Medicine Feeder Bulkhead Design for Elongated Tablet Ejection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medicine feeding units often experience inconvenience due to medicines being caught between the partition body and the rotor, leading to delayed or improper ejection, especially with elongated shapes like capsules, resulting in timing delays and potential damage.
Innovation Solution
A medicine feeder with a rotor that has medicine receiving spaces arranged circumferentially and a flexible partition body with a bulkhead portion that prevents medicines from entering the wrong space, allowing caught tablets to move over adjacent spaces without falling, using a design where the upper surface near the rear side of the rotor is higher than the front side, and the bulkhead portion has a shape that facilitates this movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flexible partition body is used to prevent medicines from entering the wrong medicine receiving space, then medicine containment reliability is improved, but medicines may be caught between the partition body and the rotor causing ejection delays
Solution Approach 1:
The partition body is designed to be movable relative to the rotor, allowing it to dynamically adjust its position. When a medicine becomes caught between the partition body and rotor, the partition body can move to release the caught medicine, preventing ejection delays while maintaining reliable medicine containment during normal operation
Solution Approach 2:
A gap is introduced between the partition body and rotor as an intermediary space. This gap allows caught medicines to be released and prevents direct contact between the partition body and medicines during rotation, eliminating ejection timing delays while the partition body still effectively prevents medicines from entering wrong spaces
2Manufacturing precision
If the partition body is positioned to effectively separate medicine receiving spaces, then medicine sorting accuracy is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The partition body is segmented into multiple independent partition sections, each responsible for separating adjacent medicine receiving spaces. This segmentation allows each section to be optimized for its specific separation function while simplifying the overall structure and making the system easier to manufacture and maintain
Solution Approach 2:
The partition body is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it separates medicine receiving spaces to prevent wrong-space entry, guides medicines into correct spaces during rotor rotation, and can be moved to release caught medicines. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional components, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining high sorting accuracy
Data Source
AI summary
A medicine feeder configured to feed solid medicines with an elongated shape, the medicine feeder including: a medicine container having a medicine outlet; a medicine delivering part having a plurality of medicine receiving spaces that are arranged at intervals and contain the medicines one by one; and a medicine entry preventing part that is provided in the medicine container and is configured to prevent the medicines from entering one of the plurality of medicine receiving spaces that coincides with the medicine outlet by covering over the medicine receiving space. A bulkhead portion partitioning between each two of the medicine receiving spaces has a shape such that an upper surface of a portion close to a rear side in the rotational direction of the medicine delivering part rises toward a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the medicine delivering part.