System for packaging tablets in a blister strip with interchangeable distribution units

• US 7,383,674 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2006
• Issued: 06/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elizabeth Europe
• Original Assignee: E.P.M.O.
• Inventors: Van Eenoo, Denis
• Primary Examiner(s): GERRITY, STEPHEN FRANCIS
• Application Number:
  US11/372,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20060201109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 823 Days
• Field of Search: 531/68, 532/01, 532/35, 532/44, 532/46, 532/49, 532/50, 535/59, 535/61, 141/144, 141/237, 141/238, 221/162, 221/167, 221/168, 221/199
• US Class Current: 53/201
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/08 using pocketed conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/14 by agitators or vibrators
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 59/04 Machines constructed with readily-detachable units or assemblies, e.g. to facilitate maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 9/045 for single articles, e.g. tablets

Abstract

An installation for packaging tablets in a blister strip moving beneath a bulk feed device for tablets, the installation includes a distribution system comprising a mounting stand (1) for motorized control elements which has an attachment surface (100) provided with at least two sets of fixing members (41, 42) for detachably mounting thereon at least two interchangeable distribution units, each in working relationship with at least some of said motorized control elements in order to drive corresponding parts to execute the distribution of the tablets between the bulk feed device and the blister strip. Such interchangeable units may preferably include at least one dispersion-based distribution unit with rotating brushes in succession above the travel path of the blister strip, and at least one channel-based distribution unit with descending guide ramps for the tablets.

Claims

1. A modular distribution system for packaging tablets in a blister strip moving along a travel line beneath a bulk tablet feed device and along a mounting stand having motorized control elements, wherein an attachment surface wall of the mounting stand is provided with at least two sets of fixing members for detachably mounting thereon at least two interchangeable distribution units that include different means for operating said distribution of tablets received from the bulk feed device and delivering the tablets to the blistering strip, and with means for setting each of the units when mounted on the attachment surface in working relationship with at least some of said motorized control elements that are adapted to drive elements of the distribution units.

2. The distribution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said interchangeable units comprise at least one dispersion-based distribution unit having rotating brushes in succession above the travel line of the blister strip, and at least one channel-based distribution unit having guide ramps for guiding individual tablets in series in separate channels down to the blister strip, thereby depositing the tablets one by one in series in aligned cells thereof.

3. The distribution system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said stand with its attachment surface is adapted to receive and support alternately either one of the at least two interchangeable channel-based distribution units comprising guide ramps for the tablets that are inclined practically upright for letting the tablets run down them easily by gravity, guide ramps for the tablets that are less inclined but subjected to vibrations promoting the descent of the tablets, those in which the tablets are introduced into guide ramps from the bulk feed device by bladed rotary systems or by vibrating adjusting-plate-type distributors, or those in which guide ramps for the tablets are arranged around a cylinder which is rotary driven to make the tablets fall.

4. The distribution system as claimed in claim 2, comprising rotary drive members actuated via motorization elements supported by the stand, which are accessible through the attachment surface wall so as to connect detachably to respective rotary operation elements of either distribution units.

5. The distribution system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the rotary drive members are disposed at at least two distinct height levels along the attachment surface wall for entering alternately in rotative functional relationship, the two distinct height levels including a first higher level with the axle of at least one rotary element of the channel-based distribution unit, and a second lower level with the axle of at least one rotating brush belonging to the dispersion-based distribution unit.

6. The distribution system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising independent fixing members on the attachment surface wall for the mounting of a tablet-laying brush for laying the tablets deposited on the blister strip down in the cells thereof or of a helically threaded brush used to push the surplus tablets aside from the blister strip after the cells available therein have been filled downstream of descending guide ramps of the channel-based distribution unit or downstream a brush housing for rotating agitation and dispersion brushes of the dispersion-based unit, said fixing members being disposed in correspondence with the relative arrangements of the alternate distribution elements in said interchangeable units.

7. The distribution system as claimed in claim 2, wherein sensors are mounted on said attachment surface which are sensitive to the level of the tablets at the inlet of said removable dispersion-based unit and which form part of a control circuit for the intake of the tablets.

8. The distribution system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said stand is equipped with presence sensors on said attachment surface for detecting which of said at least two distribution units has just been mounted in a location appropriate to its functioning on the attachment surface wall and means for transmitting the information to a master control computer of the installation which has memory means for registering previously determined data and computer means for automatically calculating what motorization elements should thence be activated and for producing actuation signals to start them operating in consequence.

9. The distribution system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the memory means of the control computer is adapted to register several sets of working parameters previously defined in association with the adjustment facilities suitable for each particular type of compounds to be handled by each interchangeable distribution unit, and the computer is programmed to automatically select the sets of recorded parameters in relation with the distribution elements whose presence is detected by the sensors.

10. The distribution system as claimed in claim 9, wherein said parameters that can thus be memorized comprise at least the rotation speeds for rotating elements in each said interchangeable unit, including when appliable agitation and dispersion brushes in a dispersion-based unit, a revolving drum of a rotary distributor at the entrance of guide ramps in a channel-type unit, optional auxiliary brushes serving to lay down flat tablets or to remove surplus tablets and debris.

11. The distribution system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said parameters further include values for the working powers serving to set in motion a vibrating ramp element, thereby adjusting the flow of the tablets via their speed along the vibrating ramp element.

12. The distribution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said attachment surface has a vertical component extending from said bulk feed device at an upper level down to a travel path of the blister strip at a lower level, and is adapted to removably support, alternately, either equipments disposed in an inclined arrangement between said upper and lower levels, belonging to a channel distributing unit having guide ramps guiding the descent of the tablets by gravity, or equipments disposed in a low arrangement longitudinally above said travel path of the blister strip, belonging to a dispersion-based distribution unit having rotative agitation and dispersion brushes for the tablets that are arranged in succession along the travel path of the blister strip above it.

13. The distribution system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a drive device for moving a blister strip in a horizontal direction along said attachment surface wall and wherein a set of fixing members for the mounting of the dispersion-based distribution unit comprises at least two fixing points which are distanced apart in the direction of advancement of the strip on said attachment surface and are adapted for supporting thereon a brush housing of the dispersion-based distribution unit containing said rotative agitation and dispersion rotative brushes in functional relationship with the blister strip.

14. The distribution system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said fixing members are adjustable in their position on said attachment surface relative to the travel path of a blister strip entrained by said drive device.

15. The distribution system as claimed in claim 13, wherein a further set of fixing members adapted for the mounting of the channel type distribution unit comprises at least two fixing points which are distanced apart in the vertical direction above the travel path of the strip on said attachment surface and which are adjustably adapted for supporting thereon guide ramps for the tablets fed thereto from the bulk feed device.

16. The distribution system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising independent fixing members for the mounting of a tablet-laying brush for laying the tablets down in the cells of the blister strip and/or for the mounting of a helically threaded brush for pushing aside the surplus tablets or debris.

17. The distribution system as claimed in claim 13, wherein connecting means for performing connection between, on a same forward side of the attachment wall as the traveling strip, the axles of the rotating brushes and other rotary driven elements, and the drive shafts of the motorization elements mounted in the stand on the opposite backward or rear side of the attachment wall.

18. The distribution system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said connecting means are screwdriver-type means that work by fitting a member having a male connector axially into a cooperating member having a female connector, said male and female connectors engaging each other through the wall forming the attachment surface.

19. The distribution system as claimed in claim 13, wherein any element of the interchangeable units liable to come in contact with the tablets is separated from the stand by an additional auxiliary wall in front of the attachment surface wall.