Pharmaceutical Pouch Holder With Lift Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional unit of use systems in high-volume pharmacies are limited in processing and dispensing pharmaceutical pouches with irregular shapes, as they struggle to stack and handle pouches that do not form a regular parallelepiped shape, leading to difficulties in automated picking and increased dispensing errors.
Innovation Solution
A pharmaceutical pouch holder system that includes a receiver with a lift mechanism and a cartridge design, allowing for the secure storage and retrieval of irregularly shaped pouches, with adjustable inserts to accommodate different sizes and a lift system to move pouches upward for easy removal, enabling efficient processing by automated systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional unit of use systems use dedicated channels for bottle-shaped containers, then the system can handle regular shapes, but it cannot accommodate irregularly shaped pouches
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver is designed with a universal interior space that can accommodate both regular bottle-shaped containers and irregularly shaped pouches. The interior is configured to receive and hold various container types without requiring separate dedicated channels for each shape, making the system multi-functional and adaptable to different pharmaceutical packaging formats.
Solution Approach 2:
The lift mechanism provides dynamic adjustment capability to adapt to different container shapes and sizes. The lift can raise pouches and bottles to the removal location regardless of their initial position in the receiver, allowing the system to handle variable geometries through motion rather than fixed structural configurations.
2Quantity of substance
If irregularly shaped pouches are stacked in conventional systems, then storage capacity increases, but automated picking becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The lift mechanism automatically raises the stacked pouches to the removal location, eliminating the need for manual intervention or complex automated picking mechanisms. The system serves itself by mechanically presenting the pouches in an accessible position, making automated retrieval simple and reliable regardless of the number of pouches stacked.
Solution Approach 2:
The lift acts as an intermediary mechanism between the stacked pouches and the removal location. It mediates the transfer of pouches from the stored stacked position to the accessible removal position, simplifying the automated picking process by providing a controlled, predictable motion path for irregularly shaped containers.
3Ease of operation
If a lift mechanism is added to move pouches upward, then retrieval ease improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lift mechanism is integrated into the holder structure, merging the lifting function with the storage container. Rather than adding a separate complex retrieval system, the lift is combined with the receiver and cartridge components, achieving pouch elevation while minimizing overall device complexity through functional integration.
Data Source
AI summary
A pharmaceutical container holder for holding pharmaceutical containers includes a receiver having an interior sized and shaped to receive and hold the pharmaceutical containers as a stack of pharmaceutical containers. The receiver has a removal location from which the pharmaceutical containers are removed from the receiver. A lift raises the pharmaceutical containers disposed in the interior of the receiver upward to move the pharmaceutical containers toward the removal location. A lift controller operates the lift to move the pharmaceutical containers upward toward the removal location after an upper-most pharmaceutical container of the stack of pharmaceutical containers has been removed from the removal location to move a subsequent upper-most pharmaceutical container of the stack of pharmaceutical containers to the removal location.