Blister Package Stacker Automation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The traditional method of distributing individual dosage units of pharmaceutical products is labor and cost intensive, with a high risk of human error due to the numerous manual labor steps required.
Innovation Solution
A blister collation system comprising a blister packager and a blister package stacker, where the blister packager seals blister packages with medicaments and the stacker sorts, stacks, and pushes the blister packages into storage tubes using a conveyor and a nest assembly that rotates and raises the blister packages into the stack.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual labor steps are used for packaging and distributing blister packages, then flexibility and adaptability are maintained, but labor costs increase and human error risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical operations with an automated mechanical system comprising a conveyor, nest assembly, and collection tower. The system uses mechanical indexing, rotation, and vertical movement mechanisms to automatically package, stack, and transfer blister packages, eliminating manual labor while maintaining controlled precision through engineered mechanical guides and positioning features.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service automation where the packaging machinery performs all operations autonomously. The conveyor automatically feeds blister packages, the nest assembly automatically indexes and stacks them in the collection tower, and the system continuously operates without human intervention, with components serving their own positioning and alignment functions through integrated mechanical design.
2Productivity
If automated packaging and stacking systems are implemented, then labor costs are reduced and productivity increases, but device complexity and initial investment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The automated system is segmented into distinct functional modules: a conveyor module for transport, a nest assembly module for indexing and holding, and a collection tower module for stacking. Each module performs a specific function independently, allowing for optimized design of each component while maintaining overall system productivity through coordinated operation of these segmented units.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes vertical dimensional space by implementing a collection tower that stacks blister packages in the vertical direction. The nest assembly rotates and indexes packages upward into the tower, transforming horizontal conveyor movement into vertical stacking, thereby increasing packaging capacity and productivity without expanding horizontal footprint.
3Loss of time
If manual stacking and sorting is performed, then system simplicity is maintained, but time consumption and labor intensity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains continuous operation through the conveyor that constantly feeds blister packages to the nest assembly, which continuously indexes and stacks them in the collection tower. The automated mechanisms operate without interruption, eliminating idle time between operations and maintaining continuous productive action throughout the packaging cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The nest assembly performs preliminary indexing and positioning of blister packages before they are transferred to the collection tower. Packages are pre-aligned and held in the nest at the correct orientation and position, preparing them in advance for efficient stacking, thereby reducing the time required for the actual stacking operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A blister collation system includes a blister packager with a blister seal station which seals a blister package with a medicament inside and a blister package stacker connected to the blister packager via a conveyor which moves individual blister packages. The blister package stacker has a nest inlet for reception of the blister packages from the conveyor, a nest assembly for holding one of the blister packages, and a first blister package collection tower for storing a stack of the blister packages. The nest assembly is configured to insert one blister package at a time upward into a bottom of the first collection tower. The stacker further has a tower gate holding the inserted blister packages and a mechanism for pushing the stack of the blister packages from the first collection tower into a storage container.