JP2015000194A - Drug packaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a medicine packaging device that enables precise medicine packaging. A medicine packaging device 10 is dropped from a medicine cassette 12 in which a predetermined kind of medicine is stored, a camera 24 for measuring the amount of medicine 36 dropped from the medicine cassette 12, and the medicine cassette 12. A load cell 28 that receives and measures the weight of the medicine 36, a packaging part 42 that encloses the medicine in a medicine bag below the load cell 28, and a computer 38 that controls the operation of each part included in the medicine packaging apparatus 10. The main features. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a medicine packaging apparatus that stores medicine in a medicine bag, and more particularly to a medicine packaging apparatus that stores a predetermined amount of medicine composed of powder or the like in a medicine bag.

  Conventionally, a medicine called a fine powdery powder is provided in a state of being packed in a medicine bag every predetermined amount. For example, this type of medicine is individually packaged for each dose period such as “morning”, “noon”, “evening”, “before going to bed”, and the like.

  With reference to FIG. 8, a general packaging method conventionally performed will be described. FIG. 8A is a flowchart for explaining a general packaging method, and FIG. 8B is a diagram showing a specific measuring method.

  Referring to FIG. 8A, first, the pharmacist refers to the contents of the receipt (prescription) and confirms the medicine to be packaged and the number of packages (step S101). Specifically, in accordance with the contents of this receipt, the pharmacist takes out a predetermined amount of agent from a container such as a medicine bottle and measures the necessary amount. For example, if 3 g of medicine after 1 meal is required in 1 g of package, 9 g of medicine is taken out from the medicine bottle (step S102). Thereafter, the measured predetermined amount of medicine is put into the automatic packaging machine (step S103). This is the process performed manually by the pharmacist.

  In the automatic packing machine, first, the supplied predetermined amount of medicine 104 is evenly spread on the upper surface of the disk 102 (see step S104, FIG. 8B). Specifically, the drug 104 is distributed substantially uniformly on the upper surface of the disk 102 by supplying the drug 104 near the center of the upper surface of the disk 102 rotating at a predetermined rotation speed. Further, the central angle is calculated according to the number of packages, and the upper surface of the disk 102 is divided into small areas based on this angle, and the medicine 104 is scraped from the upper surface of the disk 102 for each small area, and one package is taken out. In FIG. 8B, the image is divided into small areas indicated by dotted lines. As an example, if the medicine 104 dispersed on the upper surface of the disk 102 is divided into 9 (every morning and evening meal x 3 days), it should be stored in each package from a sectoral small area with a central angle of 40 degrees. Drug is collected.

  After the medicine packaging is completed, cleaning for removing the medicine remaining in the automatic packaging machine is performed (step S105). Specifically, boric acid is introduced into the inside from the medicine inlet of the automatic packaging machine, and the boric acid is released to the outside, whereby the medicine remaining inside is adhered to the boric acid and taken out to the outside. If this cleaning is insufficient, the residual medicine is removed by suction with a vacuum cleaner built in the apparatus.

  The above operations (step S101 to step S105) are repeated as many times as the number of types of medicines required.

  After the above steps are completed, the collected medicines are individually packed in a medicine bag and provided to the patient (step S106).

  Moreover, the automatic packaging machine described in the following patent document 1-patent document 3 is also known as a general thing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-8282 JP-A 64-84802 JP-A-1-96801

  However, the drug dividing method using a disk as shown in FIG. 8B can deal with the number of divisions that can be divided into integers such as 3 or 9 divisions. If the amount is different, there is a problem that this method cannot handle.

  In addition, although the distribution device is cleaned to prevent the mixing of the drugs, the drug remains in the apparatus as long as one apparatus is shared by a plurality of drugs. There was a problem that could not be done.

  Furthermore, there is a problem that it is very complicated for the pharmacist to repeat the operations from step S101 to step S103.

  The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a medicine packaging device capable of accurately packaging medicine while reducing the burden on a user such as a pharmacist. Is to provide.

  The medicine packaging device of the present invention includes a medicine supply section that drops a medicine stored inside, a photographing section that obtains an image obtained by photographing the medicine dropped from the medicine supply section in the air, and the medicine as described above. Based on the output of the weight measurement unit that receives the drug supply unit and measures the weight of the drug, and the imaging unit and the weight measurement unit, calculates the amount of drug dropped from the drug supply unit, and the drug A control unit that stops dropping of the drug by the drug supply unit when the amount reaches a predetermined value; and a packaging unit that packages a predetermined amount of the drug dropped downward from the weight measurement unit. It is characterized by doing.

  According to the present invention, the amount of the medicine dropped downward from the medicine supply unit is calculated by the imaging unit and the weight measurement unit, and the predetermined amount of the medicine is added to the packaging unit below the weight measurement unit. And wrap it. Thereby, the medicine supply unit, the weight measuring unit, and the packaging unit can be arranged in the vertical direction to make the entire apparatus small.

  Further, in the present invention, by opening and closing the opening / closing section provided in the weight measuring section, a predetermined amount of the medicine is directly dropped onto the packaging section disposed below it. Therefore, since the medicine does not come into contact with other parts of the apparatus, it is possible to prevent the medicine from being mixed and the medicine amount from being reduced.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the funnel part with which the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention is provided. It is a flowchart which shows the method of packaging a chemical | medical agent using the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention. It is a graph which shows the amount of medicine computed with the medicine packaging device of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the image image | photographed when calculating the chemical | medical agent amount using the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention, (A) and (B) have shown the image image | photographed continuously. It is a figure which shows the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention, (A) is a side view which shows a chemical | medical agent cassette etc., (B) is a figure which shows a press part, (C) is a figure which shows a support part. . It is a figure which shows the chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus of this invention, (A) to (D) is a figure which shows the chemical | medical agent cassette of another form. (A) is a flowchart which shows the method of packaging a chemical | medical agent using a chemical | medical agent packaging apparatus by background art, (B) is a figure which shows the condition in detail.

  With reference to FIG. 1, the structure of the medicine packaging apparatus 10 concerning embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  With reference to FIG. 1 (A), the medicine packaging apparatus 10 measures the medicine amount of the medicine cassette 12 (medicine supply section) in which medicine to be packaged is stored and the medicine 36 discharged from the medicine cassette 12. A camera 24 (imaging unit), a load cell 28 (weight measurement unit) for measuring the weight of the drug 36 dropped from the drug cassette 12, and a packaging unit 42 for packing the drug dropped downward from the load cell 28. A computer 38 is mainly provided as a control unit for controlling the operations of these units.

  The basic function of the drug packaging device 10 having such a configuration is to package a type of drug selected by the pharmacist into a drug bag 44 for each predetermined amount.

  As the drug 36 handled in this embodiment, a powder or a granule is employed. The powder is a powdered medicine having a particle size of 355 to 1400 μm. The powder is prepared by mixing and homogenizing an active ingredient, an excipient, a binder, a disintegrant and the like. A granule is an active ingredient, an excipient, a binder, a disintegrant and the like produced in powder or fine particles, and has a particle size of 500 μm or less.

  The medicine cassette 12 is disposed in a rotatable state on the upper part of the medicine packaging device. The reason why the medicine cassette 12 is allowed to rotate is that the medicine 36 stored in the medicine cassette 12 is dropped to the outside by rotating the medicine cassette 12. Here, although one medicine cassette 12 is arranged, two or more medicine cassettes 12 may be arranged. When a plurality of medicine cassettes 12 are arranged, different kinds of medicines may be stored in each medicine cassette 12. For example, a headache drug is stored in one drug cassette 12, a stomach drug is stored in the other drug cassette 12, and the drug is dropped downward by rotating simultaneously. Thereby, a different kind of chemical | medical agent can be mixed and accommodated in one package. The medicine cassette 12 is detachable from the medicine packaging device 10. Therefore, a desired medicine cassette 12 may be attached to the apparatus manually by a pharmacist, or a mechanism for installing the medicine cassette 12 at a predetermined location of the medicine packaging apparatus 10 may be provided.

  The medicine cassette 12 has a cylindrical body part 14 whose right side is open on the paper surface, and a lid part 16 that closes the opening at the right end part of the body part 14. A gear portion is provided on the side surface of the left end portion of the medicine cassette 12, and this gear portion is fitted with the gear of the motor 18. In this state, by rotating the motor 18, the body portion of the medicine cassette 12 rotates at a predetermined rotation speed.

  The claw of the opening portion 17 is fitted to the lid portion 16 of the medicine cassette 12. In this state, the opening portion 17 is pulled to the right on the paper surface, whereby a gap is formed between the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16. The body portion 14 is rotated by the motor 18 while the lid portion 16 is fixed by the opening portion 17. Thereby, the medicine 36 is dropped downward from the gap between the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16. At this time, the body portion 14 of the medicine cassette 12 is rotated by the driving force of the motor 18, but the lid portion 16 is not rotated. The movement of the opening portion 17 is controlled by the rotation of the motor 20.

  The camera 24 is disposed near the lower part of the portion (throwing portion) where the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16 of the medicine cassette 12 are in contact with each other. The camera 24 images the medicine 36 dropped downward from the medicine cassette 12. Has the function to obtain. In this embodiment, the camera 24 is disposed in the vicinity of the medicine cassette 12 in order to photograph the medicine 36 immediately after being dropped from the medicine cassette 12. Since the dropping speed of the medicine 36 immediately after being dropped is slow, the medicine 36 can be accurately photographed by the camera 24. Image data captured by the camera 24 is transmitted to the computer 38.

  The illuminating unit 22 is, for example, an illuminating device having an LED element, and is disposed in the vicinity of the camera 24 and has a function of irradiating the medicine 36 with light. When the illumination unit 22 irradiates the medicine 36 with light, the medicine 36 in the air is captured more clearly by the camera 24, and the dosage can be accurately estimated by image processing.

  The load cell 28 is disposed below the lower part of the medicine cassette 12 and has a function of receiving the medicine 36 dropped from the medicine cassette 12 and measuring its weight. Data indicating the weight of the medicine 36 measured by the load cell 28 is transmitted to the computer 38.

  A funnel portion 26 is provided on the upper portion of the load cell 28. The funnel part 26 has a funnel shape in which the upper part is opened larger than the lower part, and has a role of collecting the medicine 36 dropped from the medicine cassette 12 in the load cell 28.

  An opening / closing part 30 is provided below the load cell 28. The weight of the medicine 36 is measured by the image processing by the camera 24 and the load cell 28, and when this value reaches a predetermined amount, the opening / closing part 30 is opened to drop the medicine 36 downward from the load cell 28. The opening / closing operation of the opening / closing unit 30 is performed using the driving force of the electromagnetic valve controlled by the computer 38.

  Below the load cell 28, a packaging unit 42 for performing packaging processing is disposed. In the packaging part 42, a packaging film 34 composed of a continuous medicine bag 44 is prepared in a state of being wound around a roll 32. A packaging portion into which the medicine 36 is to be placed is disposed below the load cell 28, and the medicine 36 dropped from the load cell 28 is stored in the medicine bag 44 via the funnel 46. Thereafter, the packaging portion into which the medicine has been charged is sealed by, for example, thermocompressing the peripheral portion thereof.

  In this embodiment, the load cell 28 and the drug bag 44 are arranged below the gap between the body part 14 and the lid part 16 of the drug cassette 12. Therefore, by dropping the medicine 36, the medicine 36 is measured and the medicine 36 is put into the medicine bag 44, so that the entire apparatus is simplified and foreign matter is prevented from being mixed.

  With reference to FIG. 2, the other form of the above-mentioned funnel part 26 is demonstrated. Here, the lower part of the funnel part 26 has a cylindrical shape, and a constricted part is provided in the middle part thereof. The funnel portion 26 communicates integrally from the upper end to the lower end. Further, while the medicine 36 is being dropped on the funnel portion 26, the intermediate portion of the funnel portion 26 that is constricted is pressed by the pressing portion 40. Thereby, the communication of the funnel part 26 is blocked at the pressed position, and the dropped medicine 36 is stored inside the funnel part 26. The funnel portion 26 is made of paper or a resin material, and the funnel portion 26 is replaced when the type of medicine to be dropped is changed. Thereby, the chemical | medical agent adhering to the inner wall of the funnel part 26 is prevented from mixing with another kind of chemical | medical agent.

  In this state, the above-described load cell measures the weight of the funnel portion 26 in which the medicine 36 is stored. When the calculated amount of medicine reaches a predetermined amount, the medicine 36 stored in the funnel part 26 is dropped downward by releasing the pressing of the pressing part 40. And after this dropping is completed, the intermediate part of the funnel part 26 is pressed again by the pressing part 40, and the communication is released.

  With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and each figure mentioned above, the method of packaging a medicine using the medicine packaging apparatus described above will be described.

  First, referring to a receipt prescribed by a user such as a pharmacist, an operation for starting the apparatus is performed to start packaging (step S10). At this time, the medicine cassette 12 containing the desired medicine 36 is disposed in the medicine packaging apparatus 10 in a rotatable state.

  Next, the medicine cassette 12 is rotated by driving the motor 18 (step S11). Further, by driving the motor 20 and pulling the lid portion 16 to the right side on the paper surface by the opening portion 17, a gap is formed between the lid portion 16 and the body portion 14 (step S12). Next, photographing is performed with the camera 24 while irradiating light with the illumination unit 22, and it is confirmed whether or not the medicine has been dropped (step S13). If the dropped medicine is not confirmed by the camera 24 (NO in step S13), the motor 20 is further driven to pull the lid part 16 rightward on the paper surface by the opening part 17, and the body part 14 of the medicine cassette 12 The gap between the cover portion 16 and the lid portion 16 is increased. On the other hand, if the medicine dropped from the gap is detected by the camera 24 (YES in step S13), the motor 20 is stopped and the gap between the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16 is not further increased (step S14).

  Monitoring of drug drop by the camera 24 is continuously performed while dropping is continued. That is, if the medicine 36 has been photographed by the camera 24, it is determined that the medicine has been dropped (YES in step S15). On the other hand, if the medicine 36 is not photographed by the camera 24 (NO in step S15), the gap between the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16 of the medicine cassette 12 is increased until the medicine 36 is photographed (step S16).

  Through the above steps, the medicine 36 dropped from the medicine cassette 12 is stored in the load cell 28 through the funnel portion 26. The weight of the stored medicine 36 is measured by the load cell 28, and data indicating this weight is transmitted to the computer 38. Further, while the medicine 36 is being dropped, the photographing by the camera 24 is continuously performed.

  The amount of the drug 36 dropped is continuously measured. In this embodiment, the drug dose dropped is measured by weight measurement with the load cell 28 until a certain point in time, and thereafter, the drug dose is measured by image processing. Measuring. Thereby, the amount (predetermined amount) required for one medicine package is accurately measured. Specifically, until the weight of the drug measured by the load cell 28 reaches 90% of the predetermined amount, the drug amount is measured based on the output of the load cell 28 (NO in step S17).

  When the drug amount calculated by the load cell 28 reaches 90%, the specific gravity of the drug is calculated (step S18). Specifically, the total area (number of pixels) of the portion where the medicine 36 is photographed in the image photographed by the camera 24 is calculated, and the medicine amount (90% of the predetermined amount) measured by the load cell 28 is calculated. Divide by total area. Thereby, the dose (unit dose) per unit area (per pixel) is calculated. This unit dose is used when calculating the dose by image processing.

  Thereafter, while the presence of the medicine 36 is confirmed by the camera 24 (steps S19 and S20), the dropping of the medicine 36 is continued. The details of steps S19 and S20 are the same as steps S15 and S16 described above.

  Thereafter, the medicine dose is calculated by multiplying the area where the medicine 36 is photographed in the image photographed by the camera 24 by the above unit medicine amount, and the medicine 36 is continuously dropped until the medicine amount reaches a predetermined amount. (NO in step S21). On the other hand, when the drug amount calculated by the image processing reaches a predetermined amount (YES in step S21), a process for ending the drug dropping is performed.

  Specifically, by operating the motor 20 in the reverse rotation, the opening portion 17 is moved to the body portion 14 side, and the gap between the body portion 14 and the lid portion 16 of the medicine cassette 12 is closed (step S22). Further, the rotation of the medicine cassette 12 is stopped by stopping the motor 18 (step S23).

  Next, a medicine packaging process is performed (step S24). Specifically, the medicine 36 stored in the load cell 28 is dropped downward by opening the opening / closing part 30 provided in the load cell 28. A medicine bag 44 of a packaging film 34 drawn out from the roll 32 is disposed below the opening / closing part 30. Therefore, the dropped medicine 36 is put into a predetermined medicine bag 44 via the funnel 46, and the periphery thereof is pressure-bonded to be sealed.

  After the packaging process is completed, the number of packaged medicine bags 44 is counted, and if the predetermined number has not been reached, the packaging process is performed again (NO in step S25). On the other hand, when the number of packaged medicine bags reaches a predetermined value (YES in step S25), the packaging process is terminated (step S26).

  With reference to the flowchart shown to FIG. 4 and FIG. 3, the method to detect the dosage in this form is explained in full detail. The graph shown in FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the drug drop time and the drug amount, the horizontal axis shows the time over which the drug is dropped from the drug cassette 12, and the vertical axis is the drug dropped from the drug cassette 12. Shows the weight. Further, in this graph, the measurement value by the load cell is indicated by a dotted line, and the measurement value by the camera is indicated by a solid line.

  Generally, when measuring the weight of the medicine 36, it is conceivable to use only the load cell 28. However, when the drug 36 to be dropped is measured using only the load cell 28, it is not easy to drop a predetermined amount of the drug 36 from the drug cassette 12. The reason is that the medicine 36 existing in the air between the medicine cassette 12 and the load cell 28 is supplied to the load cell 28 after the medicine dropping by the medicine cassette 12 is ended based on the measurement value by the load cell 28. is there. In this case, more medicine than the predetermined amount is put into the medicine bag 44. In addition, it takes time for the matter 36 to be reflected on the computer 38 after the dropped medicine 36 comes into contact with the load cell 28, which causes an error in the dose calculation using the load cell 28.

  In this embodiment, the weight of the medicine 36 dropped downward from the medicine cassette 12 is measured using both image processing by the camera 24 and weight measurement by the load cell 28 in this embodiment. Specifically, at the initial stage of dropping the drug from the drug cassette 12, the weight of the drug 36 is measured using only the load cell 28. When the weight of the medicine measured by the load cell 28 reaches, for example, 90%, the measurement by the load cell 28 is terminated, and the weight of the dropped medicine is detected based on the image obtained by the camera 24. As described above, the camera 24 images the immediate vicinity of the medicine cassette 12. Therefore, by calculating the amount of drug based on the image taken by the camera 24, the amount of drug immediately after being dropped from the drug 36 can be measured immediately. Therefore, when the amount of the medicine based on the output of the camera 24 reaches a predetermined amount, the medicine amount to be dropped can be set to a predetermined amount by closing the lid 16 of the medicine cassette 12.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, as described above, using the weight of the medicine measured by the load cell 28 and the image taken by the camera 24, the amount of medicine per unit area of the medicine portion photographed by the camera 24 (unit medicine Amount). Therefore, the drug amount can be detected by the camera 24 without measuring the unit dose of the drug in advance. Furthermore, even if the type of the medicine 36 to be dropped is changed after the medicine cassette 12 is replaced, the unit weight is again obtained by dividing the weight measured by the load cell 28 by the area of the medicine obtained by the camera 24. Therefore, management is simple because setting by a pharmacist is not necessary.

  With reference to FIG. 5, the method for detecting the amount of drug by image detection in this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 5A shows an image taken at a certain time, and FIG. 5B shows an image after one frame.

  With reference to FIG. 5 (A), the image by the camera 24 shows the medicine cassette 12 and its vicinity. The medicine 36 dropped from the medicine cassette 12 falls under the influence of gravity and falls earlier. Therefore, if the dropped medicine 36 is photographed at a lower position away from the medicine cassette 12, the medicine 36 falls at a high speed, so that it is difficult to photograph the medicine 36 clearly with a general camera. In addition, if a camera that operates at high speed is used, this shooting can be performed. However, the use of this kind of expensive camera may hinder the cost reduction of the entire apparatus. Therefore, in this embodiment, by taking an image in the vicinity of the medicine cassette 12 where the dropping speed of the medicine 36 is slow, the medicine 36 in the air is clearly photographed even with a camera having a relatively slow photographing speed. The weight of is accurately calculated. As an example, this embodiment employs a camera that can acquire an image of several tens of frames per second. Thus, in this embodiment, since an expensive camera that enables high-speed shooting is not required, an increase in the cost of the entire apparatus is suppressed.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the detection of the medicine 36 is not performed using the entire image, but the detection is performed using only a part thereof. Specifically, referring to FIG. 5A, in this embodiment, a portion near the medicine cassette 12 is set as a reference area 48, and a medicine amount is calculated only for the medicine 36 photographed in the reference area 48. doing. Specifically, the reference region 48 has a portion that is concentric with the drug cassette 12 having a circular shape. In other words, the shape of the reference region 48 is a part of a donut-shaped region having a uniform radial width. By doing in this way, since only the medicine 36 immediately after being dropped from the medicine cassette 12 is photographed, the medicine 36 falling at a low speed can be photographed clearly.

  Further, the size of the reference region 48 is set to such an extent that the medicine 36 is not superimposed and photographed in consideration of the speed at which the camera sequentially captures images. As described above, since the image shown in FIG. 5A and the image shown in FIG. 5B are taken continuously, the time interval at which both images are acquired is determined in advance. Therefore, the size (width) of the reference area 48 is set so that the medicine 36 imaged in the reference area 48 shown in FIG. 5A is not imaged in the reference area 48 shown in FIG. Is set. Here, the two medicines 36 photographed inside the reference area 48 in FIG. 5A are photographed below the reference area 48 when referring to FIG. Therefore, in the case shown in FIG. 5 (B), the medicine 36 already photographed in FIG. 5 (A) is not taken into consideration in the calculation of the medicine amount, and therefore the accuracy by calculating the medicine amount redundantly from one medicine 36. Decline is prevented.

  With reference to FIG. 6, the above-described drug cassette 12 and the like will be described in detail. FIG. 6A is a side view of a drug cassette or the like and a site where the drug is measured, FIG. 6B is a view of the pressing portion from above, and FIG. 6C is a support. It is the figure which looked at the part from the upper part.

  With reference to FIG. 6 (A), as described above, the medicine cassette 12 includes the cylindrical body portion 14 and the lid portion 16 that closes the open portion of the body portion 14. And the chemical | medical agent cassette 12 is inclined and arrange | positioned so that the side by which the cover part 16 is arrange | positioned may become a downward direction. Thereby, the medicine to be built comes closer to the lid portion 16, and the medicine can be reliably dropped from the gap by opening the lid portion 16.

  The lid portion 16 is provided with a magnet in the vicinity of the tip of a rod-shaped portion extending in the axial direction inside the body portion 14, and another magnet is also provided in the body portion 14 in the vicinity of the tip portion. Yes. Therefore, the lid portion 16 is in close contact with the body portion 14 so as to close the open portion by the magnetic force of these magnets. Under use conditions, the opening part 17 fitted to the cover part 16 pulls the cover part 16 rightward on the paper surface, so that the cover part 16 is separated from the body part 14 with the upper end as a viewpoint, and the body part 14 and A gap is formed between the lower end of the lid portion 16. Thereby, the chemical | medical agent accommodated in the trunk | drum 14 is dropped below from a clearance gap.

  Fins 76 whose main surfaces extend toward the center are provided on the inner surface of the body portion 14, and a plurality of fins 76 are provided at equal intervals along the circumferential direction.

  The presser part 50 is a columnar member that is rotatably provided in a housing part or the like of a medicine packaging device (not shown). The presser part 50 has a function of pressing the outer periphery of the body part 14 in the center direction in a rotatable manner. Thereby, the medicine cassette 12 is prevented from popping out. The presser part 52 is also the same, and the end part of the body part 14 is pressed in a rotatable state from the inside to prevent the medicine cassette 12 from jumping out.

  The solenoid 54 is in contact with the body portion 14 of the medicine cassette 12 via an arm or the like, and has a function of dropping the medicine well downward by applying vibration to the medicine cassette 12.

  The illuminating unit 22 and the camera 24 are fixed at predetermined positions on the control plate, and image the medicine in the immediate vicinity of the medicine cassette 12. A background plate 58 is disposed below the medicine cassette 12 so as to face the camera 24. Therefore, the camera 24 images the medicine that falls in front of the background plate 58. As the color of the background plate 58, a color that increases the contrast with the medicine is employed, for example, black. Thereby, in the image photographed by the camera 24, for example, the contrast between the region where the white medicine is photographed and the region where the black background plate 58 is photographed is increased, and the amount of medicine is accurately calculated. Is possible.

  The funnel part 26 for collecting the dropped medicine is supported by the support part 62 at the upper part extending in a funnel shape. Referring to FIG. 6C, the support portion 62 has a shape that matches the shape of the funnel portion 26, and specifically has an annular shape with a part missing. The funnel portion 26 is held in the vertical direction by the support portion 62 having such a shape.

  The pressing portion 40 is a portion that presses the lower portion of the funnel portion 26 having a tubular shape, and has a scissor shape that allows the funnel portion to be sandwiched with reference to FIG. In the steady state due to the ineffective force, the tubular portion is closed by sandwiching the funnel portion 26. Further, the end portion of the pressing portion 40 is connected to the load cell 28. Thereby, the dropped medicine can remain in the funnel portion 26 and its weight can be measured by the load cell 28. After the predetermined amount of medicine is measured by the funnel portion 26, the funnel portion 26 is inserted by inserting the insertion portion 60 into a portion where the funnel portion 26 is sandwiched by the pressing portion 40 with reference to FIG. Release the pressing force applied to. Thereby, after a predetermined amount of medicine stored in the funnel portion 26 is dropped downward, the packaging process is performed.

  The solenoid 56 is in contact with the funnel portion 26 via an arm or the like, and has a function of applying mechanical vibration to the funnel portion 26. For example, the solenoid 56 vibrates the funnel portion 26 when the medicine is dropped as described above, and suppresses the medicine from adhering to the inner wall of the funnel portion 26 and remaining.

  With reference to FIG. 7, another embodiment of the above-described drug cassette will be described. FIG. 7 (A) to FIG. 7 (D) are side views showing drug cassettes of various forms.

  Referring to FIG. 7A, the drug cassette 12 shown in FIG. 6 and the like has a cylindrical shape, but the drug cassette 12A shown in this figure employs a case 64 having a substantially hexahedral shape. A predetermined type of medicine is stored inside the case 64.

  Inside the case 64, a stirring unit 66 that rotates with a predetermined number of blade portions is provided. Here, two stirring units 66 are arranged inside the case 64. Here, the direction of rotation of the two stirring units is opposite in the usage situation. Thus, the stirring part 66 rotates inside the case 64, so that the medicine stored in the case 64 can be well stirred and dropped downward.

  The slide portion 68 is disposed so as to close the bottom surface of the case 64 and is provided so as to be movable along the main surface direction. A contact portion 70 made of silicon rubber or the like is disposed at a portion where the slide portion 68 contacts the case 64. When the tip of the slide portion 68 is in close contact with the contact portion 70, the medicine is prevented from leaking from between the two. When dropping the medicine from the medicine cassette 12A, the slide portion 68 is slid diagonally right upward on the paper surface, and a gap is formed between the contact portion 70 and the slide portion 68. In this state, the stirring portion By rotating 66, the medicine is dropped downward from the gap. On the other hand, when this drop is not performed, the distal end portion of the slide portion 68 is in contact with the contact portion 70, and the medicine is not dropped.

  When such a medicine cassette 12A is used, the medicine cassette 12 is arranged above the funnel portion 26 with reference to FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 7B, the basic configuration of the medicine cassette 12B shown in this figure is the same as that of the medicine cassette 12A described above, and the mechanism and the like of the slide portion 68 are different. Specifically, here, the slide portion 68 slides while rotating around the rotation shaft portion 72. Accordingly, the medicine is dropped downward from the gap between the opening 78 of the case 64 and the slide portion 68. In addition, here, one stirring unit 66 is provided inside the case 64.

  With reference to FIG. 7C, the configuration of another form of the drug cassette 12C will be described. The basic configuration of the drug cassette 12C is the same as that of the drug cassette 12B, and the configuration of the stirring unit 66 is different. Specifically, a stirring unit 66 that rotates without a wing portion is provided in the vicinity of the opening 78. A pressing portion 74 for pressing the slide portion 68 against the opening 78 of the case 64 is also provided. In the medicine cassette 12C, the opening 78 has a long and narrow shape in the depth direction on the paper surface.

  The basic configuration of the drug cassette 12D shown in FIG. 7D is the same as that of the above-described drug cassette 12C, and the configuration of the stirring unit 66 and the like is different. That is, here, the stirring unit 66 is configured to have a rotation axis toward the slide unit 68, and the opening 78 is configured to be substantially circular in plan view.

  The above-described embodiment can be modified as follows, for example.

  Referring to FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the amount of drug is measured by the load cell until 90% of the predetermined amount, and thereafter, the amount of drug is measured by image processing by the camera 24, but this ratio is changed. May be. For example, the dose may be measured with a load cell until reaching 50% of the predetermined amount, and thereafter, the dose may be measured by image processing.

  With reference to FIG. 1, a printing unit that prints a drug type or the like on a medicine bag may be disposed in the vicinity of the packaging unit.

  In the above description, the unit dose is calculated from the measured value of the load cell 28 and the image obtained by the camera 24. However, the dose may be calculated from the image using the unit dose measured in advance.

  Further, referring to FIG. 1, the medicine stored in the medicine bag 44 may be constant, or a different amount of medicine may be put into each medicine bag 44.

  Moreover, in the said description, although the powdered medicine 36 was made into object, this form can be applied also to a liquid medicine.

  Further, in the above embodiment, it is possible to employ the inexpensive camera 24 by photographing the medicine 36 immediately after being dropped from the medicine cassette 12, but the camera 24 that operates at a high speed can be used at a lower position. It is also possible to photograph the medicine 36.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 5, the amount of the medicine 36 is calculated using only a part of the photographed image, but the whole may be used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Drug packaging apparatus 12, 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D Drug cassette 14 Body part 16 Cover part 17 Opening part 18 Motor 20 Motor 22 Illumination part 24 Camera 26 Funnel part 28 Load cell 30 Opening / closing part 32 Roll 34 Packaging film 36 Drug 38 Computer 40 Pressing part 42 Packaging part 44 Drug bag 46 Funnel 48 Reference area 50 Pressing part 52 Pressing part 54 Solenoid 56 Solenoid 58 Background plate 60 Insertion part 62 Supporting part 64 Case 66 Stirring part 68 Sliding part 70 Contacting part 72 Rotation Shaft portion 74 Pressing portion 76 Fin 78 Opening portion

Claims (6)

A medicine supply section for dropping the medicine stored inside,
An imaging unit for obtaining an image of the drug dropped from the drug supply unit in the air;
A weight measuring unit that receives the drug under the drug supply unit and measures the weight of the drug; and
Based on the outputs of the imaging unit and the weight measuring unit, the amount of drug dropped from the drug supply unit is calculated, and when the drug amount becomes predetermined, the drug supply unit stops dropping the drug. A control unit;
A packaging unit for packaging a predetermined amount of the drug dropped downward from the weight measuring unit;
A medicine packaging device comprising: The weight measurement unit is provided with an opening / closing unit,
While the medicine supply unit drops the medicine, the opening / closing part is closed,
2. The medicine packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the medicine amount reaches a predetermined value, the opening and closing part is opened to drop the medicine onto the packaging part.   The medicine packaging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a funnel part for collecting the dropped medicines is provided in an upper part of the weight measuring part. It further has a pressing part that presses the middle part of the funnel part,
The pressing part closes the funnel part by pressing the middle part of the funnel part while the medicine is dropping the funnel part,
The medicine packaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the medicine is dropped downward from the funnel portion by releasing the pressing of the pressing portion after the predetermined amount of the medicine is dropped. . The drug supply unit has a cylindrical body part and a lid part that closes an opening part of the body part,
The medicine packaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the medicine cassette is disposed so as to be inclined such that a side on which the lid portion is provided is downward.   The said chemical | medical agent supply part has a stirring part which stirs a chemical | medical agent inside a case, the said case, and a slide part which block | closes an opening part in the lower part of the said case material, The any one of Claims 1-4 A medicine packaging apparatus according to claim 1.

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