Side surface inspecting apparatus for tablet, front and back surface inspecting apparatus for tablet, and tablet appearance inspecting apparatus using the same

• US 6,741,731 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2000
• Issued: 05/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shionogi Qualicaps Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Shionogi Qualicaps Company Limited
• Inventors: Yagyu, Motohiro, Yamamoto, Taizo
• Primary Examiner(s): COUSO, YON JUNG
• Application Number:
  US09/621,626
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: 382/141, 382/100, 738/658, 738/634.5, 738/639.2, 738/646.2, 738/00, 356/237.2, 356/237.3, 356/237.1, 348/89, 348/92, 348/125, 348/128
• US Class Current: 382/141
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9508 Capsules; Tablets

Abstract

An apparatus for inspecting the side surfaces of tablets is configured such that images of the side surfaces of tablets are picked up by making the tablets held in holding pockets of an outer cylinder roll on a continuously rotating inner cylinder and thereby rotate on their axes, whereby the images of the side surfaces of the tablets can be picked up in a state in which the tablets stably rotate on their axes in upright states, so that the side surfaces of the tablets can be easily, accurately inspected. An apparatus for inspecting the front and back surfaces of tablets is configured such that the tablets in a tablet storing portion are introduced in tablet feed passages of a vibration plate, being moved to one end portion of the vibration plate, and are fed from the one end portion of the vibration plate onto a front surface inspecting drum, whereby the postures of the tablets are controlled in falling-down states suitable for front and back surface inspection without applying large loads or impacts to the tablets. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus including the side surface inspecting apparatus and the front and back surface inspecting apparatus is also disposed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets, comprising:

an inner cylinder continuously rotatable at a specific speed;

an outer cylinder disposed on the outer peripheral side of said inner cylinder in such a manner as to be intermittently rotatable along the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder, said outer cylinder having in its peripheral wall a number of through-hole shaped holding pockets; and

a side surface image pickup device for photographing tablets held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder, thereby picking up images of the side surfaces of the tablets;

wherein said inspecting apparatus inspects the side surfaces of flat-shaped tablets by holding the tablets, which are in upright states with the diameter direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder intermittently rotating;

carrying the tablets by the intermittent rotation of said outer cylinder while making the tablets roll on the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder continuously rotating;

making, when said outer cylinder is intermittently stopped in the course of carrying operation, the tablets rotate on their axes in said holding pockets by the continuous rotation of said inner cylinder, and photographing the tablets by said side surface image pickup device thereby picking up images of the all-round side surfaces of the tablets; and

processing the images thus obtained, thereby detecting the presence or absence of appearance defects on the side surfaces of the tablets.

2. An apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets according to claim 1, wherein said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder are rotatably supported around the outer periphery of a fixed shaft cylinder;

the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder has a rail groove formed into a recessed shape in cross-section, said rail groove extending in the circumferential direction in such a manner as to correspond to said holding pockets of said outer cylinder;

a number of through-holes are formed in said rail groove in such a manner as to align in the circumferential direction; and

at least a pair of rubber rings are mounted on both side edge portions of said rail groove with said through-holes put therebetween, whereby the tablets held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder are carried while rolling on said rubber rings along said rail groove; and

a suction window for sucking the inside of said shaft cylinder is provided in said shaft cylinder at least at a position corresponding to a tablet image pickup point, whereby the inside of said rail groove of said inner cylinder is sucked through said suction window and said through-holes of said inner cylinder, so that the tablets during photographing rotate on their axes in a state being attracted on the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder by the suction force.

3. An apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

a defective ejecting mechanism for selectively ejecting, in the course of carrying operation, the tablets carried while being held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder; and

a side surface defective decision unit for processing images of the side surfaces of the tablets, thereby deciding the presence or absence of appearance defects;

wherein the tablets, which are decided as defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the side surface by said side surface defective decision unit, are selectively ejected from said holding pockets by said defective ejecting mechanism.

4. An apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets according to claim 3, wherein said defective ejecting mechanism is configured as a compressed air jetting mechanism for jetting compressed air from a compressed air jetting port provided in said shaft cylinder in accordance with the decision result obtained by said side surface defective decision unit, whereby the defective tablets held in said holding pockets are ejected by jetting compressed air from said compressed air jetting port of said shaft cylinder into said holding pockets of said outer cylinder through said through-holes provided in said inner cylinder.

5. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets comprising:

a front surface inspecting drum for holding flat-shaped tablets, which are in falling-down states with the thickness direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and carrying the tablets by the rotation of said drum at a specific speed;

a back surface inspecting drum, disposed in a state in which the outer peripheral surface thereof is in proximity to the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, for receiving the tablets from said front surface inspecting drum in a state in which the tablets are turned over, holding the tablets, which are in the falling-down states, on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and carrying the tablets by rotation of said drum at a specific speed;

a front surface image pickup device for photographing the tablets held on the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, thereby picking up images of the front surfaces of the tablets;

a back surface image pickup device for photographing the tablets held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum, thereby picking up images of the back surfaces of the tablets; and

a tablet feed unit for feeding the tablets onto the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, said tablet feed unit comprising;

a vibration plate having tablet feed passages each having a size allowing a tablet in the falling-down state to pass therethrough, said vibration plate being tilted downwardly to said front inspecting drum by a specific angle with one end of said vibration plate positioned in proximity to the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum; and

a tablet storing portion for storing a specific amount of tablets, said tablet storing portion being provided on the other end side of said vibration plate, whereby the tablets in said tablet storing portion are continuously introduced in said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate, and the tablets thus introduced in said tablet feed passages are continuously moved, by fine vibration of said vibration plate, to the one end portion of said vibration plate and fed from the one end portion of said vibration plate onto the front surface inspecting drum;

wherein each of said front surface inspecting drum and said back surface inspecting drum includes a suction groove formed in the outer peripheral surface thereof in such a manner as to extend along the circumferential direction, a number of suction holes formed in said suction grooves in such a manner as to align in the circumferential direction, and at least a pair of rubber rings mounted on both side edge portions of said suction groove with said suction holes put therebetween, whereby the tablets are attractively held while lying astride said pair of said rubber rings by a suction force obtained by sucking the inside of said suction groove from the inside of said drum through said suction holes.

6. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets according to claim 5, wherein said tablet feed unit further comprises a tablet feed roller rotatable at a desired speed, said roller being disposed at the one end of said vibration plate in such a manner as to be in contact with or in proximity to said tablet feed passages, whereby the tablets are moved from the one end portion of said vibration plate onto said front surface inspecting drum by the rotation of said tablet feed roller, to be thereby fed at a desired speed.

7. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said tablet storing portion of said tablet feed unit comprises:

a turn table rotatable at a specific speed;

an outer chamber formed on said turn table by a ring-like peripheral wall disposed concentrically with the rotational center of said turn table;

an inner chamber formed on said turn table at a position located inside said outer chamber by a ring-like peripheral wall which has a diameter smaller than that of said outer chamber and which is eccentrically from the rotational center of said turn table, the peripheral wall of said inner chamber having at a portion thereof a communication window communicated to said outer chamber; and

a communication passage having one end disposed on a portion, inside said outer chamber, of said turn table and the other end communicated to said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate;

wherein the tablets are fed on the portion, in said inner chamber, of said turn table rotating, moved into said outer chamber through said communication window by the centrifugal force, introduced in said communication passage by the rotation of said turn table, and continuously introduced in said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate from said communication passage.

8. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tables according to claim 5, wherein each of said front surface inspecting drum and said back surface inspecting drum comprises:

an inner cylinder having a through-groove extending along the circumferential direction or a number of through-holes aligned along the circumferential direction at least in a tablet carrying range; and

an outer cylinder disposed on the outer peripheral side of said inner cylinder and rotatable along the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder at a specific speed, said outer cylinder having said suction groove, said suction holes, and said rubber rings;

wherein the inside of said suction groove of said outer cylinder is sucked from the inside of said inner cylinder through said though-groove or through-holes formed in said inner cylinder.

9. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets according claim 5, further comprising:

a defective ejecting mechanism for selectively ejecting, in the course of carrying operation, the tablets carried while being held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum; and

a front and back surface defective decision unit for processing images of the front and back surfaces of the tablets picked up by said front surface image pickup device and said back surface image pickup device, thereby deciding the presence or absence of appearance defects;

wherein the tablets, which are decided as defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the front surface and/or back surface by said front and back surface defective decision unit, are selectively ejected from said back surface inspecting drum by said defective ejecting mechanism.

10. An apparatus for inspecting front and back surfaces of tablets according to claim 9, wherein said defective ejecting mechanism is configured as a compressed air jetting mechanism for jetting compressed air from a compressed air jetting portion provided in said back surface inspecting drum in accordance with the decision result obtained by said front and back surface defective decision unit, whereby the defective tablets, which are carried to the defective ejection point while being held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum, are selectively ejected from the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum by jetting compressed air from said compressed air jetting portion into said suction groove of said back surface inspecting drum.

11. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus comprising a side inspecting unit and a front and back surface inspecting unit,

said side inspecting unit comprising:

an inner cylinder continuously rotatable at a specific speed;

an outer cylinder disposed on the outer peripheral side of said inner cylinder in such a manner as to be intermittently rotatable along the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder, said outer cylinder having in its peripheral wall a number of through-hole shaped holding pockets; and

a side surface image pickup device for photographing tablets held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder, thereby picking up images of the side surfaces of the tablets;

wherein said inspecting apparatus inspects the side surfaces of flat-shaped tablets by holding the tablets, which are in upright states with the diameter direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder intermittently rotating;

carrying the tablets by the intermittent rotation of said outer cylinder while making the tablets roll on the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder continuously rotating;

making, when said outer cylinder is intermittently stopped in the course of carrying operation, the tablets rotate on their axes in said holding pockets by the continuous rotation of said inner cylinder, and photographing the tablets by said side surface image pickup device thereby picking up images of the all-round side surfaces of the tablets; and

processing the images thus obtained, thereby detecting the presence or absence of appearance defects on the side surfaces of the tablets;

said front and back surface inspecting unit comprising;

a front surface inspecting drum for holding flat-shaped tablets, which are in falling-down states with the thickness direction thereof directed in the vertical direction, on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and carrying the tablets by the rotation of said drum at a specific speed;

a back surface inspecting drum, disposed in a state in which the outer peripheral surface thereof is in proximity to the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, for receiving the tablets from said front surface inspecting drum in a state in which the tablets are turned over, holding the tablets, which are in the falling-down states, on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and carrying the tablets by rotation of said drum at a specific speed;

a front surface image pickup device for photographing the tablets held on the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, thereby picking up images of the front surfaces of the tablets;

a back surface image pickup device for photographing the tablets held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum, thereby picking up images of the back surfaces of the tablets; and

a tablet feed unit for feeding the tablets onto the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum, said tablet feed unit comprising;

a vibration plate having tablet feed passages each having a size allowing a tablet in the falling-down state to pass therethrough, said vibration plate being tilted downwardly to said front inspecting drum by a specific angle with one end of said vibration plate positioned in proximity to the outer peripheral surface of said front surface inspecting drum; and

a tablet storing portion for storing a specific amount of tablets, said tablet storing portion being provided on the other end side of said vibration plate, whereby the tablets in said tablet storing portion are continuously introduced in said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate, and the tablets thus introduced in said tablet feed passages are continuously moved, by fine vibration of said vibration plate, to the one end portion of said vibration plate and fed from the one end portion of said vibration plate onto the front surface inspecting drum;

wherein each of said front surface inspecting drum and said back surface inspecting drum includes a suction groove formed in the outer peripheral surface thereof in such a manner as to extend along the circumferential direction, a number of suction holes formed in said suction grooves in such a manner as to align in the circumferential direction, and at least a pair of rubber rings mounted on both side edge portions of said suction groove with said suction holes put therebetween, whereby the tablets are attractively held while lying astride said pair of said rubber rings by a suction force obtained by sucking the inside of said suction groove from the inside of said drum through said suction holes;

said tablet appearance inspecting apparatus being operated to inspect side surfaces of tablets by said side surface inspecting unit and selectively eject defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the side surface;

feed all of the tablets with no defects on the side surfaces from said side surface inspecting drum into said tablet storing portion of said front and back inspecting unit;

inspect front and back surfaces of the tablets by said front and back surface inspecting unit and selectively eject defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the front or back surface; and

recover non-defective tablets with no appearance defects on the side surfaces and front and back surfaces from said back surface inspecting drum of said front and back surface inspecting unit.

12. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said apparatus is operated to feed tablets to be inspected in said tablet storing portion of said front and back surface inspecting unit;

inspect the front and back surfaces of the tablets by said front and back surface inspecting unit, and selectively eject defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the front or back surface;

change the postures of all of the tablets with no appearance defects on the front and back surfaces from the falling-down postures to upright postures, and feed the tablets from said back surface inspecting drum of said front and back surface inspecting unit onto said side surface inspecting drum of said side surface inspecting unit;

inspect the side surfaces of the tablets by said side surface inspecting unit and selectively eject defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the side surface; and

recover non-defective tablets with no appearance defects on the side surfaces and front and back surfaces from said side surface inspecting drum of said side surface inspecting unit.

13. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11 or 12, wherein said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder are rotatably supported around the outer periphery of a fixed shaft cylinder;

the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder has a rail groove formed into a recessed shape in cross-section, said rail groove extending in the circumferential direction in such a manner as to correspond to said holding pockets of said outer cylinder;

a number of through-holes are formed in said rail groove in such a manner as to align in the circumferential direction; and

at least a pair of rubber rings are mounted on both side edge portions of said rail groove with said through-holes put therebetween, whereby the tablets held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder are carried while rolling on said rubber rings along said rail groove; and

a suction window for sucking the inside of said shaft cylinder is provided in said shaft cylinder at least at a position corresponding to a tablet image pickup point, whereby the inside of said rail groove of said inner cylinder is sucked through said suction window and said through-holes of said inner cylinder, so that the tablets during photographing rotate on their axes in a state being attracted on the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder by the suction force.

14. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a defective ejecting mechanism for selectively ejecting, in the course of carrying operation, the tablets carried while being held in said holding pockets of said outer cylinder; and

a side surface defective decision unit for processing images of the side surfaces of the tablets, thereby deciding the presence or absence of appearance defects;

wherein the tablets, which are decided as defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the side surface by said side surface defective decision unit, are selectively ejected from said holding pockets by said defective ejecting mechanism.

15. An apparatus for inspecting side surfaces of tablets according to claim 14, wherein said defective ejecting mechanism is configured as a compressed air jetting mechanism for jetting compressed air from a compressed air jetting port provided in said shaft cylinder in accordance with the decision result obtained by said side surface defective decision unit, whereby the defective tablets held in said holding pockets are ejected by jetting compressed air from said compressed air jetting port of said shaft cylinder into said holding pockets of said outer cylinder through said through-holes provided in said inner cylinder.

16. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11 or 12, wherein said tablet feed unit further comprises a tablet feed roller rotatable at a desired speed, said roller being disposed at the one end of said vibration plate in such a manner as to be in contact with or in proximity to said tablet feed passages, whereby the tablets are moved from the one end portion of said vibration plate onto said front surface inspecting drum by the rotation of said tablet feed roller, to be thereby fed at a desired speed.

17. A table appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said tablet storing portion of said tablet feed unit comprises:

a turn table rotatable at a specific speed;

an outer chamber formed on said turn table by a ring-like peripheral wall disposed concentrically with the rotational center of said turn table;

an inner chamber formed on said turn table at a position located inside said outer chamber by a ring-like peripheral wall which has a diameter smaller than that of said outer chamber and which is eccentrically from the rotational center of said turn table, the peripheral wall of said inner chamber having at a portion thereof a communication window communicated to said outer chamber; and

a communication passage having one end disposed on a portion, inside said outer chamber, of said turn table and the other end communicated to said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate;

wherein the tablets are fed on the portion, in said inner chamber, of said turn table rotating, moved into said outer chamber through said communication window by the centrifugal force, introduced in said communication passage by the rotation of said turn table, and continuously introduced in said tablet feed passages of said vibration plate from said communication passage.

18. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each of said front surface inspecting drum and said back surface inspecting drum comprises:

an inner cylinder having a through-groove extending along the circumferential direction or a number of through-holes aligned along the circumferential direction at least in a tablet carrying range; and

an outer cylinder disposed on the outer peripheral side of said inner cylinder and rotatable along the outer peripheral surface of said inner cylinder at a specific speed, said outer cylinder having said suction groove, said suction holes, and-said rubber rings;

wherein the inside of said suction groove of said outer cylinder is sucked from the inside of said inner cylinder through said though-groove or through-holes formed in said inner cylinder.

19. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a defective ejecting mechanism for selectively ejecting, in the course of carrying operation, the tablets carried while being held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum; and

a front and back surface defective decision unit for processing images of the front and back surfaces of the tablets picked up by said front surface image pickup device and said back surface image pickup device, thereby deciding the presence or absence of appearance defects;

wherein the tablets, which are decided as defective tablets each having an appearance defect on the front surface and/or back surface by said front and back surface defective decision unit, are selectively ejected from said back surface inspecting drum by said defective ejecting mechanism.

20. A tablet appearance inspecting apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said defective ejecting mechanism is configured as a compressed air jetting mechanism for jetting compressed air from a compressed air jetting portion provided in said back surface inspecting drum in accordance with the decision result obtained by said front and back surface defective decision unit, whereby the defective tablets, which are carried to the defective ejection point while being held on the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum, are selectively ejected from the outer peripheral surface of said back surface inspecting drum by jetting compressed air from said compressed air jetting portion into said suction groove of said back surface inspecting drum.