drug container according to an embodiment different from that shown in FIG. 1(a), the left figure being a perspective view and the right figure being a plan view. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the shutter of the medicine container. [Figure 20] 10A and 10B are explanatory views showing the operation of the shutter of the medicine container, in which FIG. 10A is a perspective view in a state where the shutter is closed, and FIG. 10B is a perspective view in a state where the shutter is open. [Figure 21] 10 is a perspective view showing a state in which an engaging portion of a transmission member of a medicine container is engaged with an engaging portion of a shutter opening / closing mechanism. FIG. [Figure 22] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the positional relationship between the drug feeder and the distribution tray. [Figure 23] (a) is an explanatory diagram showing the spread of powdered medicine when the shutter is fully open and the medicine is dropped onto the distribution tray, and (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the spread of powdered medicine when the shutter is half open and the medicine is dropped onto the distribution tray. [Figure 24] (a) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is fully open, (b) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is half open, (c) is a bottom view of the drug container when the shutter is closed, and (d) is an oblique view of the lower part of the container body and the shutter. [Figure 25] 19A is a perspective view showing a state in which a sealing member different from that in FIG. 19 is attached to a shutter member, as viewed from below. FIG. 19B is a perspective view showing the sealing member in FIG. 19A, and FIG. 19C is a bottom view showing the sealing member in FIG. 19A. [Figure 26]26A and 26B are bottom views showing a drug container employing the sealing member shown in FIG. 25, where (a) shows the state in which the shutter is fully open, (b) shows the state in which the shutter is slightly open, and (c) shows the state in which the shutter is closed. [Figure 27] 10A and 10B are bottom views of a drug container according to an embodiment different from the above-described embodiment, where (a) shows the state in which the shutter is fully open, (b) shows the state in which the shutter is slightly open, and (c) shows the state in which the shutter is closed. [Figure 28] FIG. 10 is a front view of a drug feeder according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 29] 10A and 10B are perspective views showing the inside of a drug container according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) shows a state in which the shutter of the second partition is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the shutter of the second partition is open. [Figure 30] 30 is an explanatory diagram showing the shutter opening and closing mechanism employed in the medicine container shown in FIG. 29. [Figure 31] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a distribution tray of a medicine dispensing device according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 32] This is an explanatory diagram showing the relative positions of the distribution tray and the powder medicine feeding hopper, where (a) shows the state after the powder medicine has been spread on the distribution tray, (b) shows the state after the disc of the scraping device has been placed on the distribution tray, and (c) shows the state when the powder medicine is being scraped out of the distribution tray. [Figure 33] 10A and 10B are perspective views showing a drug container according to an embodiment different from the above-described embodiment, in which (a) shows the state in which the lid member is in a closed state, and (b) shows the state in which the lid member is in an open state. [Figure 34] 33(a) is a perspective view showing the medicine container of FIG. 33(a) as viewed from another direction, and (b) is a bottom view schematically showing the medicine container of (a). FIG. [Figure 35] 33(a) is a cross-sectional view showing the medicine container in FIG. 33(a), showing the state in which the cover member and other parts are cut along different cutting planes. FIG. [Figure 36] FIG. 33(b) is an exploded perspective view of the drug container of FIG. [Figure 37]37A and 37B are views showing the partition member of FIG. 36, in which (a) is a perspective view seen from below, and (b) is a front view. [Figure 38] 3(a) is a plan view schematically showing the medicine feeder and distribution tray of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3(b) is a perspective view showing the manual tablet distribution device of FIG. 1 in a changed position. [Figure 39] FIG. 10(a) is a side view showing a model of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment, and FIG. 10(b) is an exploded perspective view of a shutter opening / closing mechanism thereof. [Figure 40] 10A, 10B, and 10C are explanatory views showing a state in which a medicine container is attached to a feeder body of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment. [Figure 41] 10A, 10B, and 10C are explanatory views showing a state in which a medicine container is removed from a feeder body of a medicine feeder according to a second embodiment; [Figure 42] FIG. 10(a) is a cross-sectional view showing a drug container of a third embodiment, and FIG. 10(b) is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a shutter when the shutter is open. [Figure 43] 10A and 10B are front views of a drug feeder according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) shows a state in which drug containers are attached to the feeder body, and (b) shows a state in which the drug containers are being removed from the feeder body. [Figure 44] A front view of a feeder body of yet another embodiment of the present invention, where (a) shows the state of the feeder body when a drug container is attached to the feeder body, and (b) shows the state of the feeder body when the drug container is removed from the feeder body. [Figure 45] FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a shutter of a medicine container according to a third embodiment. [Figure 46] 46A and 46B are views showing the partition member of FIG. 45, in which (a) is a perspective view seen from below, and (b) is a front view. [Figure 47] 10A and 10B are diagrams showing a modified example of the partition member, in which (a) is a perspective view thereof and (b) is a cross-sectional view of a horizontal portion of the partition plate. [Figure 48] FIG. [Figure 49] 10A and 10B are perspective views of a medicine dispensing device showing a modified top cover, in which (a) shows a state in which the cover is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the cover is open. [Figure 50] 10A and 10B are perspective views of a medicine dispensing device showing another modified example of the top cover, in which (a) shows a state in which the cover is closed, and (b) shows a state in which the cover is open. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0041] The medicine dispensing device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be further described below. To facilitate understanding, the outline and general operation of the medicine dispensing device 1 will be described first, and then each component and device will be described in detail. The medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment is surrounded by a housing 2, the interior of which is divided into a tablet manual distribution area 300, a powder medicine dividing area 301, and a medicine packaging area 302. 1, the housing 2 has a top cover 3. The top cover 3 is attached to the main body of the housing 2 by a hinge (not shown). The tablet manual distribution area 300 is provided with a tablet manual distribution device 303 . The manual tablet distribution device 303 is well known, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Medicine packaging area 302 has a medicine packaging device 305 built in, as conceptually shown in Figure 2. Medicine packaging device 305 is a machine that packages medicines into individual doses, and has a packaging paper supply device 306 (packaging paper supply unit) and a packaging device 308 (sealing unit). Medicine packaging device 305 also has a powder medicine input hopper 310 above packaging device 308, into which medicines are input. For ease of drawing, the powdered medicine hopper 310 is shown positioned away from the distribution tray 6, but in reality, the upper end of the powdered medicine hopper 310 is located within the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6.

[0042] Medicine packaging device 305 is used by mounting roll paper on a mounting portion of the main body (not shown) of packaging paper supply device 306. Roll paper is formed by winding strip-shaped packaging paper (wrapping paper) around a tubular core member. Although not particularly limited, the roll paper in this embodiment is formed by rolling up a strip-shaped packaging paper that has been folded in half. Furthermore, the medicine packaging device 305 has a printing mechanism (printing unit) not shown. In the medicine packaging device 305, the packaging paper unwound from the roll paper is introduced into a printing mechanism, where information such as the patient's name, medicine name, and date and time of administration (information about the prescription, and information about the medicine to be provided) is printed. The packaging paper with the predetermined information printed on it is then opened upward. In this state, it receives the medicine (powdered medicine) dropped (supplied) from the powdered medicine input hopper 310. The packaging paper containing the medicines is then introduced into the sealing section (packaging device 308), where it is sealed vertically and horizontally, packaging the medicines one by one. This forms a medicine package containing a single dose of medicine, and the medicine package is transported to the outside of the device. At this time, a plurality of medicine packages form a continuous medicine package band and are transported to the outside of the device. However, instead of a medicine package band, one or more individual medicine packages may be formed and transported to the outside of the device. The horizontal direction is the direction in which the packaging paper is dispensed (sent out), and the vertical direction is the direction that intersects (is perpendicular to) the direction in which the packaging paper is dispensed.

[0043] The core member of the above-mentioned roll paper may also be equipped with an identifier. The identifier is a storage means that stores information that can individually identify the roll paper (information about the manufacturer (such as the manufacturer's name), information about the date of manufacture, the type of roll paper wound on the core, the order number, the shipping date, customer information about the delivery destination, the model name and model code of the packaging machine into which the roll paper will be installed, other IDs, etc.), and may be, for example, a memory such as an IC tag. The identifier may also be a code such as a one-dimensional code (barcode) or a two-dimensional code, and if a code is used, it may be attached to a label. When the roll paper is loaded into packaging paper supply device 306, it may be checked against the device to which it is being loaded, i.e., it may be determined whether the specified roll paper is being loaded correctly into the device. Furthermore, information for identifying that the roll paper is unused may be stored in the identifier, and an operation for determining whether the roll paper is unused or not may be performed when loading the roll paper. Furthermore, information regarding the remaining amount of packaging paper when the roll paper (packaging paper roll) is loaded into the main body of packaging paper supply device 306 may be stored. Furthermore, when a packaging operation to package medicines is performed, the remaining amount at an appropriate time during the packaging operation may be stored. This information regarding the remaining amount may be stored, for example, during the packaging operation. Alternatively, the remaining amount at the end of the packaging operation may be stored after the packaging operation. In other words, information regarding the remaining amount may be stored at appropriate times when medicine dispensing device 1 is operated.

[0044] 2, powdered medicine dividing area 301 is an area where distribution tray 6 is installed, and around it, medicine feeder 5 and cleaning device 7 are arranged. Powdered medicine dividing area 301 is also provided with scraping device 8. The distribution dish 6 and scraping device 8 are known and will only be briefly described. The distribution plate 6 is a disc-shaped member provided with a drug insertion groove 13 (input groove), also called a "recessed groove." The drug insertion groove 13 surrounds the outer edge of the distribution plate 6 in a ring shape. The distribution plate 6 has an equipment storage opening 15 in its center. Note that in Figure 2, most of the opening is covered with a lid. The powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 described above is installed in the equipment storage opening 15. The distribution plate 6 can be rotated at a constant speed or by a predetermined angle.

[0045] The scraping device 8 has a rotating plate 12 at the tip of a scraping arm. Specifically, a mounting base (not shown) that can be rotated by a motor is provided at the tip of the scraping arm, and the rotating plate 12 having a scraper plate and the like (not shown) is attached to this mounting base. In other words, the rotating plate 12 rotates by the power of the motor. The base of the scraping device 8 is installed inside the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6. A scraping arm of the scraping device 8 protrudes from the center of the distribution tray 6. The scraping device 8 may not have a turntable and may not rotate as a whole, but the scraping arm may be swingable. 2, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the upper opening serving as the medicine inlet of the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is located inside the distribution tray 6. That is, the distribution tray 6 is continuous in an annular (ring-shaped) shape outside the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310, and the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is located in the area surrounded by the distribution tray 6 in a plan view. The scraping device 8 is also located inside the distribution tray 6. When the scraping device 8 scrapes out the powdered medicine on the distribution tray 6 and deposits it into the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310, it scrapes the powdered medicine towards the inside of the distribution tray 6. That is, the rotating plate 12 is rotated to move the scraper so as to move the powdered medicine on the distribution tray 6 towards the inside of the distribution tray 6 (the rotating plate 12 is rotated so that the scraper moves in a direction crossing from the outer edge side to the inner edge side of the distribution tray 6). In this embodiment, the scraping device 8 is provided inside the distribution tray 6, and the powdered medicine is scraped toward the inside of the distribution tray 6, thereby reducing the number of components outside the distribution tray 6. In other words, a large space is secured outside the distribution tray 6 around the medicine feeder 5, making it easier to manually attach and detach the medicine container 20 to and from the feeder body 10 and contributing to the miniaturization of the entire medicine dispensing device 1.

[0046] As shown in Fig. 4, the drug feeder 5 has a weight calibration unit 21 provided in a feeder section 22. The drug feeder 5 also has an information read / write means 66 (see Fig. 3) that can read and write information from and to an information storage means 65 (see Fig. 4), which will be described later. As shown in Figs. 4 to 10, the feeder section 22 has a drug container 20 that stores powdered medicine and a feeder body 10 that holds the drug container 20. As shown in FIG. 8, the feeder body 10 is mechanically divided into a container support section 23, a weight measuring section 24, and a base section 26. 8, the container support unit 23 includes a support base 27, a vibrating member 16 (container holder), and vibrating means 30a and 30b. The vibrating means 30a and 30b are piezoelectric elements and have a plate shape. The vibrating member 16 and the vibrating means 30a and 30b also function as a vibration device that vibrates the medicine container 20.

[0047] The support base 27 and the vibration member 16 are both L-shaped members with a horizontal portion and a vertical wall portion. That is, the support base 27 has a support-side horizontal portion 30 and a support-side vertical wall portion 31 as shown in FIGS. The vibrating member 16 also functions as a container holder, and has a vibration-side horizontal section 32 and a vibration-side vertical wall section 33 (vertical wall). The vibration-side vertical wall section 33 is provided with an engagement section (a holder-side engagement section, which is made up of two sections: a groove-shaped engagement section 48 (trapezoidal engagement section 47) described later, and an engagement piece (holder-side engagement section) 50; see FIG. 10 ) that engages with the drug container 20.

[0048] The support base 27 and the vibration member 16 are connected by two vibration means 30a and 30b. There is substantially no contact between the vibration-side horizontal portion 32 and the support-side horizontal portion 30. Therefore, when the vibration means 30a, 30b are energized, the vibration member 16 vibrates.

[0049] As shown in Figure 8, the weight measuring unit 24 is disposed below the container support unit 23. The weight measuring unit 24 includes a weight measuring means 25 and a vibration isolating means 18. The weight measuring means 25 is a known load cell. The vibration isolating means 18 includes a vibration isolating member 28. The container support part 23 (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, and vibrating means 30a and 30b) is connected to the detection part of the weight measuring means 25. The base part 26 supports the upper members (support stand 27, vibrating member 16, and vibrating means 30a and 30b) via the vibration-proof member 28 of the weight measuring part 24. The weight of the container support part 23 is detected by the weight measuring means 25. The weight of the vibration isolation means 18 is applied to the base part 26, but is not applied to the weight measuring means 25. Therefore, the weight of the container support part 23 (support base 27, vibrating member 16, and vibrating means 30a, 30b) is detected by the weight measuring means 25.

[0050] Medicine container 20 is a container filled with powdered medicine, and has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a substantially square side surface. The drug container 20 is surrounded by a front wall 35 , a rear wall 36 , left and right side walls 37 , a top wall 38 and a bottom wall 40 . An openable and closable powdered medicine discharge portion 11 is located on the bottom wall 40 of the medicine container 20 near the front wall 35 . Also, there are engagement portions (engagement groove 130, engagement recess 131, see FIG. 6) on the vertical side of rear wall 36 and on the bottom.

[0051] Drug container 20 is filled with powdered medicine and fixed to feeder body 10 as shown in Figures 4 and 5. That is, rear wall 36 of drug container 20 contacts vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 (vertical wall) of vibrating member 16, which serves as the container holder, and rear wall 36 side of bottom wall 40 of drug container 20 contacts vibration-side horizontal portion 32, so that most of drug container 20 is fixed to feeder body 10 in a cantilevered state. In other words, vibration-side horizontal portion 32 also serves as a mounting member (mounting table) on which at least a portion of drug container 20 is placed. Furthermore, the engaging portions of the drug container 20 are engaged with two engaging portions of the vibration member 16 (a groove-shaped engaging portion 48 (trapezoidal engaging portion 47, holding portion-side engaging portion) described later and an engaging piece (holding portion-side engaging portion) 50, see FIG. 10). Therefore, the drug container 20 is integrated with the vibration member 16 and vibrates together with the vibration member 16.

[0052] Here, information storage means 65 is provided on one of the two left and right side walls 37 (see FIG. 4). Information storage means 65 stores information about medicine container 20 (information about the powdered medicine contained in medicine container 20). For example, identification information for identifying the contained medicine (information such as the medicine name and various codes) and remaining amount information about the current remaining amount of the contained medicine are stored. The information stored in information storage means 65 is information that can be used in association with prescription data, etc., and acquiring the information stored in information storage means 65 enables operations such as identifying the type of powdered medicine contained in medicine container 20. This information storage means 65 may be a memory such as an IC tag. It may also be a code such as a one-dimensional code (barcode) or a two-dimensional code, and if a code is used, it may be attached to a label.

[0053] As described above, the medicine feeder 5 has information read / write means 66 (see FIG. 3) that can read and write information from and to the information storage means 65. In this embodiment, an RFID reader / writer is used as the information read / write means 66, and information can be read from and written to the information storage means 65 via wireless communication. The information storage means 66 is capable of reading cassette information from the information storage means 65 and writing (rewriting) the remaining amount after dispensing powdered medicine from the medicine container 20. The cassette information is information related to the medicine container 20, such as the name of the medicine and the remaining amount. This information reading / writing means 66 is located outside the information storage means 65 when the drug container 20 is attached to the feeder body 10, and is disposed at a position slightly away from the information storage means 65 (see Figures 3 and 4). Note that instead of the information reading / writing means 66, it is also possible to provide an information reading means, an information writing means, etc. that can read and write information.

[0054] The weight calibration unit 21 detects whether the weight measuring means 25 is normal or not. The weight calibration unit 21 has a weight 42, a weight placement member 43 on which the weight 42 is placed, and a weight support member 45 that lifts the weight 42 into the air. The weight placement member 43 is fixed to the container support portion 23 of the feeder body 10. Therefore, the weight of the weight placement member 43 is added to the weight measuring means 25. On the other hand, the weight support member 45 is disposed so that a load is applied to the base portion 26 of the feeder body 10. Therefore, the weight of the weight support member 45 is not applied to the weight measuring means 25.

[0055] In this embodiment, six medicine feeders 5 are fixed around the distribution tray 6. The front wall 35 of the medicine container 20 protrudes toward the distribution tray 6, and the powdered medicine discharge section 11 is located directly above the medicine input groove 13.

[0056] In the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the medicine containers 20 of the medicine feeders 5 are filled with different medicines in advance. Based on the prescription, a specific medicine feeder 5 is driven, and powdered medicine is dispensed into the distribution tray 6. Specifically, a signal from a control device (not shown) causes a current of a fixed frequency to flow through the vibration means 30a, 30b of the specific medicine feeder 5 to generate vibrations, which in turn vibrate the vibrating member 16 (container holder). Also, the distribution plate 6 is rotated around the time when the vibration starts.

[0057] Also, around the time when vibration starts, the weight of the drug container 20 is measured. The weight of the drug container 20 is obtained by subtracting a fixed value from the weight detected by the weight measuring means 25. More specifically, the weight of the drug container 20 is obtained by subtracting the weight of the container support part 23 from the weight detected by the weight measuring means 25. The weight of the medicine container 20 before the powdered medicine is discharged is stored as the original weight G. The weight of the medicine container 20 is constantly monitored. That is, the current weight of the medicine container 20 is monitored as the current weight g.

[0058] When vibrating member 16 starts vibrating, medicine container 20 vibrates along with it. In this embodiment, medicine container 20 is firmly joined to vibration-side vertical wall 33 (vertical wall) of vibrating member 16 by engaging portions provided at two locations (groove-shaped engaging portion 48 (trapezoidal engaging portion 47, holding portion side engaging portion) described below, and engaging piece 50, see FIG. 10 ), and the degree of adhesion with vibrating member 16 is also high, so medicine container 20 vibrates at the same frequency as vibrating member 16. As a result, the powdered medicine stored in medicine container 20 moves slowly toward powdered medicine discharging portion 11.

[0059] The powdered medicine then falls from the powdered medicine discharge section 11 and enters the medicine input groove 13 in the distribution tray 6 below.

[0060] The fact that the powdered medicine is falling is confirmed by a decrease in the weight of medicine container 20. That is, in this embodiment, even while the powdered medicine is falling from medicine container 20, the current weight of medicine container 20 is continuously monitored as the current weight (g). The original weight (G) of medicine container 20 immediately after installation on vibrating member 16 is compared with the current weight (g), and the amount of powdered medicine falling, H (G minus g), is constantly calculated. When the total amount H of powdered medicine that has fallen reaches a desired weight, the vibration of the vibrating member 16 is stopped.

[0061] The next operation is to drop the rotating plate 12 of the scraping device 8 into the medicine insertion groove 13 of the distribution tray 6. After that, the distribution tray 6 is further rotated by an angle corresponding to the number of dispensed medicines, and one dose of powdered medicine is collected on the front side of the rotating plate 12. The rotating plate 12 is then rotated, and the powdered medicine is scraped out of the distribution tray 6 by a scraper plate (not shown), and inserted into the powdered medicine insertion hopper 310. The powdered medicine that falls from the powdered medicine insertion hopper 310 is packaged into one dose at a time by the medicine packaging device 305.

[0062] The series of medicine discharging operations described above is performed in a state in which weight 42 is held up by weight support member 45 of weight calibration unit 21. Therefore, the weight of weight 42 is not detected by weight measurement means 25. When checking whether the weight measuring means 25 is normal or not, the weight support member 45 is operated to place the weight 42 on the weight placement member 43 . As a result, the weight of the weight 42 is applied to the weight measuring means 25, and the weight of the weight 42 is detected. Here, since the weight of weight 42 is known, if the increase in detected weight due to the placement of weight 42 is equal to the weight of weight 42, it can be said that weight measuring means 25 is normal. Conversely, if the increase in detected weight due to the placement of weight 42 is different from the weight of weight 42, it can be said that weight measuring means 25 is malfunctioning.

[0063] Next, each member and device of the medicine dispensing device 1 will be described. (1) Feeder body 10 As described above, the feeder body 10 is divided into the container support portion 23, the weight measuring means 25, and the base portion 26. The container support part 23 also has a support base 27, a vibrating member 16 (container holding part), and vibration means 30a and 30b. 4 to 12, the external shape of the vibrating member 16 is substantially "L" shaped. That is, the vibrating member 16 has a vibrating-side horizontal portion 32 and a vibrating-side vertical wall portion 33 which is a vertical wall.

[0064] As shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 has a main body portion 63 made of metal and a lining member 46 made of resin provided on the main body portion 63. As shown in FIG. 10, the lining member 46 has a generally rectangular plate shape overall, and is provided with an engaging portion 47 on the surface side. Engagement portion 47 has a trapezoidal shape close to a rectangle when viewed from the front, except that one of the oblique sides has a bulge 58 at the bottom. Dovetail-shaped engagement portion (holding portion-side engagement portion) 48 is provided on the side of the trapezoid that corresponds to the oblique side.

[0065] 11 and 12, rectangular recesses 132 are provided at two locations, one above the other, on the back surface of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. The lower side of each recess 132 forms an inclined surface 133. The inclined surface 133 is inclined so that the lower side is deeper than the upper side. The inclined surface 133 functions as a seating surface for mounting the vibration means 30a and 30b.

[0066] 10 and 13, a substantially rectangular opening 51 is provided in the lower part of the front of the engaging portion 47. An engaging piece 50 is housed in the opening 51. The engagement piece 50 is connected to the insertion / removal mechanism and extends from and retracts through the opening 51 .

[0067] The vibration-side horizontal portion 32 is a plate-shaped member made of metal. 9, 10, and 13, a shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 (opening / closing mechanism portion) is provided on one side of the vibration-side horizontal portion 32. The shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 is an opening / closing mechanism for discharging a fixed amount of powdered medicine from the medicine container 20. 10 and 13, the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 is made up of an engagement piece holding part 56 and an arm 57. It also has a power part that operates (linearly moves) the arm 57. This power part is made up of a motor, etc. The engagement piece holding portion 56 has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a recessed portion that serves as an engagement portion 60 on its upper surface. One end of the arm 57 is connected to the engagement piece holder 56 , and the other end is housed within the vibration-side vertical wall 33 . It is connected to the aforementioned insertion / removal mechanism.

[0068] In this embodiment, to explain in detail, the feeder body 10 of this embodiment has an engaging member 210 (see the left diagram in FIG. 14(a)), the upper part of which constitutes the engaging piece 50. That is, the engaging member 210 has an upper engaging piece forming portion 210a which forms the engaging piece 50, a lower abutting portion 210b, and an intermediate portion 210c which connects these. This engaging member 210 is constantly biased in the direction from the support-side vertical wall portion 31 toward the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 by a biasing member such as a coil spring. The engagement piece holding portion 56 also has a pressing protrusion 56a (see the right diagram in FIG. 14(a)) on the side surface. 14(b), the pressing protrusion 56a presses the contact portion 210b in the direction toward the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. As a result, the engaging member 210 is pressed against the biasing force, and the engaging piece 50 is immersed in the opening 51. On the other hand, when the engagement piece holding portion 56 has moved to a position away from the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33, as shown in the right diagram of Figure 14(b), the engagement member 210 is pressed by the biasing member and moves, and the engagement piece 50 projects from the opening 51. In this way, the engagement member 210 moves within the groove (recess) formed in the vibration-side horizontal portion 32.

[0069] 12 and 13, the external shape of the support base 27 is substantially "L" shaped. That is, the support base 27 has a support-side horizontal portion 30 and a support-side vertical wall portion 31. The front side of the support-side vertical wall portion 31 also has an inclined surface (not shown), which functions as a seat for mounting the vibration means 30a and 30b.

[0070] The vibrating member 16 is placed on a support base 27, with the vibrating-side horizontal portion 32 on top of the support-side horizontal portion 30. The convex side of the vibrating-side vertical wall portion 33 faces the concave side of the support-side vertical wall portion 31. Two vibration means 30a and 30b connect the concave side of the support-side vertical wall portion 31 and the convex side of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. Both vibration means 30a and 30b are attached at an incline so that the support-side vertical wall portion 31 side is upward and the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 side is downward. The vibration-side horizontal portion 32 and the support-side horizontal portion 30 are substantially in no contact with each other.

[0071] The weight measuring section 24 includes a weight measuring means 25 and vibration isolating means 18. The vibration isolating means 18 is composed of a vibration isolating frame 135 and a vibration isolating member 28. As shown in FIG. 12, the vibration-isolating frame 135 has a high frame 136 and a support base 137 . The high frame 136 has anti-vibration member mounting plates 140 arranged parallel to it. The support base 137 is provided between the anti-vibration member mounting plates 140 and at a position lower than the high frame 136. The vibration-isolating members 28 are attached to the four corners of the vibration-isolating member attachment plate 140 on the lower side. Furthermore, the weight measuring means 25 is fixed on top of the support base 137. Because the support base 137 is located below the high frame 136, most of the weight measuring means 25 is located below the high frame 136, but the top surface of the weight measuring means 25 is located above the high frame 136.

[0072] The base 26 is a plate-shaped member made of metal, and has a recess in the center. The container support part 23 is fixed to the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25 of the weight measuring unit 24. Specifically, the support-side horizontal part 30 of the container support part 23 is fixed to the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25 protruding from the high frame 136. In addition, the vibration-isolating member 28 of the weight measuring unit 24 is installed on the base 26 . In this embodiment, the container support part 23 (support base 27, vibrating member 16, vibration means 30a, 30b) is placed on the upper surface of the weight measuring means 25, and the weight measuring means 25 can accurately measure the weight of these.

[0073] The feeder body 10 of this embodiment has a container holding section that holds the drug container 20 and an upright support section (support side vertical wall section 31), and the container holding section has a vertical member (vibration side vertical wall section 33), and vibration means 30a, 30b are provided between the support section and the vertical member.

[0074] In the feeder body 10 of this embodiment, the vibrating means 30a, 30b are provided on one side surface of the drug container 20. That is, the drug container 20 and the vibrating means 30a, 30b are arranged side by side. Therefore, the medicine container 20 can be placed at a lower position compared to a layout in which the vibration means 30a, 30b are located below the medicine container 20, and the powdered medicine discharge part 11 of the medicine container 20 can be brought closer to the distribution tray 6, thereby reducing the splashing of the powdered medicine.

[0075] (2) Drug container 20 Next, a description will be given of the drug container 20. In the following description, the length and width directions are based on the posture of the drug container 20 when it is installed in the feeder body 10. The drug container 20 has a sealable container body 70 . As shown in FIGS. 6 and 15, the drug container 20 has a partition plate 68 (partition member), a flow rectifying member 72, and a shutter structure portion 73 inside.

[0076] The external shape of container body 70 is a long, narrow box-like member when viewed from the front side (powdered medicine discharging portion 11 side) with the orientation attached to container support portion 23 of feeder body 10 as the reference. The container body 70 is a rectangular parallelepiped with a substantially square side shape. That is, the drug container 20 has a large-area side surface 61 and a small-area side surface 62, and the height H is large relative to the width W. The container body 70 is surrounded by a front wall 35 , a rear wall 36 , left and right side walls 37 , a top wall 38 and a bottom wall 40 . The front wall 35 and the back wall 36 are small-area side surfaces 62 and are vertically long rectangles. The left and right side walls 37 are rectangular, nearly square, and are large-area side surfaces 61. The top wall 38 and the bottom wall 40 are rectangular.

[0077] As shown in FIGS. 6 and 9, the rear wall 36 is provided with a pair of engagement grooves 130 and one engagement recess 131. The engagement grooves 130 are vertical grooves that are provided along the left and right vertical sides of the rear wall 36 and open inward. The engagement recess 131 is a depression provided in the lower part of the rear wall 36 .

[0078] As shown in Figure 19, there is a cutout 77 in the region extending from the lower part of the front wall 35 to the bottom wall 40 on the front wall 35 side. The portion of the bottom wall 40 on the front wall 35 side is cut out at an angle. Therefore, the end of the bottom wall 40 on the front wall 35 side forms a hypotenuse as shown in Figure 24. In this embodiment, the slope of the end of the cutout 77 is a combination of a steeply inclined portion 150 and a gently inclined portion 151.

[0079] The container body 70 is composed of a box portion 71 having an opening on one side, and a lid member 75 . The box portion 71 constitutes five of the walls of the container body 70, excluding one side wall. A packing (not shown) is attached to the opening of the box portion 71. An engagement portion 81 is provided on the opening side of the front wall 35 of the box portion 71, as shown in Figure 17. The lid member 75 constitutes one of the side walls (large area side surface 61) of the walls of the container body . The lid member 75 is attached to the rear wall 36 of the box part 71 via a hinge 120 (see FIG. 15(a)) so as to be able to swing. A fastening member 76 is provided on the free end side of the cover member 75. The fastening member 76 employs a toggle-type fastening means and is equipped with a fastening piece 78 that can swing via a hinge 121 (see FIG. 15(a)). An engagement recess 80 is provided on the inside of the fastening piece 78.

[0080] When closing the opening of the box portion 71 with the lid member 75, the free end of the lid member 75 is brought close to the box portion 71 as shown in Figure 17(a), the engagement recess 80 of the fastening piece 78 is brought into contact with the engagement portion 81 of the box portion 71 as shown in Figure 17(b), and the fastening piece 78 is tilted down until it comes into contact with the front wall 35 as shown in Figure 17(c). As a result, the free end side of the lid member 75 is drawn to the opening of the box part 71, and the inner surface side of the lid member 75 comes into contact with the packing of the box part 71, sealing the inside of the container body 70. The fastening piece 78 is positioned approximately parallel to the front wall 35 of the box portion 71 .

[0081] Here, it is assumed that in the drug container 20 of this embodiment, an external device or jig (not shown) is used when changing the opening of the box portion 71 from a closed state to an open state. In other words, when releasing the fastening state (locked state) of the lid member 75, it is assumed that the fastening piece 78 is not directly operated by hand, but is changed in position by an external device or the like. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 18( a), the tightening piece 78 has a generally triangular prism-like outer shape, with a thickness that decreases toward the free end. When the tightening piece 78 is closed, an inclined surface is formed on the side opposite the front wall 35, while the entire tightening piece 78, except for a portion of the front wall 35 side, is in close contact with the front wall 35 without any gaps. Specifically, a notch 78a is formed on the free end of the tightening piece 78, and a small gap (not shown) is formed between the tightening piece 78 and the front wall 35 at a portion adjacent to the notch 78a (a portion located on the base end side of the tightening piece 78). The tightening state is released by inserting a portion of an external device or jig through the notch 78a into this gap and changing the position of the tightening piece 78. The notch 78a and the gap adjacent to the notch 78a are large enough that an average adult's finger cannot fit through.

[0082] However, instead of the above-described drug container 20, a drug container designed to be manually released from a fastened state (locked state) as shown in FIG. 18(b) may be employed. This medicine container has a different clamping piece 278 from the above-described medicine container 20. Therefore, when it is in the clamped state, as shown in Fig. 18(b), a gap 279 is formed between the clamping piece 278 and the front wall 35. This gap 279 is relatively large, and is large enough to allow an average adult's finger to fit in with ease. Specifically, when the fastening piece 278 in the fastened state is viewed from above, more than half of the edge portion of the fastening piece 278 on the front wall 35 side is disposed at a position away from the front wall 35. Also, as shown in the right diagram of Figure 18(b), the gap 279 is widest on the free end side of the fastening piece 278 (upper side in Figure 18) and becomes narrower toward the base end side (lower side in Figure 18). As described above, the user can insert his / her fingers into the gap 279 to change the position of the fastening piece 278, thereby releasing the fastened state (locked state).

[0083] The partition plate 68 (partition member) is formed by bending a strip-shaped plate, and has contact wall portions 141 and 142, a large inclined portion 143, a small inclined portion 145, and a horizontal portion 146, as shown in FIG. The partition plate 68 (partition member) has a horizontal portion 146 in the center, a large inclined portion 143 and a small inclined portion 145 formed on both sides thereof, and contact wall portions 141, 142 formed on both sides thereof.

[0084] The horizontal portion 146 is configured to assume a horizontal position when installed in the container body 70, and is provided with a large number of small holes (openings) 146. The small holes (openings) 146 employed in this embodiment are slit-shaped and extend in the width W direction of the container body 70. The large inclined portion 143 and the small inclined portion 145 are portions that are inclined toward the horizontal portion 146 when installed in the container body 70, and the large inclined portion 143 is longer than the small inclined portion 145. The inclination angles of the inclined portions 143 and 145 are the same. The contact wall portions 141 and 142 are portions that are in a vertical position when installed in the container body 70.

[0085] The rectifying member 72 is a coil-shaped member.

[0086] As shown in FIG. 19, the shutter structure 73 is made up of a guide member 90, a shutter member 91 (opening / closing member), a transmission member 92, and a biasing member 93. The guide member 90 is a member having a concave side shape, and has an upper horizontal wall 95, a lower horizontal wall 96, and a back wall 97 connecting the two.

[0087] 19, 20, and 21, the shutter member 91 has a closing wall 110, a guide wall portion 111, a connecting wall 112, and a stopper wall 113. In addition, a sealing member (packing) is attached to a position above the closing wall 110. The closure wall 110 is in a horizontal position when attached. The closure wall 110 has a hypotenuse 138. The guide wall portion 111 is a wall surface that is parallel to the closing wall 110. The connecting wall 112 is a vertical wall that connects the guide wall portion 111 and the closing wall 110. The closing wall 110, the connecting wall 112 and the guide wall portion 111 form a recessed shape. The stopper wall 113 is a small wall that rises vertically from the free end side of the guide wall portion 111 .

[0088] The transmission member 92 is a stick-shaped member, and in this embodiment, is made of a thin metal plate. A shutter-side mounting portion 118 is provided at one end of the transmission member 92. A notch 115 is provided at the other end of the transmission member 92, and the portion beyond the notch 115 serves as an engagement portion . The transmission member 92 is integral with the shutter member 91, with the shutter side mounting portion 118 attached to the shutter member 91.

[0089] The biasing member 93 is a spring.

[0090] The partition plate 68 (partition member) and the rectifying member 72 are housed within the container body 70. Most of the shutter structure 73 is located within the container body 70, with only the transmission member 92 extending along the outer surface of the container body 70.

[0091] The partition plate 68 (partition member) is fixed to the container body 70 with the contact wall portion 142 fixed to the inside of the front wall 35 of the container body 70 and the contact wall portion 141 fixed to the inside of the rear wall 36 of the container body 70. The inclined portions 143, 145 and the horizontal portion 146 of the partition plate 68 (partition member) are in a state as if they are suspended from the front wall 35 and the rear wall 36 of the container body 70. The large inclined portion 143 of the partition plate 68 (partition member) is located at a position that extends from the front wall 35 to the center of the container body 70. The horizontal portion 146 is located near the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70, but is not in contact with the bottom wall 40, and a powdered medicine passage 117 through which the powdered medicine passes is formed between the two.

[0092] The shutter structure 73 is housed on the lower side of the large inclination portion 143 . The guide member 90 of the shutter structure 73 is disposed with the rear wall 97 facing the rear wall 36 side. The shutter member 91 is oriented so that the concave portion formed by the closing wall 110, connecting wall 112, and guide wall portion 111 engages with the recessed portion of the guide member 90. In other words, the lower surface of the guide wall portion 111 of the shutter member 91 contacts the lower horizontal wall 96 of the guide member 90. The closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 is in contact with the outside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70 .

[0093] The biasing member 93 is located between the inner surface of the front wall 35 of the container body 70 and the stopper wall 113 of the shutter member 91 , and biases the shutter member 91 toward the back wall 97 of the guide member 90 . As shown in FIG. 21, the transmission member 92 is located outside the container body 70 as described above, and extends along the side wall toward the rear wall 36.

[0094] The transmission member 92 is integral with the shutter member 91, and when the transmission member 92 is slid in the front-rear direction of the container body 70, the shutter member 91 also moves linearly. The recess of the shutter member 91 is in contact with the guide member 90 and the container body 70, and is restricted by these so as to move linearly. When the transmission member 92 is closest to the rear wall 36, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 covers the missing portion 77 at the bottom of the container body 70, sealing off the missing portion 77, which is the opening through which the powdered medicine is discharged. When the transmission member 92 is closest to the front wall 35, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 moves away from the inclined edge (the oblique edge on the rear wall 36 side) of the missing portion 77 at the bottom of the container body 70, and the bottom of the container body 70 opens. Here, the opening end of the recess 77 of the container body 70 (the portion of the recess 77 on the front wall 35 side of the bottom wall 40) is inclined, and the free end of the shutter member 91 is also an inclined edge 138, so the opening that becomes the powdered medicine discharge section 11 becomes a slit 148 in an oblique position as shown in Figures 24(a) and (b). In the drug feeder 5 of this embodiment, the width of the slit 148 can be adjusted, and the degree of opening can be changed (control to adjust the degree of opening) based on a signal from a control device (not shown). This control also controls the movement distance of the transmission member 92. The degree of opening of the slit 148 may be changed depending on (based on) the type of drug to be discharged from the drug container 20 (type of powdered drug, flowability, particle size, etc.) and the amount of drug discharged. The shutter member 91 is pressed by the biasing member 93 in a direction in which the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 is closed, and the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 is opened by moving the transmission member 92 toward the front wall 35 side.

[0095] Next, the positional relationship between the drug feeder 5 and the distribution tray 6 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of drug feeders 5 are arranged around a distribution tray 6. The drug feeders 5 are all oriented in a normal direction to the distribution tray 6. The drug feeders 5 of this embodiment are narrow, so many can be placed in a small area. This allows many to be lined up around the distribution tray 6. In this embodiment, six drug feeders 5 are arranged radially around the front half of the distribution tray 6. In the drug feeder 5 of this embodiment, the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 is supported in a cantilever manner by the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10, so that most of the drug container 20 protrudes in a cantilever manner from the feeder body 10. 22 and 23, the position of powdered medicine discharge portion 11 provided on front wall 35 side of medicine container 20 is located directly above medicine input groove 13 of distribution tray 6.

[0096] In the medicine feeder 5 of this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 has a slit-like shape and is inclined relative to the medicine container 20. Therefore, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 is wide in the width A direction of the medicine input groove 13, as shown in Figures 22 and 23 .

[0097] Next, the operation of the drug feeder 5 will be described. In the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, as described above, the medicine containers 20 of the medicine feeders 5 are filled with different medicines in advance. When filling powdered medicine, medicine container 20 is removed from feeder body 10 and placed flat as shown in Fig. 16. Then, cover member 75 is opened, and large surface area side surface 61 of medicine container 20 is Fill the powder medicine from the Thereafter, the lid member 75 is closed to seal the inside of the drug container 20 .

[0098] Next, the drug container 20 is attached to the feeder body 10 as shown in FIG. At this time, the feeder body 10 is in a standby state as shown in Figure 13(a). Specifically, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 is in the stored position, and the engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 is immersed in the opening 51. In addition, the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 has the arm 57 drawn toward the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 , and the engagement piece holding portion 56 is located near the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 . Meanwhile, in the drug container 20, the transmission member 92 is pulled toward the rear wall 36, and the opening at the bottom of the container body 70 is closed.

[0099] In this state, the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 is inserted from above along the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10 as shown in FIG. 13(a). Here, the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 has a trapezoidal engaging portion 47, and on the side corresponding to the oblique side of the trapezoid, there is a dovetail-shaped engaging portion (holding portion-side engaging portion) 48. Meanwhile, the rear wall 36 of the container body 70 has a pair of engaging grooves 130. Therefore, by inserting the rear wall 36 of the drug container 20 from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 10, the engagement groove 130 of the container body 70 can be engaged with the engagement portion 48 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33. At this time, since the engagement piece 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is sunk into the opening 51, it does not become an obstacle when inserting the drug container 20.

[0100] At this time, as shown in FIG. 13(b), engaging portion 116 of transmission member 92 is engaged with engaging piece holding portion 56 of feeder body 10. Here, in this embodiment, when drug container 20 is attached, dovetail-shaped engaging portion 48 functions as a guide that regulates the movement direction of drug container 20, as described above. Therefore, simply by moving drug container 20 along engaging portion 48, drug container 20 can be attached, and engaging portion 116 of transmission member 92 can be engaged with engaging piece holding portion 56. In other words, without fine alignment to engage engaging portion 116 of transmission member 92 with engaging piece holding portion 56 (without being conscious of the work required for engagement), simply attaching drug container 20 allows for natural engagement. As described above, a specific medicine feeder 5 is selected and driven based on the prescription. In this embodiment, the insertion / removal mechanism of the selected medicine feeder 5 is brought into the protruding position, and the engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall 33 protrudes from the opening 51, as shown in FIG. 13(c). As a result, the engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall 33 engages with the engagement recess 131 of the back wall 36 of the medicine container 20, and the medicine container 20 is firmly fixed to the vibration member 16. Furthermore, when the insertion / removal mechanism assumes the protruding position, the engagement piece holding portion 56 moves toward the front wall 35, as shown in Figure 13(c), the transmission member 92 slides forward, moving the shutter member 91, and the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 at the bottom of the container body 70 opens.

[0101] Next, vibration of vibrating member 16 begins, and as described above, drug container 20 vibrates together. In this embodiment, drug container 20 is firmly joined to vibrating member 16 by engaging portions provided at two locations, and the degree of adhesion with vibrating member 16 is also high, so drug container 20 vibrates at the same frequency as vibrating member 16. In drug container 20 of the present embodiment, partition plate 68 (partition member) is provided inside, and the inside of container body 70 is divided into upper and lower sections. A space (powdered medicine passage 117) through which the powdered medicine passes is secured below partition plate 68. Therefore, the weight of the powdered medicine on the upper side is less likely to be exerted on the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117, and the powdered medicine moves more easily.

[0102] The medicine container 20 of this embodiment is narrow, and therefore tall in order to ensure a sufficient volume to accommodate the powdered medicine. The pressure exerted on the powdered medicine is a function correlated with the height, and the higher the stack of powdered medicines, the stronger the force pressing down on the powdered medicines at the bottom. Therefore, without the partition plate 68 (partition member), the powdered medicine near the bottom wall 40 would be pressed against the powdered medicine above and harden, which could cause it to move less easily. In this embodiment, the weight of the powdered medicine at the upper side is supported by partition plate 68, so the powdered medicine near bottom wall 40 is not pressed against it, and the flow due to vibration is smooth. Furthermore, by vibrating medicine container 20 during the powdered medicine discharge operation, the powdered medicine in medicine container 20 is stirred in the storage space, which is the space above partition plate 68 (horizontal portion 146). At this time, some of the stored powdered medicine moves upward along large inclined portion 143, moving upward above horizontal portion 146 toward horizontal portion 146. Therefore, the powdered medicine is less likely to exert a downward pressure on the small holes (slits) in horizontal portion 146, and the powdered medicine flowing due to the stirring falls appropriately through the small holes (slits), allowing the powdered medicine to be discharged smoothly. When the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117 is insufficient, the powdered medicine falls into the powdered medicine passage 117 from a small hole 147 provided in the horizontal portion 146, and the powdered medicine is replenished in the powdered medicine passage 117.

[0103] In this embodiment, powdered medicine is replenished into powdered medicine passage 117 only from horizontal portion 146. Horizontal portion 146 is located closer to rear wall 36 than to front wall 35 in the horizontal direction, and is farther away from the discharge portion. Furthermore, since there is a large inclined portion 143 between the horizontal portion 146 and the front wall 35, the space in front of the direction of travel of the powdered medicine is wider. Specifically, the height of the space is higher. Therefore, a space is created above the powdered medicine flowing through the powdered medicine passage 117. Therefore, as the powdered medicine travels through the powdered medicine passage 117, the flow of the powdered medicine is straightened, and the flow becomes more laminar, resulting in a highly laminar flow.

[0104] In this embodiment, when the powdered medicine in the powdered medicine passage 117 moves toward the powdered medicine discharge portion 11, it passes through the flow rectifying member 72 and the gaps in the wire of the coil, which makes the flow of the medicine smooth. The powdered medicine falls from the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 of the shutter member 91 and enters the medicine input groove 13 of the distribution tray 6 below.

[0105] In this embodiment, the end face of the closing wall 110 is provided with an inclined edge 138, so that the effective opening degree can be adjusted. That is, in the medicine feeder 5 of this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 has a slit-like shape and is inclined relative to the container body . Therefore, as described above, powdered medicine discharge portion 11 has a spread in the width A direction of medicine input groove 13. Since the powdered medicine falls with a spread in the width A direction of medicine input groove 13, it falls evenly in the width A direction of medicine input groove 13. Therefore, when the powdered medicine is gathered in a later process, the gathered powdered medicine is less likely to fall apart.

[0106] The inclination of the end of the cutout portion 77 of the container body 70 is a combination of a steeply inclined portion 150 and a gently inclined portion 151 . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 24(a), if the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is increased, the powdered medicine can be dropped from the entire width of the bottom wall 40 (see FIG. 23(a)). In contrast, when the amount of movement of the closure wall 110 is small, as shown in Figure 24(b), only the area between the steeply inclined portion 150 of the closure wall 110 and the oblique side of the bottom wall 40 opens, thereby narrowing the effective opening width (see Figure 23(b)). When a large amount of powdered medicine needs to be discharged, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is increased, as shown in Figures 23(a) and 24(a), so that the powdered medicine falls from the entire width of the bottom wall 40, and when the amount of powdered medicine discharged is small, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is decreased, as shown in Figures 23(b) and 24(b), so that the powdered medicine falls from a narrow width.

[0107] When a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged, the vibration of the vibrating member 16 is stopped. Thereafter, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 is operated to the retraction side, which causes the engagement piece holding portion 56 to move toward the rear wall 36, causing the transmission member 92 to slide rearward, moving the shutter member 91 and closing the opening at the bottom of the container body 70. At the same time, the insertion / removal mechanism of the feeder body 10 assumes the storage position, and the engaging piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 disengages from the engaging recess 131 of the drug container 20.

[0108] Other embodiments of the present invention will now be described.

[0109] The bottom portion (bottom surface) of the internal space of medicine container 20 in the above-described embodiment, i.e., the bottom portion (bottom surface) of powdered medicine passage 117 (see FIGS. 15, 16, etc.) connected to powdered medicine discharge portion 11, may be inclined. For example, the bottom surface may be an inclined surface that is inclined so that the height decreases toward one side in the width direction of medicine container 20. In other words, the inclined surface is inclined so that the height decreases from one side of two left and right side walls 37 toward the other side, and may be formed so that the slope decreases toward lid member 75 when lid member 75 is closed, for example. With this structure, when the powdered medicine is discharged, the powdered medicine tends to gather on one side of the width of the medicine container 20, making it possible to discharge the powdered medicine accurately and stably even when a small amount is discharged. It is also possible to form this bottom surface so as to slope downwards towards the powdered medicine discharge portion 11. That is, it is also possible to form it so as to slope downwards from one end side to the other end side in a direction perpendicular to the width direction in a plan view.

[0110] The shutter member 91 described above may be fitted with a seal member 250 as shown in Fig. 25. The seal member 250 has an upright plate-shaped mounting piece portion 251 and a flat plate portion 280 that protrudes outward from one main surface of the mounting piece portion 251, which are integrally formed. As shown in Fig. 25(c), attachment piece portion 251 extends in an oblique direction. Note that the oblique direction refers to a direction that is inclined with respect to both the width direction of medicine container 20 (the left-right direction in Fig. 25(c)) and the flow direction of the powdered medicine when it is discharged (the up-down direction in Fig. 25(c)).

[0111] The flat plate portion 280 is divided into a first protruding piece 260, a second protruding piece 261, and a third protruding piece 262 from one side to the other in the width direction of the drug container 20 (left and right direction in Figure 25(c)). In the following description of sealing member 250, the width direction of drug container 20 (the left-right direction in FIG. 25(c)) is also referred to as the left-right direction, and the flow direction of the powdered medicine (the up-down direction in FIG. 25(c)) is also referred to as the front-rear direction. In this case, the bottom of FIG. 25(c) is the front.

[0112] The first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262 have different protruding lengths from the mounting piece 251 in a direction (the direction indicated by the arrow X in FIG. 25(c)) perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting piece 251. Specifically, the protruding lengths increase in the order of the first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262. Therefore, the protruding end face of the first protruding piece 260 and the protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 are continuous via a step. The protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 is located rearward of the protruding end face of the first protruding piece 260 in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of the mounting piece 251. The protruding end face of the third protruding piece 262 is located further rearward of the protruding end face of the second protruding piece 261 in the same direction.

[0113] Although not particularly limited, the rearmost portion of the protruding end of the first protruding piece 260 (the portion indicated by P1 in the figure) and the rearmost portion of the protruding end of the third protruding piece 262 (the portion indicated by P2 in the figure) are positioned at the same position in the front-to-rear direction. That is, the flat plate portion 280 has a shape in which a notched portion is formed in a plate-like body having a substantially trapezoidal shape in a plan view, and a part of the plate portion is missing.

[0114] As shown in Figure 26, this shutter member 91 moves back and forth (left and right in Figure 26) while the sealing member 250 is inserted into the internal space of the medicine container 20 (powdered medicine passage 117, see Figure 15, etc.), thereby performing the opening and closing operation of the powdered medicine discharge section 11. 26(a) to 26(c), when the shutter member 91 is moved to switch between the closed state and the open state, the shutter member 91 moves with at least a portion of the third protruding piece 262 always inserted inside the medicine container 20. For this reason, the seal member 250 also functions as a guide when the shutter member 91 is moved.

[0115] 26(a), the movement amount of the shutter member 91 (closure wall 110) is increased to fully open the powdered medicine discharging portion 11. At this time, the first protruding piece 260 and the second protruding piece 261 are disposed at positions spaced apart from the powdered medicine discharging portion 11, while a part of the third protruding piece 262 is inserted into the inside of the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 (inside the medicine container 20). Therefore, powdered medicine is discharged from both the portion of powdered medicine discharging portion 11 facing away from first protruding piece 260 and the portion facing away from second protruding piece 261. Also, a part of the opening forming powdered medicine discharging portion 11 is blocked by third protruding piece 262. In other words, powdered medicine falls from the space between powdered medicine discharging portion 11 and first protruding piece 260 and the space between powdered medicine discharging portion 11 and second protruding piece 261.

[0116] 26(b), the movement of shutter member 91 (closure wall 110) is reduced to slightly open powdered medicine discharging portion 11. At this time, first protruding piece 260 is disposed at a position spaced apart from the outside of powdered medicine discharging portion 11, while a part of second protruding piece 261 and a part of third protruding piece 262 are inserted into the inside of powdered medicine discharging portion 11 (inside medicine container 20). As a result, the portion of the powdered medicine discharging section 11 that faces the first protruding piece 260 at a distance is in a state of communication between the inside and outside, and the powdered medicine is discharged from this portion. Also, a portion of the opening forming the powdered medicine discharging section 11 is blocked by the second protruding piece 261 and the third protruding piece 262. In other words, the powdered medicine falls from the space between the powdered medicine discharging section 11 and the first protruding piece 260. In this way, when the movement amount of the shutter member 91 is small, the opening width effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes smaller. In other words, the opening area of ​​the portion of the powdered medicine discharging section 11 that is effective for discharging the powdered medicine becomes smaller.

[0117] 26(c), when the shutter member 91 is closed, the first protruding piece 260, the second protruding piece 261, and the third protruding piece 262 are inserted inside the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 (inside the medicine container 20). As a result, after the powdered medicine is discharged, by closing the shutter member 91, the powdered medicine can be pushed back from the vicinity of the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 to the back side.

[0118] As described above, in this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 can be opened in stages. When a large amount of powdered medicine needs to be discharged, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is increased, as shown in FIG. 26(a), to allow the powdered medicine to fall from a relatively wide area. When the amount of powdered medicine discharged is small, the movement amount of the closing wall 110 is decreased, as shown in FIG. 26(a), to allow the powdered medicine to fall from a relatively narrow area. In the above-described embodiment, the degree of opening (opening degree) of the powdered medicine discharge portion 11 is structured to be adjustable in two stages, but it may also be possible to adjust it in multiple stages, such as three or more stages. In other words, the number of protruding pieces may be four or more.

[0119] In addition to the structure described above that allows the opening of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 to be adjusted in stages, a structure may also be used in which the opening area (opening width) of the part of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 that is effective for discharging powdered medicine is continuously increased or decreased depending on the amount of movement of the shutter member 231 (opening / closing member), as shown in Figure 27.

[0120] As shown in Fig. 27, the shutter member 231 of this embodiment has a substantially quadrangular (substantially rectangular) shape in plan view (bottom view) of the closing wall 232, which is different from the shape described above. That is, the closing wall 232 has a shape that has a length in the width direction of the medicine container in plan view, and the rearmost side 232a (left side in Fig. 27) is a side that extends in the same direction as the width direction of the medicine container. In other words, the rearmost side has a linearly extending portion. In contrast, powdered medicine discharge portion 11 extends diagonally. The front end portion of bottom wall 40 also extends diagonally in a plan view. This front end portion of bottom wall 40 is also the boundary between bottom wall 40 and missing portion 77 (see FIG. 19, etc.) on the front wall 35 side.

[0121] When the closure wall 232 is in the fully open state as shown in Fig. 27(a), it is positioned so as not to overlap with the bottom wall 40 in a plan view. In other words, the entire closure wall 232 is positioned forward of the front ends (right ends in Fig. 27) of the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 and the bottom wall 40. In this case, the powdered medicine is discharged from the entire area of ​​the powdered medicine discharging portion 11. That is, the powdered medicine falls from the space located between the powdered medicine discharging portion 11 and the side 232a in a plan view (bottom view). 27(a), when the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction, as shown in FIG. 27(b), a part of the closing wall 232 is located below the bottom wall 40 and overlaps with the bottom wall 40 in the vertical direction (the depth direction in FIG. 27(a)). At this time, in a plan view, a part of the powdered medicine discharging section 11 (a part of the front end portion of the bottom wall 40) is located forward of the side 232a, and the other part is located rearward of the side 232a.

[0122] In this state, the part of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 located behind the side 232a is the effective part for discharging the powdered medicine. In other words, the powdered medicine falls from the space located between the part located behind the side 232a and the side 232a. Therefore, as the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction and the overlap between the bottom wall 40 and the closing wall 232 increases, the opening width of the portion effective for discharging the powdered medicine decreases. Conversely, as the shutter member 231 moves in the closing direction and the overlap between the bottom wall 40 and the closing wall 232 decreases, the opening width of the portion effective for discharging the powdered medicine increases. When in the fully closed state, as shown in Figure 27(c), the entire front end (right end in Figure 27) of the powdered medicine discharge section 11 and the bottom wall 40 is positioned forward of the side 232a.

[0123] In the above embodiment, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 contacts the outside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70. Also, in the above embodiment, the contour of the end face of the closing wall 110 is a simple inclined line. Alternatively, the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 may be configured to contact the inside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70.

[0124] If the closing wall 110 of the shutter member 91 is configured to contact the inside of the bottom wall 40 of the container body 70, when the closing wall 110 is closed, the end of the shutter member 91 pushes the powdered medicine that has reached the vicinity of the opening of the bottom wall 40 of the medicine container 20 to the back side. Therefore, the next time the closing wall 110 is opened, the powdered medicine is prevented from spilling out.

[0125] In the above-described embodiment, a partition plate 68 (partition member) is provided near the lower part of the container body 70, but in addition to this, or instead of the partition plate 68 (partition member), a canopy-shaped temporary support plate 152 may be provided in the middle of the height direction of the drug container, as shown in Figure 28. By providing the temporary receiving plate 152, the weight of the powdered medicine on the upper side can be prevented from being applied to the powdered medicine below. The temporary support plate 152 may have an opening.

[0126] In addition to the partition plate 68 (partition member) provided near the bottom of the container body 70, as shown in Figure 29(a), a second partition 160 may be provided to separate the inside of the container body 70. It is also recommended to provide a shutter 161 on the second partition 160 as shown in Figure 29(b). The shutter 161 is opened and closed manually. By providing the second partition 160, it is possible to promote first-in, first-out of powdered medicine.

[0127] It is desirable to use up all the powdered medicine in the medicine container 20 before refilling the medicine container 20 with new powdered medicine, but there may be cases where some medicine is left over. In this case, the remaining powdered medicine is dropped under the second partition 160, and then the shutter 161 is closed to separate the lower and upper parts of the medicine container. The upper part is then filled with powdered medicine. After that, the shutter 161 is opened. By doing so, the new powdered medicine is piled on top of the original powdered medicine, and the old one is discharged first.

[0128] The shutter 161 of the second partition 160 may be interlocked with the shutter member 91 of the powdered medicine discharging section 11. For example, as shown in FIG. 30, the shutter member 91 and the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 are connected by a spring 170, and the shutter member 91 and the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 are interlocked. It is desirable that the interlocking spring 170 be a spring weaker than the spring of the biasing member 93 that biases the shutter member 91 in the closing direction. The reason for this is that if there is a large amount of powdered medicine remaining, the powdered medicine may become stuck in the shutter 161 of the second partition 160, preventing the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 from closing. The shutter 161 of the second partition 160 does not necessarily have to be fully closed. By weakening the spring 170, the shutter 161 of the second partition 160 can be set to a half-open state.

[0129] Although the medicine container described above is filled with powdered medicine directly from the side, the side into which the powdered medicine is filled is arbitrary. For example, powdered medicine may be introduced from the top side of the medicine container. 31, a medicine container 172 with an open top may be used. For example, one or more medicine containers 172 with an open top may be attached to one or more feeder bodies 10. When packaging powdered medicine that is used less frequently, the powdered medicine is directly inserted into the opening at the top and packaged.

[0130] In the embodiment described above, the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is installed inside the equipment storage opening 15 of the distribution tray 6. Here, it is desirable that the height of the opening of the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is slightly lower than the distribution tray 6 as shown in FIG. The height of the opening of the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 is made lower than that of the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310, and the rotating plate 12 is rotated relatively slowly, so that the powdered medicine can be put into the powdered medicine feeding hopper 310 without scattering.

[0131] The above-described drug feeder 5 may employ a drug container 420 of a second embodiment as shown in Fig. 33 instead of the above-described drug container 20. Like the above-described drug container 20, the drug container 420 of the second embodiment is detachable from the feeder body 10. In other words, the drug feeder is composed of the drug container 420 and the feeder body 10.

[0132] This drug container 420 is also surrounded by a front wall 435 and a back wall 436 which form the small-area side surfaces, two side walls 437 which form the large-area side surfaces, a top wall 438, and a bottom wall 440. In other words, this drug container 420 is also a vertically elongated box-shaped member. Also, in the same manner as above, an engagement groove 130 and an engagement recess (a recess which engages with engagement piece 50, not shown) are formed in the back wall 436. Medicine container 420 has openable and closable powdered medicine discharge portion 411 (see FIG. 35) at a position on bottom wall 440 near front wall 435. Medicine container 420 also has shutter structure portion 473.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 34(a), shutter structure 473 has shutter member 491 (opening / closing member) and transmission member 492. That is, it differs from the above-described embodiment in that it does not have guide member 90 and biasing member 93 (see FIG. 19, etc.). As with the above-described embodiment, linear movement of transmission member 492 moves shutter member 491, and powdered medicine discharging section 411 opens and closes. That is, as with the above-described embodiment, a portion of transmission member 492 on the rear wall 436 side is exposed to the outside, and transmission member 492 engages with shutter opening / closing mechanism 55 by holding medicine container 420 in feeder body 10.

[0134] Note that drug container 420 of the present embodiment has holding protrusion 525 that holds a middle portion of transmission member 492, and locking protrusion 526. Locking protrusion 526 is a part that forms a locking mechanism that maintains powdered drug discharging portion 411 (shutter) in a closed state to prevent it from accidentally opening when drug container 420 is removed from feeder body 10 and carried. The holding protrusions 525 are a pair of protrusions extending in directions approaching each other from above and below. A groove-like portion is formed inside the holding protrusions 525, and a part of the transmission member 492 is inserted into the groove-like portion. Locking protrusion 526 is a protrusion formed integrally with the front and rear flat plate portions of leaf spring member 520, and is a plate-like portion extending in a generally V-shape in side view between the two flat plate portions. Locking protrusion 526 protrudes in a cantilevered manner outward in the width direction of drug container 420 together with the front and rear flat plate portions, and elastically deforms together with the flat plate portions. Locking protrusion 526 engages with a notch portion (locking portion) formed above transmission member 492 (above engagement portion 116), thereby restricting unintended movement of transmission member 492.

[0135] Then, by attaching the drug container 420 to the feeder body 10, the engagement (locked state) between the locking protrusion 526 and the transmission member 492 is released, and the transmission member 492 becomes movable. Specifically, by attaching the drug container 420 to the feeder body 10, the engagement portion 60 (see FIGS. 13, 14, etc.) of the engagement piece holding portion 56 and the engagement portion 116 of the transmission member 492 are engaged with each other, as described above (the portion of the transmission member 492 that is rearward of the engagement portion 116 is inserted into the engagement portion 60 of the engagement piece holding portion 56 from above). That is, in this embodiment, at this time, the flat portion on the rear side (toward the rear wall 436) of the locking protrusion 526 is lifted from below by the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 56 on which the engagement portion 60 is formed. As a result, both the locking protrusion 526 and the flat plate-like portion are elastically deformed so as to bend, and the engagement between the locking protrusion 526 and the transmission member 492 is released.

[0136] As shown in Fig. 33, in drug container 420 of this embodiment, lid member 475 constitutes top wall 438 among the walls. Lid member 475 is attached to box portion 471 having an open top, and lid member 475 is swingable by hinge 421. By opening lid member 475, powdered medicine can be filled from above, and by closing lid member 475, drug container 420 can be sealed. Note that drug container 420 of this embodiment can be filled with powdered medicine while it is held in feeder body 10.

[0137] 35, the lid member 475 of this embodiment has a lid main body part 475a and a small lid part 475b. The small lid part 475b is attached to the underside of the lid main body part 475a (the underside when in the closed state) and is swingable by a hinge 421. Here, lid member 475 has intra-lid storage section 527, which is a space capable of storing a desiccant or the like. In this embodiment, intra-lid storage section 527 stores a humidity control agent. Intra-lid storage section 527 can be opened and closed by swinging small lid section 475b. That is, intra-lid storage section 527 is a space formed between lid main body section 475a and small lid section 475b. More specifically, when lid member 475 is in the closed position and small lid section 475b is also in the closed position, intra-lid storage section 527 is a space located above most of small lid section 475b.

[0138] 34(a) and 35, lid member 475 has lid-side locking piece 476 on the side opposite to the connection portion with box portion 471. Lid-side locking piece 476 is connected to the end portion on the front side of lid main body portion 475a by hinge 421 in a swingable state. As shown in FIG. 35, lid-side locking piece 476 has locking protrusion 476a on its inner surface when in an upright position. This locking protrusion 476a extends from the front side toward the back side when lid member 475 is in the closed state, and is capable of engaging with protrusion 600 formed on box portion 471. That is, locking protrusion 476a and protrusion 600 are a pair of engaging portions that engage with each other. When these engage with each other, lid member 475 enters a locked state (a state in which the closed state is firmly maintained). Box portion 471 is formed with an operation notch 601 (see FIG. 34(a)) for operating lid member 475. This operation notch 601 is located on one side of lid member 475 (on one side in the width direction) when lid member 475 is in the locked state.

[0139] As shown in FIG. 36, the box section 471 is formed by inserting a partition member 606 into a box section main body 605 from the opening on the front side, attaching a pressing plate member 607, and further attaching a shutter structure section 473. The partition member 606 has a flat main body portion 606a, a pressed plate portion 606b protruding upward from the upper surface of the main body portion 606a, and a rectifying portion 472 (see Figure 37) formed on the lower surface side of the main body portion 606a. The lower side of partition member 606 constitutes powdered medicine passage 517. Powdered medicine passage 517 is a passage that leads to powdered medicine discharge portion 411, and is surrounded by the bottom of box portion 471, the lower part of the side wall, and partition member 606.

[0140] The main body 606a has a communication hole forming portion 546 on the rear wall 436 side. The communication hole forming portion 546 is a portion in which a large number of small holes (openings) 547 are provided, and in this embodiment, a row of elongated holes is formed. This row of elongated holes is formed by lining up multiple elongated holes in the front-to-rear direction. Each elongated hole penetrates the main body 606a in the thickness direction and extends in the width direction of the drug container 20. The small holes (openings) 547 employed in this embodiment are slit-shaped extending in the width W direction of the container body 70.

[0141] As shown in Fig. 37(a), the flow rectifying section 472 of this embodiment is a protrusion group composed of a plurality of protrusions. Each protrusion belonging to the flow rectifying section 472 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and protrudes downward from the lower surface of the main body section 606a (upward from the upper surface in Fig. 37(a)). Each protrusion has a thickness in the width direction of the drug container 420 and extends in the front-rear direction. Here, the multiple protrusions belonging to the flow rectifying section 472 are arranged in a staggered pattern. That is, the flow rectifying section 472 is composed of a first protrusion row 472a on the front side and a second protrusion row 472b on the rear side (the side of the communication hole forming section 546). In each protrusion row, multiple (four in this embodiment) protrusions are arranged in parallel at intervals in the width direction of the drug container 420. The rear portions of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a are located to the sides of the front portions of the protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b. Therefore, the rear portions of some of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a are disposed between two protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b. A gap is formed between the side surfaces of the protrusions belonging to the first protrusion row 472a and the side surfaces of the protrusions belonging to the second protrusion row 472b, which are disposed at positions facing each other in the width direction of the drug container 20. 37(b), the positions of the lower end surfaces of the plurality of protrusions belonging to the rectifying section 472 in the height direction are different. That is, as the position of the protrusions approaches one end in the width direction (the right side in FIG. 10(b)), the position of the lower end surface becomes lower.

[0142] As shown in Figures 35 and 36, the pressure plate member 607 has two mounting operation parts 610 and a pressing protrusion part 611 (see Figure 35). The mounting operation part 610 is a knob part that is elastically deformed when operated by a user. The two mounting operation parts 610 are formed at positions spaced apart in the width direction, and each has a protrusion part that protrudes outward in the width direction. 36 , box-side engaging portions 612 are formed on each of the left and right side walls of the box main body 605. The box-side engaging portions 612 are holes that penetrate the side walls and engage with protruding portions of the attachment operation portions 610. In other words, the presser plate member 607 is attached to the box main body 605 by the engagement between the two attachment operation portions 610 and the two box-side engaging portions 612.

[0143] As shown in Fig. 35, the pressing protrusion 611 is a protrusion that extends from the front to the rear (from the right to the left in Fig. 35) and is a part that abuts against the pressed plate portion 606b of the partition member 606 from the front. Specifically, the surface of the protruding end comes into surface contact with the front surface of the pressed plate portion 606b. This makes it possible to prevent unintended displacement of the partition member 606.

[0144] As shown in Figure 36, the shutter member 491 has a closing wall 510 (see Figure 34(b) etc.), a guide wall portion 511, and a connecting wall 512. On the other hand, the above-mentioned stopper wall 113 (see Figure 19 etc.) is not formed. In addition, a seal member 550 is attached at a position above the closing wall 110.

[0145] In the drug container 420 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 34(b), when the powdered medicine discharging portion 411 is closed, the closing wall 510 is located forward of the bottom wall 440. In other words, a portion of the closing wall 510 does not overlap the bottom wall 440 in the vertical direction. In this embodiment, the powdered medicine discharging portion 411 is closed by bringing the bottom wall 440 close to the powdered medicine discharging portion 411 and pressing the seal member 550 against the powdered medicine discharging portion 411. In addition, the powdered medicine discharging portion 411 is opened by moving the seal member 550 forward away from the powdered medicine discharging portion 411. Note that when the drug container 420 is closed, a portion of the seal member 550 enters the powdered medicine passage 517 from the powdered medicine discharging portion 411 (see FIG. 35).

[0146] 35, inside drug container 420 of the present embodiment, communication hole forming portion 546, which is a flat portion, serves as a partition plate portion (partition member). That is, partition plate portion (partition member) is arranged at the boundary between storage space 613 that stores the powdered medicine and powdered medicine passage 517. Powdered medicine passage 517 is a portion through which the powdered medicine passes when it is discharged, and is a space located below communication hole forming portion 546 and includes the portion between communication hole forming portion 546 and bottom wall 440.

[0147] In this embodiment, the bottom portion of powdered medicine passage 517 (the upper surface of bottom wall 440) is inclined. Specifically, in the width direction of medicine container 420, it is inclined so as to slope downward toward one side end (the rear end in the front-rear direction in FIG. 35). Furthermore, in the front-rear direction of medicine container 420 (the left-right direction in FIG. 35), it is inclined so as to slope downward toward powdered medicine discharging section 411. In other words, powdered medicine discharging section 411 as a whole is inclined toward one side end in the width direction of medicine container 420. Furthermore, the lower end portions of all of the multiple protrusions belonging to rectifying section 472 are in close contact with the bottom portion of powdered medicine passage 517. Therefore, when the powdered medicine passes through rectifying section 472, it passes between two protrusions, or between one protrusion and side wall 437 of medicine container 420. In other words, when the powdered medicine passes through rectifying section 472, it passes through a small gap (narrow flow path), and the flow of the medicine is smoothed.

[0148] Communication hole forming portion 546 is a portion that assumes a horizontal position when drug container 420 is held in feeder body 10. Furthermore, large inclined portion 543 and small inclined portion 545 are provided in a portion adjacent to communication hole forming portion 546 that serves as a partition plate.

[0149] When the drug container 420 is held in the feeder body 10, the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 together form an inclined surface that slopes toward the communication hole forming portion 546. The large inclined portion 543 is longer than the small inclined portion 545, and the inclination angles of the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 are the same. In other words, the space between the large inclined portion 543 and the small inclined portion 545 (the lower portion of the storage space 613) converges toward the communication hole forming portion 546.

[0150] When discharging medicine from medicine container 420, powdered medicine discharge portion 411 is opened while medicine container 420 is held by feeder body 10, and medicine container 420 is vibrated. At this time, when the amount of powdered medicine in powdered medicine passage 517 decreases due to discharge, the powdered medicine in medicine container 420 moves from storage space 613, which is the space above communication hole forming portion 546, to powdered medicine passage 517 and proceeds toward powdered medicine discharge portion 411. Then, the powdered medicine is discharged from powdered medicine discharge portion 411. In this embodiment as well, by vibrating medicine container 420, the powdered medicine is stirred in storage space 613. At this time, a portion of the stored powdered medicine moves upward along large inclined portion 543, and moves upward above communication hole forming portion 546 toward communication hole forming portion 546. In other words, similar to the above, the powdered medicine is less likely to apply a pressing force to communication hole forming portion 546, allowing the powdered medicine to be discharged smoothly.

[0151] Next, a drug feeder 700 of a second embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 39 to 42. The drug feeder 700 has a drug container 701 of the third embodiment and a feeder body 702 of the second embodiment that holds the drug container 701. The basic configuration and functions of the drug container 701 and the feeder body 702 are the same as those of the drug containers 20, 172, 420 and the feeder body 10 described above, so only the improvements will be explained. The feeder body 702 of this embodiment is provided with a removal assisting member 705 used when removing the drug container 701. The feeder body 702 also has a shutter opening / closing mechanism 706 with a function for locking the shutter 707. On the other hand, drug container 701 of the third embodiment is provided with engaging portion 710 that engages with detachment assist member 705. Drug container 701 also has a locking mechanism that maintains a closed state so that powdered drug discharging portion 711 (shutter) does not open accidentally, but the structure thereof is different from that of drug container 420 described above. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 42, the structures of powdered medicine discharge section 711 and shutter structure section 713 of medicine container 701 are different from those of the above-described medicine containers 20, 172, and 420. This will be explained below.

[0152] In the feeder body 702 of this embodiment, a removal assist member 705 used when removing the drug container 701 is provided on the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 (vertical wall) of the vibration member 16 (container holding portion). As shown in FIGS. 39, 40, and 41, the removal assisting member 705 is a lever that rotates around a horizontally disposed shaft 720, and has an operating portion 721 and an acting portion 722. The operating portion 721 is shaped like an upward arch, and has an engagement pressing portion 723 and a release pressing portion 725 . The action portion 722 is a claw.

[0153] Operating unit 721 and action unit 722 are connected by a substantially "L"-shaped connecting unit 726. Connecting unit 726 has a vertical side portion 727 that is in a vertical position and a horizontal side portion 728 that is in a horizontal position, based on the state in which drug container 701 is attached to vibration member 16 (container holding unit). A shaft 720 is passed through the connecting portion between vertical side portion 727 and horizontal side portion 728. The outer portion of the connecting portion between the vertical side portion 727 and the horizontal side portion 728 functions as a seating portion 731 and is a flat surface.

[0154] A biasing member 732 such as a spring is provided on the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 (vertical wall) and constantly biases the detachment assist member 705. Specifically, the biasing member 732 presses the horizontal side portion 728 upward, and biases the detachment assist member 705 in the rotation direction.

[0155] As in the above-described embodiment, the shutter opening / closing mechanism 706 of the feeder body 702 is composed of an engagement piece holding portion 735 and an arm 57. As in the above-described embodiment, a recess that becomes the engagement portion 60 is provided on the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 735. In addition, in this embodiment, a protrusion 737 is provided on the upper surface of the engagement piece holding portion 735. The protrusion 737 has an inclined surface 738. The inclination direction of the inclined surface 738 is such that the front side is lower and the rear side is higher, with the protruding direction of the arm 57 as the reference point.

[0156] Similar to drug container 420 of the second embodiment described above, drug container 701 of the third embodiment has lid member 475 attached to box portion 471 with an open top, and lid member 475 is swingable by hinge 421. As described above, drug container 701 is provided with engaging portion 710 with which removal assist member 705 described above engages. Engaging portion 710 is a protrusion provided on rear wall 436. The position of engaging portion 710 is arbitrary, and it may be on side wall 437 or bottom wall 440.

[0157] 39, similarly to the second embodiment, shutter structure section 713 has shutter 707, shutter member 740 (opening / closing member), and transmission member 741. When transmission member 741 moves linearly, shutter member 740 moves, and powdered medicine discharging section 711 opens and closes. 39, a notch 742 is provided on the upper side of the transmission member 741, similar to the drug container 420 of the second embodiment. A front side inclination 743 of the notch 742 is gentle, and a rear side inclination 745 is steep. Furthermore, drug container 701 of this embodiment also has plate spring member 748 and locking protrusion 747 . Leaf spring member 748 is attached in a cantilevered manner to the outer side in the width direction of medicine container 701. Locking protrusion 747 is a roughly triangular member, and is fixed integrally with leaf spring member 748. 39, the lower surface of the locking protrusion 747 has a front side inclination 750 and a rear side inclination 751. The front side inclination 750 of the locking protrusion 747 is a gentle inclination, and the rear side inclination 751 is a steep inclination.

[0158] As shown in FIG. 42, shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) has protruding portion 760 that protrudes toward medicine container 701 when powdered medicine discharging portion 711 is closed. The cross section of the protrusion 760 is a substantially triangular shape as shown in Fig. 42, with an upper surface 761 being substantially horizontal and a lower surface 762 being an inclined surface. A tip 763 is a substantially vertical surface. The inclination angle of lower surface 762 is 30 degrees or less. The inclination angle of lower surface 762 is desirably smaller than the angle of repose of the powdered medicine contained in medicine container 701.

[0159] Inside the medicine container 701, there is a powdered medicine passage 517 connected to the powdered medicine discharge section 711, and the medicine travels through the powdered medicine passage 517 and is discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section 711. In this embodiment, partition member 620, which corresponds to the ceiling wall of powdered medicine passage 517, has partition portion 766 that protrudes toward (downward from) powdered medicine passage 517 (FIGS. 42, 45, and 46). The height (hanging amount) of partition portion 766 is 1.2 mm to 3.0 mm, or one-fifth to three-fifths of the passage height. When the shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) closes the powdered medicine discharging portion 711 , the tip end 763 of the protruding portion 760 comes very close to the partition portion 766 . Furthermore, upper surface 761 of protruding portion 760 comes extremely close to partition member 620 which corresponds to the ceiling wall of powdered medicine passage 517 . Angle D between lower surface 762 of protrusion 760 and the bottom surface of powdered medicine passage 517 is an angle equal to or less than the angle of repose of the powdered medicine.

[0160] Therefore, immediately after the shutter member 740 (opening / closing member) is opened, the angle E of the slope at the tip in the direction of travel of the powdered medicine P is equal to or less than the angle of repose as shown in FIG. 42(b), making it difficult for the powdered medicine P to spill out. In addition, since the space for powdered medicine to enter between the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760 of the shutter member 740 and the ceiling wall of the powdered medicine passage 517 is small, the powdered medicine is less likely to land on the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill from the upper surface 761 of the protrusion 760 when the shutter member 740 is opened. Since the space for powdered medicine to enter is small between the tip 763 of the protrusion 760 of the shutter member 740 and the partition 766, the powdered medicine is less likely to adhere to the tip 763 of the protrusion 760, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill out from the tip 763 of the protrusion 760 when the shutter member 740 is opened.

[0161] Next, the operation when the medicine container 701 is attached to the feeder body 702 will be described. When the drug container 701 is not attached, the feeder body 702 is in a standby state as shown in Figure 40(a). Specifically, the horizontal side portion 728 of the detachment assist member 705 is pressed by the biasing member 732, and the detachment assist member 705 is in an inclined position as a whole. The engagement piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 is immersed in the opening 51.

[0162] In this state, the rear wall 436 of the drug container 701 is inserted from above along the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 702 as shown in FIG. 40(b). At this time, it is desirable to first tilt medicine container 701 so that powdered medicine discharge portion 711 faces upward before inserting it into vibration-side vertical wall portion 33. By doing so, the powdered medicine in powdered medicine passage 517 of medicine container 701 moves away from powdered medicine discharge portion 711, and the powdered medicine is less likely to spill out when shutter member 740 is opened.

[0163] By inserting the rear wall 36 of the drug container 701 from above along the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 of the feeder body 702, the engagement groove 130 of the drug container 701 can be engaged with the engagement portion (holding portion side engagement portion) 48 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33. The engagement piece (holding portion side engagement portion) 50 of the vibration side vertical wall portion 33 is recessed into the opening 51 .

[0164] As drug container 701 is inserted, action portion 722 of removal assist member 705 comes into contact with engagement portion 710 of drug container 701 . As the drug container 701 is further inserted, the action part 722 of the removal assist member 705 is pushed by the drug container 701 and rotates, causing the vertical side part 727 to assume a vertical position and the horizontal side part 728 to assume a horizontal position, so that the removal assist member 705 assumes a stable position. As described above, the removal assist member 705 can be rotated by inserting the drug container 701, but the removal assist member 705 can also be rotated by additionally pressing the engagement pressing portion 723 of the operating portion 721. In any case, when drug container 701 is correctly attached to feeder body 702, horizontal side portion 728 of detachment assist member 705 assumes a horizontal position as shown in Figure 40(c). Therefore, by visually checking that operation portion 721 is horizontal when viewed from above, it is possible to confirm that drug container 701 has been securely attached to feeder body 702.

[0165] When removing drug container 701 from feeder body 702, release pressing portion 725 of operation portion 721 is pressed as shown by the arrow in Figure 41. As a result, detachment assist member 705 rotates in the opposite direction, and action portion 722 of detachment assist member 705 rises. Therefore, action portion 722 engages with engagement portion 710 of drug container 701 and pushes up drug container 701, causing drug container 701 to move upward and detach from feeder body 702.

[0166] According to this embodiment, the drug container 701 can be easily removed from the feeder body 702. That is, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the medicine feeders 5, 700 are arranged closely, so there are few gaps between the medicine containers 701, making it difficult to insert fingers. With the medicine feeder 700 of this embodiment, there is no need to insert fingers between the medicine containers 701, making it easy to remove the medicine containers 701.

[0167] Next, a mechanism for locking shutter 707 of drug container 701 will be described. In drug container 701, when shutter member 740 is closed, transmission member 741 is retracted, and locking protrusion 747 attached to leaf spring member 748 is engaged with notch 742 of transmission member 741. Here, rear side inclination 745 of notch 742 and rear side inclination 751 of locking protrusion 747 are both steeply inclined. Therefore, even if transmission member 741 attempts to move in the direction to open shutter 707, the steeply inclined surfaces of notch 742 and locking protrusion 747 engage with each other, preventing transmission member 741 from moving in the direction to open shutter 707. Therefore, the shutter 707 of the medicine container 701 is locked and does not open.

[0168] On the other hand, when engaging piece holding portion 735 is moved toward front wall 35 in order to discharge the powdered medicine from medicine container 701, engaging piece holding portion 735 moves and protrusion 737 abuts against locking protrusion 747 of medicine container 701. At this time, the abutting surface on the side of protrusion 737 is inclined surface 738, and as protrusion 737 moves forward, locking protrusion 747 of medicine container 701 is pushed up against leaf spring member 748. As a result, the locking protrusion 747 attached to the leaf spring member 748 leaves the notch 742 of the transmission member 741, and the engagement between the locking protrusion 747 attached to the leaf spring member 748 and the notch 742 of the transmission member 741 is released. Engagement piece holding portion 735 moves toward front wall 35, transmission member 741 slides forward, and shutter 707 moves, and powdered medicine discharging portion 711 of medicine container 701 opens.

[0169] As a measure to make it even easier to remove the drug container 20 (hereinafter, this may also be a drug container of other structures), it is possible to provide a spring or other such biasing member 770 on the feeder body 10, as shown in Figure 43, and to constantly bias the drug container 20 upward using the biasing member 770. In this embodiment, when the engaging piece 50 of the vibration-side vertical wall portion 33 is retracted, the restriction that fixes the medicine container 20 is released, and the medicine container 20 is lifted upward by the biasing member 770.

[0170] In the embodiment described above, the engagement piece 50 that engages with the drug container 20 is connected to the insertion / removal mechanism and is structured to work in conjunction with the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55, but the engagement piece 50 may also be configured to appear and disappear independently. For example, as shown in FIG. 44, a spring 780 biases the engaging piece 50 in a protruding direction, and by operating a lever 781, the engaging piece 50 can be pulled in and disengaged from the drug container 20. According to this embodiment, the engaging piece 50 can be pulled in without relying on the actuator of the shutter opening / closing mechanism 55, and the drug container 20 can be removed from the feeder body.

[0171] The small hole (opening) 146 provided in the container body 70 of the first embodiment and the small hole (opening) 547 provided in the container body 70 of the second embodiment are both slit-shaped extending in the width W direction of the container body 70, but the shape of the opening is not limited to this configuration. For example, the small hole (opening) 782 shown in FIGS. 45 and 46 is in the form of a slit extending from the rear wall 36 side of the container body 70 to the front wall 35. The small hole (opening) 782 has a long and narrow triangular shape in plan view, and the opening width increases toward the front wall 35 side. According to experiments, the powdered medicine flows more smoothly when the shape of the small hole (opening) 782 is set to the shape shown in Figures 45 and 46. The shape of the opening is not limited to the shape shown in Figures 45 and 46.

[0172] As described above, the partition member 620 shown in Fig. 46 has the partition portion 766 on the lower surface. Furthermore, in the partition member 620 shown in Fig. 46, the flow rectifying portion 621 has a columnar shape.

[0173] 47, the upper surface of partition member 622 may be provided with irregularities 625. This embodiment can prevent the powdered medicine from being compacted inside medicine container 20. The irregularities 625 employed in this embodiment are sawtooth or wave-shaped and have an inclination. This allows the weight of the powdered medicine itself on the upper side to be released near partition member 622, thereby preventing the powdered medicine near partition member 622 from being compacted. The shape of the unevenness is not limited to a sawtooth or wave shape, but may be a pyramidal shape such as a conical or triangular pyramid.

[0174] In all of the embodiments described above, the drug container 20 is used by being attached to the feeder body 10. Here, it is desirable to provide a sensor that confirms whether the drug container 20 is properly attached to the feeder body 10. The structure of the sensor is arbitrary, but it is desirable to use a sensor that can detect objects, such as a photoelectric sensor or a proximity sensor. The sensor can be attached to any location, but the vibrating side vertical wall portion 33 or the vibrating side horizontal portion 32 of the feeder body 10 are possible attachment locations.

[0175] In the embodiment described above, an RFID tag is attached to the medicine container 20 as the information storage means 65. Instead of or in addition to the RFID tag, an AR marker may be provided. The AR marker is a pre-registered photograph, illustration, or other graphic. A label with the AR marker printed on it is affixed to the medicine container 20 in a visible position. The AR marker can be recognized by a camera. In recent years, there has been a trend to install multiple cameras within the device so that the drug dispensing process can be monitored and confirmed later. For example, a camera for monitoring dispensing may be installed near the drug feeder 5. For example, the camera is used to photograph the AR marker and identify the drug container 20. This allows checking against the drug information based on the prescription information to confirm whether the drug container is set correctly. While RFID tags require a certain detection distance, AR markers have fewer such restrictions. Also, since surveillance cameras can be used to capture images of AR markers, using AR markers instead of RFID tags can reduce the number of parts required to read RFID tags.

[0176] In the above-described medicine dispensing device 1, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a plurality of medicine feeders 5 are fixed around the periphery of the distribution tray 6. The plurality of medicine feeders 5 are arranged radially. That is, as shown in Figure 38(a), each medicine feeder 5 is arranged so that its center in the width direction overlaps with the center of rotation of the distribution tray 6 (point P3 in the figure) in a plan view. In the above-described medicine dispensing device 1, one type of powdered medicine is accommodated in the medicine container 20 of one medicine feeder 5. That is, one medicine container 20 of one medicine feeder 5 is assigned one-to-one to a predetermined powdered medicine. In this case, the medicine container 20 may accommodate more than one dose. When performing the above-described operation of dispensing the powdered medicine, a medicine feeder 5 assigned to the powdered medicine to be dispensed is selected from the multiple medicine feeders 5, and the powdered medicine in an amount equivalent to one dose can be dispensed from the selected medicine feeder. Furthermore, when one or more types of powdered medicine are discharged from one or more medicine feeders 5, a predetermined amount of powdered medicine may be discharged (dispensed) into the distribution tray 6 from one or more selected medicine feeders 5.

[0177] When the medicine dispensing device 1 of the above embodiment is used continuously, the powdered medicine in the medicine container 20 may run out in any of the medicine feeders 5. That is, the powdered medicine, which is a consumable item, may run out. In such a case, in the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the user (pharmacist, etc.) removes the medicine container 20 from the feeder body 10, fills the medicine container 20 with powdered medicine, and then reattaches the medicine container 20 to the feeder body 10. In other words, when the powdered medicine runs out (or is predicted to run out) in any of the medicine feeders 5, the user is notified by a notification operation or the like and performs the above-mentioned operations. Here, in the drug dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, when reattaching the drug container 20, it can be attached to another feeder body 10 in addition to the feeder body 10 to which the drug container 20 was originally attached. That is, if there is a feeder body 10 other than the original feeder body 10 to which the drug container 20 is not attached, it can also be attached to that feeder body 10. In other words, when reattaching, the drug container 20 can be attached to any one selected from all feeder bodies 10 that are not currently holding a drug container 20. This eliminates the need for the user to consider where to attach the drug container 20, making the above-mentioned operation easier.

[0178] As described above, it is preferable that the powdered medicine discharge section of the medicine container be able to change the opening width (powdered medicine outlet width) effective for discharging the powdered medicine. For example, as described above, the blocked portion of the opening of the powdered medicine discharge section may be able to be changed stepwise or continuously. With such a configuration, it is possible to combine it with a control that changes the flow rate of the powdered medicine by varying the vibration amount, enabling a more accurate powdered medicine discharge operation.

[0179] The medicine dispensing device 1 described above is designed to be compact. However, if the entire device is made compact, there is a risk that the housing 2 (the entire device) may tilt even if the impact it receives is small. Furthermore, if the housing 2 tilts when the medicine dispensing device 1 is moved or receives an impact during installation, and the medicine dispensing device 1 is operated with the housing 2 tilted, there is a risk of malfunctions occurring in various operations (for example, an operation of measuring the weight of powdered medicine). Therefore, the medicine dispensing device 1 may be provided with a gyro sensor (a tilt detection means, a level). Also, a tilt notification operation may be performed to notify the tilt of the housing 2 based on information detected by the gyro sensor (a signal transmitted from the gyro sensor). This tilt notification operation is an operation to notify the user when the tilt of the entire device detected by the gyro sensor exceeds a specified value. This operation may be an operation executed when the power of the medicine dispensing device 1 is turned on. Alternatively, for example, the operation may be an operation in which a sound generating means such as a speaker is provided in the medicine dispensing device 1 and an alarm sound (alert) or a message is output.

[0180] It is also recommended to use a three-axis acceleration sensor as a tilt detection means. For example, a board on which a three-axis acceleration sensor is mounted is attached to a partition or plate that is supported horizontally inside the housing 2. A 3-axis accelerometer is an inertial sensor designed to measure acceleration and can detect three-dimensional inertial motion (translational motion in three orthogonal axes). A 3-axis accelerometer can measure gravity, motion, vibration, and shock. For example, medicine dispensing device 1 is installed in a predetermined position, and output values ​​for each axis of the triaxial acceleration sensor are stored after adjusting the level of housing 2. The triaxial acceleration sensor can detect gravitational acceleration, and since gravitational acceleration is always applied in the vertical direction, when housing 2 is tilted, the detected values ​​for each of the three axes change. Based on the change in the detected value, the degree of tilt of the housing 2 is calculated to detect the tilt of the housing 2. It may also be possible to display how the posture should be corrected to return to a horizontal posture. Conversely, if the change in each of the detected values ​​along the three axes is less than a certain level, it can be determined that the medicine dispensing device 1 is not tilted and its posture is stable.

[0181] Incidentally, the powdered medicine discharge operation in the above-described medicine feeder 5 may be an operation in which the medicine container 20 is vibrated while the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is in the closed state (with the shutter closed), and then the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is opened and the medicine container 20 is vibrated to discharge the medicine. In other words, an operation in which the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is in the closed state and the medicine container 20 is vibrated (hereinafter also referred to as the closed-state vibration operation) may be executed prior to an operation in which the powdered medicine discharge unit 11 is in the open state and the medicine container 20 is vibrated (hereinafter also referred to as the open-state vibration operation). Here, the closed-state vibration operation may be an operation that vibrates the medicine container 20 more strongly than the open-state vibration operation. That is, the medicine feeder 5 may be configured to be able to change the vibration frequency or amplitude. The closed-state vibration operation may be an operation that has a greater vibration amount (vibration magnitude) than the open-state vibration operation, or may be an operation that has a greater number of vibrations per unit time. Furthermore, the closed-state vibration operation may be an operation that vibrates the medicine container 20 with the strongest vibration, that is, an operation that has the maximum vibration or the maximum number of vibrations per unit time. More specifically, immediately after filling the medicine container 20 with medicine, there may be no powdered medicine near the powdered medicine discharge section 11. If a normal powdered medicine discharge operation is performed in this state, it may take a long time to discharge a small amount of powdered medicine. That is, if the powdered medicine discharge section 11 is opened and the medicine container 20 is vibrated with strong vibrations, a large amount of powdered medicine may fall all at once when the powdered medicine actually begins to be discharged. For this reason, it is difficult to vibrate the medicine container 20 with strong vibrations when discharging a small amount. Furthermore, if the vibration is weakened, a long time is required before the powdered medicine actually begins to be discharged. Therefore, by performing the above-mentioned closed state vibration operation and open state vibration operation to discharge powdered medicine, the time required to discharge powdered medicine can be shortened even when discharging a small amount of powdered medicine as described above.

[0182] 1 and 38(b), the above-mentioned manual tablet distribution device 303 is a member having an approximately rectangular parallelepiped shape overall, and is attached in a swingable state. That is, the position can be changed between a normal position (see FIG. 1) in which the opening of the box-shaped part on the top surface faces upward, and an inclined position (see FIG. 38(b)) in which the opening faces rearward and upward. 1 and 2, the cleaning device 7 is disposed below the manual tablet distribution device 303 (see FIG. 1). The cleaning device 7 has a suction port 7a connected to a suction device (not shown), and is a device that generates negative pressure to suck in dirt (residual powdered medicine, dust, etc.) along with air. More specifically, the cleaning device 7 has an extension 7b that extends from the outside to the inside of the distribution tray 6, and the suction port 7a is formed in this extension 7b. The cleaning device 7 cleans the distribution tray 6, and the suction port 7a is normally facing downward.

[0183] In the medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, the tablet manual distribution device 303 and the cleaning device 7 work in conjunction with each other. That is, when the tablet manual distribution device 303 is changed from the normal position, which is the position during use, to the inclined position, the cleaning device 7 automatically rotates accordingly, as shown in FIG. 38(b). Specifically, this rotation is an operation in which the extension portion 7b rotates once, and the axis of rotation at this time is the same as the extension direction of the extension portion 7b. As a result, the suction port 7a changes from a state facing downward to a state facing sideways (sideways relative to the normal state), a state facing upward, and then returns to a state facing downward. This configuration makes it easier for the user to check whether the area around the suction port 7a of the cleaning device 7 is dirty. That is, when the user changes the position of the manual tablet distribution device 303, this change in position is detected by a sensor (not shown) or the like, and the cleaning device 7 automatically starts rotating. By moving the cleaning device 7 in this manner, the user's eyes can be more easily drawn to the cleaning device 7 (the user's attention can be more easily drawn). Furthermore, the area around the suction port 7a, which is easily soiled and difficult to see when the device is in the normal position, becomes more visible. In other words, if the area around the suction port 7a is dirty, the user can be made aware of the dirt. This in turn can prompt the user to decide whether cleaning of the cleaning device 7 (maintenance of the cleaning device 7) is necessary.

[0184] The inside of the chemical container 20 can be cleaned by pouring water, a cleaning solution, or the like into the inside of the chemical container 20, attaching the chemical container to the feeder body 10 in this state, and vibrating the chemical container 20.

[0185] Next, we will explain the top cover 3. The top cover 3 is provided with an electric light display 800 as shown in FIG. The electric light display 800 has a plurality of light emitting groups 801a to 801f, each of which has a plurality of light emitting units 802 arranged in a row. Each of the light emitting groups 801a to 801f corresponds to a medicine feeder 5 in the powdered medicine dividing area 301. That is, six medicine feeders 5 are installed in the powdered medicine dividing area 301. Light-emitting group 801a corresponds to drug feeder 5a, light-emitting group 801b corresponds to drug feeder 5b, light-emitting group 801c corresponds to drug feeder 5c, light-emitting group 801d corresponds to drug feeder 5d, light-emitting group 801e corresponds to drug feeder 5e, and light-emitting group 801f corresponds to drug feeder 5f. In this embodiment, the light emitting groups 801a-801f are arranged in a fan shape. The light emitting units 802 belonging to the light emitting group 801 are a mixture of units with different colors and / or brightness, and are arranged in stages so that the color etc. changes gradually from the center to the outside. In this embodiment, the center side emits a lighter color, and the color becomes darker as you move outward.

[0186] The light emitting group 801 emits light to notify the user of the operating status of the medicine dispensing device 1 so that the user can easily understand the operating status. When the medicine dispensing device 1 is started and is in the preparation stage, the light-emitting elements of the light-emitting group emit light sequentially according to the preparation status. The brightness and color may change. For example, they emit light sequentially according to the temperature rise of the heat seal heater. Similarly, when the tablet manual distribution device 303 is in the preparation stage, the light-emitting state changes according to the preparation stage. When the medicine dispensing device 1 is stopped, the fan for cooling the heater is driven, and the light-emitting units of the light-emitting groups are turned off depending on the cooling status. If there are multiple light-emitting groups, each light-emitting group may be turned off.

[0187] Furthermore, the light emission state changes depending on the mounting state of the medicine container 20 in each medicine feeder 5. Furthermore, a warning is given if the medicine container 20 is left unremoved. After the work for the day is completed, the drug container 20 is removed from the feeder body 10. If any drug container 20 is forgotten to be removed, the light emitting unit 802 of the corresponding light emitting group 801 is illuminated to warn the user. It is desirable to reduce the number of light emitting units 802 and light emitting groups 801 that are illuminated over time. The color and brightness of the light may be changed.

[0188] When powdered medicine is being dispensed from medicine container 20, light emitting units 802 of corresponding light emitting group 801 emit light in a predetermined order. For example, light may be emitted from the back to the front, or from a light color to a dark color. When the amount of medicine held in medicine container 20 is insufficient for the requested amount to be dispensed, light emitting unit 802 of corresponding light emitting group 801 displays differently from usual. For example, light is emitted from the front to the back, or from the dark side to the light side, which is the opposite of usual. When all the medicines in the medicine container 20 are dispensed and the medicine container 20 becomes empty, the corresponding light emitting group 801 goes into a specific light emitting state.

[0189] If there is an error, a clearly different display is made, for example, all the light emitting portions 802 are made to emit red light. The type of error is not limited, and possible errors include an abnormality in the medicine container 20, an abnormality in the feeder body 10, and other abnormalities. The other abnormalities also include an abnormality in the manual tablet distribution device 303.

[0190] It is desirable to make the light emitting group 801 emit light depending on the attachment state of the medicine container 20. The light emission states shown below are merely examples and are not limiting. For example, when the drug container 20 is not attached, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light emitting state, and when the drug container 20 is attached, it is in a different light emitting state. For example, when the drug container 20 is not attached, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is turned off, and when the drug container 20 is attached, it emits light in a pale color or with low brightness. When a drug is being dispensed from drug container 20, corresponding light-emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light-emitting state, and when dispensing from drug container 20 is temporarily stopped, a different light-emitting state is achieved. For example, when a drug is being dispensed from drug container 20, light-emitting unit 802 of corresponding light-emitting group 801 lights up continuously, and when dispensing from drug container 20 is temporarily stopped, light-emitting unit 802 of corresponding light-emitting group 801 flashes. When the dispensing of medicine container 20 is completed, light emitting section 802 that has been emitting light is turned off. When a drug container 20 is to be placed in a specific feeder body 10, the corresponding light emitting group 801 is in a predetermined light emitting state.

[0191] Furthermore, the light emitting groups 801 may be illuminated in sequence as the distribution plate 6 rotates. For example, the arc-shaped light emitting portion 802a closest to the Yuyama logo is divided into small pieces in the same direction as the rotation direction and lights up and flashes. The medicine dispensing device 1 may be illuminated in a predetermined light state according to the state of the medicine dispensing device 1 by a maintenance person performing a predetermined operation.

[0192] The opening and closing structure of the top cover 3 is not limited to a hinge. For example, covers 616 and 617 may be provided on a top cover 615 as shown in Figures 49 and 50 . The cover 616 shown in FIG. 49 can be slid toward the rear as shown in FIG. 49(b), and by moving the cover 616 toward the rear, a part of the top lid 615 can be opened.

[0193] The cover 617 shown in Fig. 50 can be slid forward and then tucked downward as shown in Fig. 50(b). The position of the cover 617 shown in Fig. 50 can also be changed to open part of the top lid 615. [Industrial Applicability]

[0194] The present invention is a device for dispensing medicines, which can achieve the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which is to "ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages." The drug dispensing device of the present invention eliminates powder drug inspection tasks, such as weighing powdered drugs, which are normally performed by qualified personnel such as pharmacists, allowing even non-pharmacists, such as technicians, to perform the tasks. Specifically, without the need for a qualified pharmacist to be aware of the drug, the worker simply retrieves the drug container designated by its number based on the prescription information, or by a lamp if it is located on a shelf, and places it on the drug dispensing device to reliably perform and complete the packaging required for the prescription. This allows qualified pharmacists to shift from dispensing tasks, which are primarily physical tasks, to patient-facing tasks. Furthermore, since the necessary dispensing tasks can be performed by non-pharmacists, the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages," can be achieved. The present invention also reduces labor costs and improves economic productivity, which can also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [Explanation of symbols]

[0195] 1; medicine dispensing device, 5; medicine feeder, 6; distribution tray, 8; scraping device, 10; feeder body, 11,411; powdered medicine discharge section, 13; medicine input groove, 16; vibration member (container holding section), 18; vibration-proof means, 20,172,420,701; medicine container, 22; feeder section, 23; container support section, 24; weight measuring section, 25; weight measuring means, 26; base section, 27; support base, 28; vibration-proof member, 30; support side horizontal section, 30a; vibration means, 30b; vibration means, 31; support side vertical wall section, 32; vibration side horizontal section, 33; vibration side vertical wall section (vertical wall), 55; shutter Opening / closing mechanism (opening / closing mechanism portion), 56; engaging piece holding portion, 61; large area side surface, 62; small area side surface, 68; partition plate, 70; container body, 71,471; box portion, 72; straightening member, 73,473; shutter structure portion, 75,475; lid member, 76; fastening member, 91,231,491,740; shutter member (opening / closing member), 110,232,510; closing wall, 117,517; powdered medicine passage, 130; engaging groove, 131; engaging recess, 132; recess, 152; temporary receiving plate, 301; powdered medicine dividing area, 302; medicine packaging area, 310; powdered medicine input hopper 705: Release assist member, 710: Engagement portion, 760: Protrusion, 766: Partition portion

Claims

1. A drug feeder having a drug container for storing powdered medicine, a container holding section for holding the drug container, and weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, The medicine container includes a powdered medicine discharging section that discharges the powdered medicine to the outside, and an opening / closing member that opens and closes the powdered medicine discharging section, The weight measuring means detects the amount of powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine discharge section to the outside, The container holding part functions as a vibration member that vibrates the medicine container, The vibration member has a horizontal portion and a vertical wall portion, Further, the opening and closing mechanism is provided. The opening and closing mechanism is positioned at one end of the horizontal section and applies force directly or indirectly to the opening and closing member, moving at least a portion of the opening and closing member to open and close the powdered medicine discharge section, and is a drug feeder that applies force to the opening and closing member when the powdered medicine discharge section is in an open state and when it is in a closed state.

2. Further comprising a support base, a support side vertical portion, and a vibration means, the support base holds the vibration member and has a support-side vertical portion facing the vertical wall portion; The vibration means is disposed between the vertical wall portion and the support-side vertical portion, and the vibration member is held on the support base by the vibration means; 2. The medicine feeder according to claim 1, wherein the vibration member is vibrated by the vibration means, and the medicine container is vibrated by the vibration of the vibration member, thereby discharging the powdered medicine from the medicine container through the powdered medicine discharging portion.

3. The opening and closing mechanism has an engagement piece holding portion and an arm, The engagement piece holding portion has an engagement portion, a transmission member attached to the opening / closing mechanism, the transmission member having an engaging portion; The engaging portion of the transmission member and the engaging portion of the engaging piece holding portion are engaged with each other, 3. The medicine feeder according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the arm causes the engagement piece holder to move, and the transmission member moves in conjunction with the movement of the engagement piece holder, thereby opening the powdered medicine discharge portion.

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