TABLET SUPPLY APPARATUS

• US 20100077708A1
• Filed: 09/29/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PHC Holdings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mori, Takashi, Kobayashi, Koichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,769,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/501
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 39/002 Pivoting plates
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/14 and operating to control, or stop, the feed of articles or material to be packaged
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/20 Applications of counting devices for controlling the feed of articles other applications B65B65/08

Abstract

A tablet supply apparatus including a main body having a case accommodating unit at the upper portion thereof, plural tablet cases provided in the case accommodating unit, each of the tablet cases having tablets accommodated therein, a hopper provided at the lower side of the tablet case in the main body, a nozzle for filling tablets received by the hopper into a container, the nozzle comprising a passage through which tables drop, a shutter which is freely opened and closed so as to allow or prohibit passage of dropping tablets through the nozzle, and a sensor for detecting passage of the tablets dropping through the passage at an upper side of the shutter. Furthermore, a tablet feeder for adding deficient tablets to the hopper comprises plural cells for accommodating tablets and an endless belt on which the cells are arranged on a line side by side.

Claims

1. A tablet supply apparatus comprising:

a main body having a case accommodating unit at the upper portion thereof;

plural tablet cases provided in the case accommodating unit, each of the tablet cases having tablets accommodated therein;

a hopper provided at the lower side of the tablet case in the main body;

a nozzle for filling tablets received by the hopper into a container, the nozzle comprising a passage through which tablets drop, a shutter that is disposed at some midpoint of the passage and freely opened and closed so that the passage is opened and closed in connection with the opening and closing operation of the shutter, and traps the tablets dropping through the passage when the shutter is closed, and a dropping tablet sensor for detecting passage of the tablets dropping through the passage at an upper side of the shutter; and

a controller for opening the shutter on the basis of a detection result of the sensor so that the tablets trapped on the shutter drop to be filled into the container.

2. The tablet supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller has a counter, counts the number of the dropping tablets on the basis of a detection result of the sensor and opens the shutter on the basis of a count result.

3. The tablet supply apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller further has a timer, starts time-counting based on the timer from a time when tablets are discharged from each of the tablet case, and opens the shutter when the timer time-counts a predetermined time or the count value of the counter reaches a predetermined number.

4. The tablet supply apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the passage is configured to extend vertically, and the sensor comprises a light emitting unit and a photodetecting unit that are disposed so as to face each other through the vertically extending passage and detects tablets passing through the gap between the light emitting unit and the photodetecting unit.

5. The tablet supply apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined time is set to be longer than the longest required time among required times which are required from the discharge of tablets from the plural tablet cases till introduction of the tablets into the nozzle.

6. A tablet supply apparatus comprising:

a main body having a case accommodating unit at the upper portion thereof;

plural tablet cases provided in the case accommodating unit, each of the tablet cases having tablets accommodated therein;

a hopper provided at the lower side of the tablet case in the main body;

a filling apparatus for filling tablets received by the hopper into a container; and

a tablet feeder that is mounted at the inside of an upper portion of the front side of the main body to be horizontally long and discharges tablets put therein to the hopper, wherein the tablet feeder has plural cells that have upwardly-facing open portions and are arranged on a line side by side as a cell array so as to be freely movable along the arrangement direction thereof while tables are accommodated in each of the cells, and a discharge portion that is disposed at one end portion of the cell array and discharges tablets in a cell reaching the one end portion into the hopper.

7. The tablet supply apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the tablet feeder further has an endless belt that is wound between a pair of shafts and selectively moved in one direction or the other direction of the horizontal direction, the cells are arranged on the surface of the endless belt which selectively serves as one of an upward-facing surface and a downward-facing surface of the endless belt in connection with the movement of the endless belt, and when a cell on the upward-facing surface of the endless belt reaches the one end portion, the cell concerned turns over downwardly and tablets put in the cell concerned drop and pass through the discharge portion, whereby the tablets are discharged into the hopper.