DISPENSING BOX FOR DRUG-CONTAINING AMPOULE

• US 20140103061A1
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JVM Company Limited
• Original Assignee: JVM Company Limited
• Inventors: KIM, Jun Ho
• Granted Patent: US 10,414,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/86
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/06 Ampoules or carpules syringe ampoules or carpules A61M5/28
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0076 Medicament distribution means with pill counting devices A61J7/02; with time indication A61J7/04; containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents B65D83/00
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/0445 all the articles being stored in individual compartments
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00

Abstract

Provided is a dispensing box for a drug-containing ampoule. The dispensing box for the drug-containing ampoule includes a partition member including a partition wall for partitioning a plurality of unit cells in which ampoules are stored, a shutter opening or closing a lower portion of each of the unit cells partitioned by the partition member, a driving unit operating the shutter, a conveyer on which a dropping ampoule is seated when the lower end of each of the unit cells is opened, and a discharge hole defined in an end of the conveyer to dispense the ampoule seated on the conveyer when the conveyer is operated. A drug storage matrix in which the drug-containing ampoule is stored may be provided, and a shutter device for dispensing the drug-containing ampoule may be provided to easily dispense the drug-containing ampoule.

Claims

1. A dispensing box for a drug-containing ampoule, the dispensing box comprising:

a partition member comprising a partition wall for partitioning a plurality of unit cells in which ampoules are stored;

a shutter opening or closing a lower portion of each of the unit cells partitioned by the partition member;

a driving unit operating the shutter;

a conveyer which receives the ampoule dropped from the plurality of unit cells when the lower end of each of the unit cells is opened; and

a discharge hole adjacent to an end of the conveyer to dispense the ampoule seated on the conveyer when the conveyer is operated.

2. The dispensing box of claim 1, wherein the shutter comprises a gate vertically penetrated so that the ampoule passes therethrough and an ampoule support part partitioning the gates adjacent to each other.

3. The dispensing box of claim 2, wherein the shutter is operated in an opened state in which the partition wall and the ampoule support part are vertically aligned and a closed state in which the partition wall and the ampoule support part are vertically missed each other.

4. The dispensing box of claim 3, wherein the shutter further comprises a detection target part protruding in a moving direction of the shutter when the shutter is opened or closed, the dispensing box further comprises a switching detection part detecting whether the detection target part is disposed on a specific position on a moving path of the detection target part.

5. The dispensing box of claim 1, wherein the conveyer comprises:

a conveyer belt rotated along an unlimited orbit;

a pair of orbital shafts respectively disposed both ends of the conveyer belts to rotate the conveyer belt;

a driving gear disposed on a side of the discharge hole and exposed to the outside, the driving gear being rotated by external force; and

at least one transmission gear transmitting rotation force of the driving gear to one of the pair of orbital shafts.

6. The dispensing box of claim 5, wherein the conveyer belt further comprises a belt partition wall partitioning a space in which each of the ampoules is seated.

7. The dispensing box of claim 1, further comprising a storage unit in which at least two partition members are vertically stacked on each other to form a multilayer structure,

wherein the shutter is disposed on a lower end of each partition member.

8. The dispensing box of claim 7, further comprising:

a supplement determination unit determining whether the ampoule is supplemented onto the conveyer; and

an ampoule supplement control unit allowing the ampoule to drop onto the conveyer from the storage unit when it is determined that the ampoule does not exist on the conveyer by the supplement determination unit.

9. The dispensing box of claim 8, further comprising a first direction part detecting whether at least one ampoule exists on the conveyer.

10. The dispensing box of claim 9, wherein the first detection part detects whether the ampoule is disposed at an end of the conveyer in a dispensing direction.

11. The dispensing box of claim 8, further comprising a second detection part detecting the ampoule dispensed through the discharge hole,

wherein the supplement determination unit adds the number of dispensed ampoules detected by the second detection part to determine whether the ampoule is supplemented onto the conveyer.

12. The dispensing box of claim 8, when it is assumed that an operation range in which the conveyer dispenses one ampoule is defined as one step, further comprising a third detection part detecting the number of steps of the conveyer,

wherein the supplement determination unit adds the number of the steps detected by the third detection part to determine whether the ampoule is supplemented onto the conveyer.

13. The dispensing box of claim 8, wherein the ampoule supplement control unit opens a first floor with respect to the lowermost floor of the storage unit to allow ampoules stored on the first floor to drop when the ampoules are supplemented.

14. The dispensing box of claim 8, wherein the ampoule supplement control unit successively opens or closes a second floor with respect to the lowermost floor of the storage unit and floors disposed above the second floor after the ampoules are supplemented.

15. The dispensing box of claim 8, further comprising a fourth detection part detecting whether the shutters are disposed at an opened position or closed position.

16. The dispensing box of claim 1, further comprising a housing,

wherein the housing has one surface in which an ampoule feeding gate that is opened or closed to respectively feed ampoules into the unit cells is disposed.

17. The dispensing box of claim 16, further comprising an accommodated state display unit for assisting a user so that the user recognizes whether the ampoule is accommodated within each of the unit cells.

18. The dispensing box of claim 17, wherein the accommodated state display unit comprises a lighting part that emits light reflected by the ampoule accommodated within the unit cell or passing through the ampoule accommodated within the unit cell so that the user observes whether the ampoule is accommodated within the unit cell through the ampoule feeding gate from the outside.

19. The dispensing box of claim 17, wherein the accommodated state display unit comprises:

a fifth detection part for detecting whether the ampoule is accommodated within each of the unit cells; and

a plurality of display elements respectively disposed within the unit cells, the plurality of display elements being turned on or off according to whether the ampoule is accommodated within each of the unit cell that corresponds to the result detected by the fifth detection part.

20. The dispensing box of claim 19, wherein the plurality of display elements are configured to be observed through the ampoule feeding gate from the outside.