Automated article dispensation mechanism
First Claim
1. An apparatus for collecting and dispensing articles, said apparatus comprising:
- a controller for controlling said article transport substrate, for controlling said vacuum source and for controlling said torque sourcewherein said hollow circular shell comprises a first end and a second end,wherein said hollow shell comprises an internal transporting surface which extends upwardly and inwardly from said first end to a midpoint in said hollow circular shell, and which extends upwardly and inwardly from said second end to said midpoint in said hollow circular shell, and wherein at said midpoint is positioned said plurality of apertureswherein said controller utilizes a closed loop control feedback mechanism to selectively control the pressure of said vacuum sourcein combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or fairly suggested by the prior art.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a system for collecting, sorting, counting and consolidating an unorganized pool of solid or semi-solid articles such as pills for dispensation. Specifically, the articles are extracted from inside a bin using attraction points on a transport substrate and sorted into containers in finite quantities. The system consists of several components, preferably including a torque source, a counter and a vacuum source, which are uniquely integrated onto a single end-effector to reduce cost and redundancy by servicing several bins. Further, the system presents a method of attracting and carrying pills using negative vacuum pressure, gravity and centrifugal force. This centrifugal force holds articles to the local attraction points and is provided by the spinning of the transport substrate. Pills are collected from the bin or plenum at the local attraction points, counted, cleaved from the local attraction points and guided to a container or vial.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An apparatus for collecting and dispensing articles, said apparatus comprising:
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a controller for controlling said article transport substrate, for controlling said vacuum source and for controlling said torque source wherein said hollow circular shell comprises a first end and a second end, wherein said hollow shell comprises an internal transporting surface which extends upwardly and inwardly from said first end to a midpoint in said hollow circular shell, and which extends upwardly and inwardly from said second end to said midpoint in said hollow circular shell, and wherein at said midpoint is positioned said plurality of apertures wherein said controller utilizes a closed loop control feedback mechanism to selectively control the pressure of said vacuum source in combination with the rest of the claim language is not taught or fairly suggested by the prior art. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification