Vacuum based pill singulator and counter based thereon
First Claim
1. A singulating device, comprising:
- a housing;
a hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper connected to said housing;
a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
an inspection and counting device; and
means responsive to said inspection and counting device for removing items from said singulating disc in a manner that directs the removed items into one of a dispense path, a reject path, and a return to pickup chamber path.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A singulating disc, carried by a housing, has a plurality of openings around its periphery. The disc rotates vertically through a pickup chamber of a hopper carried by the housing. A vacuum is pulled through the openings by a pump which is connected to the disc. Items are placed in the hopper and, via gravity, fall to the bottom of the hopper where they contact the periphery of the rotating disc. The vacuum at the openings attaches an item and holds it while the disc rotates. At the top of the disc'"'"'s rotation, a diverter directs the item into a path depending on the results of a fragment detection and/or counting mechanism. Items that are allowed to pass by the diverter are scraped off the disc into another path by a scraper. Negative pressure is used to singulate and count a multitude of sizes and shapes of items with no calibration. Retractable paddles, a vacuum management system, and RFID tags may be incorporated. The paddles aid in the pickup and agitation of the items while the vacuum management system conserves the vacuum capacity necessary to pickup and singulate items. The RFID tags may contain information such as the number of items left in the hopper, a par level for that item, an expiration date, among others. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims.
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Citations
92 Claims
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1. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper connected to said housing;
a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
an inspection and counting device; and
means responsive to said inspection and counting device for removing items from said singulating disc in a manner that directs the removed items into one of a dispense path, a reject path, and a return to pickup chamber path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper connected to said housing;
a hollow, rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber, said disc having a plurality of retractable paddles extendable from said periphery, each of said paddles having an actuating device extending through an opening in a face of said singulating disc;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
at least one path;
means for removing items from the periphery of said singulating disc into said path; and
a cam positioned to interface with each of said actuating devices during a portion of rotation of said singulating disc such that each of said devices moves along said opening in a first direction to cause its respective paddle to extend beyond said periphery, and to move along said opening in a second direction opposite to said first direction to cause said paddle to retract as said device rides along said cam. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper connected to said housing;
a hollow, rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber, said disc having a plurality of pistons, each piston positioned so as to control the volume of air flowing through one of said plurality of openings;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
at least one path;
means for removing items from the periphery of said singulating disc into said path; and
a cam positioned to interface with each of said pistons such that air flow is at a maximum for each opening while said opening is located in said pickup chamber and is at a minimum when said opening is positioned at said means for removing. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a removable hopper having a pickup chamber accessed by a door, said hopper carried by said housing;
a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber when said hopper is attached to said housing;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
at least one path; and
means for removing items from said singulating disc into said path;
said door on said hopper being configured to wipe any items from said singulating disc into said pickup chamber before removal of said hopper from said housing. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper connected to said housing;
a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
an inspection device; and
a U-shaped mechanical diverter positioned adjacent to said periphery of said singulating disc, said diverter having a first position for directing medicaments into a first path, a second position for directing medicaments into a second path, and a third position which allows medicaments to stay on said disc. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A singulating device, comprising:
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a housing;
a removable hopper defining a pickup chamber, said hopper being connectable to said housing;
an RFID tag carried by said hopper;
an RFID tag reader carried by said housing;
a rotatable singulating disc carried by said housing, said disc having a plurality of openings around the periphery thereof, a portion of said disc rotating through said pickup chamber;
a source of rotary motion coupled to said singulating disc;
a vacuum source coupled to said singulating disc;
a counting device; and
means responsive to said counting device for removing items from said singulating disc. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method of singulating items, comprising:
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rotating a singulating disk through a pickup chamber while pulling a vacuum at a plurality of openings located around a periphery of the disc;
inspecting and counting the items captured by the singulating disc; and
removing the items captured by the singulating disc in a manner that the items are directed into one of a first, second or third path, based on said inspecting and counting. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. A method of singulating items comprising:
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rotating a portion of a hollow, singulating disc through a pickup chamber while pulling a vacuum at a plurality of openings located around a periphery of the disc, and as said disc is rotating;
extending paddles from the periphery of that portion of the singulating disc located in the pickup chamber;
retracting the extended paddles; and
removing items captured by the singulating disc. - View Dependent Claims (61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A method of singulating items, comprising:
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rotating a portion of a hollow, singulating disc through a pickup chamber while pulling a vacuum at a plurality of openings located around a periphery of the disc, and as said disc is rotating;
controlling the volume of air flowing through each of the plurality of openings; and
removing items captured by the singulating disc. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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76. A method of singulating items, comprising:
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attaching a hopper having a pickup chamber to a housing having a singulating disc;
rotating a portion of the singulating disc carried by said housing through the pickup chamber while pulling a vacuum at a plurality of openings located around the periphery of the disc;
removing items captured by the singulating disc;
ceasing rotation of said disc; and
detaching the hopper from said housing such that access doors on said hopper wipe any items from said disc into said pickup chamber as said hopper is detached and said access doors close. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A method of singulating items, comprising:
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rotating a singulating disc through a pickup chamber while pulling a vacuum at a plurality of openings located around the periphery of the disc;
counting the items captured by the singulating disc;
reading an RFID tag carried by a hopper in which the pickup chamber is formed; and
dispensing the items captured by the singulating disc in response to said counting. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92)
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Specification