Tablet Feeder Layout with Vertical Cassettes and Shifted Chutes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tablet feeders are limited in their ability to arrange tablet cassettes and chutes in a high-density configuration, particularly when both are required on the front and back sides of the apparatus, which hampers efficient operation and space utilization in pharmacy systems.
Innovation Solution
A tablet feeder design featuring a device body with vertically arranged tablet cassettes and horizontally shifted chutes, allowing for various layouts and high-density placement, along with a passage member for guiding tablets and a detection sensor to prevent clogging, enables efficient filling and dispensing of tablets while maintaining separate areas for cassettes and chutes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If tablet cassettes and chutes are arranged on the same face of the device body, then the configuration is simple, but the space utilization and operational efficiency are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by arranging tablet cassettes and chutes on opposite faces of the device body rather than on the same face. This spatial reconfiguration allows operators to access cassettes on one face while tablets are dispensed from chutes on the opposite face, enabling simultaneous filling and dispensing operations and significantly improving space utilization and operational efficiency.
2Productivity
If multiple operators need to work simultaneously, then productivity increases, but the device must be larger
Solution Approach 1:
By utilizing the opposite faces of the device body for different operations (cassette filling on one face, tablet dispensing on the other), the patent enables multiple operators to work simultaneously without significantly increasing the device footprint. This face-based spatial separation allows parallel operations within a compact form factor.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cassettes and chutes are arranged in high density, then space utilization improves, but the risk of tablet clogging increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces passage members as intermediary components that guide tablets from the tablet interior passage through the device body to the chute dispensing portions. These passage members are specifically designed with appropriate cross-sectional areas to ensure smooth tablet flow and prevent clogging, even in high-density configurations where space is constrained.
Data Source
AI summary
A tablet feeder comprises a device body, a plurality of tablet cassettes disposed on one face of the device body 1 in a vertical direction, each tablet cassette accommodating a plurality of tablets by kind, and a plurality of chutes disposed on one face of the device body 1 in a vertical direction and shifted in a horizontal direction, the chutes temporarily storing the tablets dispensed from the tablet cassette and having the dispensing portion at the downward portion thereof, the dispensing portion being capable of dispensing the tablets to a bottomed cylindrical tablet container.