JPH0653515U - Pallets for transporting capsules - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a pallet for transporting capsules, which is suitable for use in a production line for products containing capsules. A pallet for transporting capsules for transporting capsules filled with an object to be filled such as powder, comprising: a capsule holding part capable of aligning and holding a plurality of capsules in a fixed posture; A side mark that indicates the position in the transport direction of the row of held capsules,
A positioning pin was provided for positioning each capsule holder at a predetermined position.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a pallet for transporting capsules used in a manufacturing line for manufacturing products in which medicines, cosmetics, foods, etc. are encapsulated.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 There is a capsuled product in which a fluid such as medicine, cosmetics, and food is put in a capsule, and a lid material made of aluminum film or the like is attached to this with a heat-melting adhesive. When manufacturing this type of capsule-containing product, it is common to load the material to be filled and attach the lid material while the capsules are placed on a pallet and transported in a fixed direction.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In the above capsule product manufacturing apparatus, the steps of filling the filling object, checking that the filling object is filled in the capsule, and the step of attaching the lid material are performed on a common conveyor. If they can be arranged, the structure of the whole manufacturing apparatus is simplified and preferable. The present invention provides a pallet for transporting capsules that makes this possible.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, the capsule transport pallet according to the present invention is a capsule transport pallet that transports capsules filled with an object to be filled such as powder, and can hold a plurality of capsules in an aligned state. Capsule holders, side marks that indicate the position of the row of capsules held by the capsule holders in the transport direction, and positioning pins that position each capsule holder at a predetermined position are provided. Is characterized by.

[0005]

A pallet in which a plurality of capsules are aligned and held by the capsule holding unit is conveyed in a predetermined direction. During the transportation, the capsule is filled with the filling object, the lid material is attached, and the like.At this time, a side marker that indicates the position of the row of the capsule holding unit is displayed by a separate detection device. Based on the timing of detection, it is possible to check whether the filling object is filled in the capsule, and by positioning the lid material with respect to the pallet using the positioning pin, the lid is closed. The material can be accurately attached to the capsule.

[0006]

【Example】

 As an example of the present invention, a capsule-shaped product in which a plastic powder capsule 1 is filled with a cosmetic powder 2 (hereinafter referred to as a powder) as an object to be filled, and a lid member 3 made of an aluminum film is attached to this and sealed. The pallet for transporting capsules used in the production line No. 4 (see FIG. 4) will be described.

First, the capsule 1 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the capsule 1 includes an elliptic cylindrical portion 10 in plan view and a hemispherical portion integrated on the upper portion of the cylindrical portion 10. 11, a concave portion 12 for accommodating powder is formed inside the hemispherical portion 11 so as to open upward. In order to combine a plurality of capsules 1 in a vertically stacked manner, a cutout 14 is provided at the lower end of the major diameter portion of the tubular portion 10, and a protruding portion 15 that engages with the cutout is provided at the upper end. Has been formed. When the capsules are combined vertically, a gap 16 is formed in the upper part of the notch 14 of the upper capsule (see FIG. 7). Further, a horizontal ridge 17 is formed at a position which makes an angle of 90 degrees with the projecting portion 15 on the outer surface of the hemispherical portion 11, and a lower portion of the inner surface of the tubular portion 10 on the lower surface in a plan view. A horizontal groove 18 is formed at the same position, and when the capsules are combined in the upper and lower directions, the ridges 17 and the grooves 18 are engaged with each other and the pair of upper and lower capsules are hard to come off. The outer diameter of the ridge 17 is the same as or slightly larger than the inner diameter of the tubular portion 10, and the upper and lower capsules are pushed in with a little force in the direction of approaching each other, and the tubular portion 10 is expanded. It is preferable that the ridge 17 is engaged with the groove 18. Since the cylindrical portion 10 is provided with the cutout portion 14, the lower portion of the cylindrical portion 10 can be relatively easily expanded.

The capsule carrying pallet 60 is for carrying the capsules 1 along the manufacturing line, and has a shape shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. That is, it has a rectangular shape in a plan view, and a plurality of capsule holding portions 61, ... Are arranged in a grid pattern (horizontal 10 × vertical 5) on the upper surface thereof. A bush 62 having a shape to which the capsule 1 is just fitted is internally mounted in the capsule holding portion 61 in a state of being elastically supported from below by a spring 63. A push-up pin hole 65 that penetrates vertically is provided at the center of the bush 62. Normally, when the capsule 1 is fitted in the bush 62, the upper portion of the capsule 1 is projected by about 1 mm from the upper surface of the pallet 60. In addition, at the left and right ends of the pallet 60, there are formed pin insertion portions 66, 66 that open downward for attaching the pallet to the pallet base 71 described later, and a positioning that projects upward at the same position as this. Pins 67, 67 are provided. Further, at least one of the side surface portions is provided with position detecting projections (hereinafter referred to as side surface marks) 68, ... Corresponding to the positions of the capsule holding portions 61 ,.

As shown in FIG. 8, the production line 30 for capsule-containing products includes a production line conveyor 34 that conveys capsules in a predetermined direction, and an empty capsule alignment table 35 and an empty capsule transfer device 36 are provided along the conveyor. Empty capsule cleaning device 38, powder filling device 39, filling check device 40, film feeding device 42, film die cutting device 43, film transfer device 44, heat sealing device 46, film separation device 47, capsule product removal device 54 and the like are provided.

As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the production line conveyor 34 is provided with a pair of left and right conveying chains 70, 70, and pallet stands 71, ... Are provided at a constant pitch p. The pallet 60 mounted above is intermittently moved by the pitch p in the B direction in FIG. The pallet 60 is attached to the pallet base 71 by fitting a pair of left and right pins 72, 72 protruding from the pallet base 71 into the pin insertion portions 66, 66.

A free-flow conveyor 74 that moves in the opposite direction (direction of arrow C) at a higher speed (for example, twice) than the manufacturing line conveyor is provided below the manufacturing line conveyor 34. The pallet 60 conveyed to the end of the pallet is separated from the pallet table 71, and is returned to the start end of the production line conveyor 34 by the free flow conveyor 74. A roller conveyor or the like is suitable as the free flow conveyor 74. In FIG. 9, 75 is a detaching cylinder for detaching the pallet 60 from the pallet base 71, 76 is a transferring cylinder for transferring the detached pallet 60 to the free flow conveyor 74, and 77 is for lifting the pallet 60 on the free flow conveyor 74. The mounting cylinder is mounted on the pallet base 71.

On the empty capsule arranging table 35, empty capsules are set on the auxiliary pallets shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 as a preparatory work for supplying the empty capsules to the capsule conveying palette 60 on the manufacturing line conveyor 34. . The auxiliary pallet 80 is provided with capsule holding parts 81, ... In the same arrangement as the capsule carrying pallet 60, and one capsule 1 is manually fitted to each capsule holding part 81 ,. The capsule holding portion 81 of the auxiliary palette 80 is shallower than the height of the capsule, and when the capsule 1 is set, the upper portion of the capsule 1 projects above the upper surface of the auxiliary pallet 80. If the upper portion of the capsule holding portion 81 is expanded in a tapered shape as in the illustrated example, the capsule setting operation can be easily performed.

A first pusher 83 for pushing back the auxiliary pallet 80 in which the capsules are set is provided at the front left end of the empty capsule arranging table 35, and the empty capsules are transferred at the rear of the left end face as described later. A second pushing tool 84 is provided for pushing the auxiliary pallet 80 to the right after the capsules are transferred to the device 41. Both of these extrusion tools 83 and 84 are designed to operate in cooperation with the empty capsule transfer device 41, and in accordance with this, supply of the auxiliary pallet 80 in which the capsules are set to the extrusion position by the first extrusion tool 83. And collecting the auxiliary pallet 80 after the transfer of the capsules extruded by the second extrusion tool 84.

The empty capsule transfer device 36 is a device for transferring the empty capsules 1, ... Held in an aligned state on the auxiliary pallet 80 to the capsule transfer pallet 60 on the manufacturing conveyor 34. Is equipped with a suction head 90 capable of suction-holding the empty capsules, and the suction head is moved vertically and horizontally, and the empty capsules arranging table 35 is used to move the empty capsules 1, ... The capsules are transferred to the capsule carrying pallet 60 located at the starting end.

The empty capsule cleaning device 38 blows air onto the empty capsule 1 transferred to the pellet 60 by the empty capsule transfer device 36 from above with nozzles 95, ... Remove foreign matter such as dust, hair, and dust. The removed foreign matter is sucked by a suction device 96 installed near the nozzles 95, ....

The powder filling device 39 includes a hopper 105 for storing powder, a weighing plate 100 having a plurality of weighing holes 101 for measuring and holding a fixed amount of powder in the hopper, and a holding plate in the weighing hole. A filling pin unit 111 and the like for discharging the stored powder downward is provided, and a fixed amount of powder is filled in each capsule 1, ..., Which has been conveyed to a predetermined position.

As shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, the filling check device 40 includes a photoelectric switch 120 for timing detection provided on the side of the pallet conveyance path and a horizontal switch 1 provided above the pallet conveyance path. Photoelectric switches 121, ... For filling check, the number of which corresponds to the number of capsules in a row (10). When the timing detection switch 120 detects the side mark 68 of the pallet 60, the filling check switches 121, ... Are operated to detect the presence or absence of powder in the capsule or the excess or deficiency of powder. Since the filling check is performed for each horizontal row, the filling check is performed 5 times for each pallet. In the case of this device, since the powder filling device 39 can perform accurate quantitative filling as described above, only the presence or absence of powder is checked.

The film feeding device 42 is a device for sequentially feeding the film for the lid material, and the film die cutting device 43 performs a predetermined process on the film 131 fed from the film feeding device by a constant length. As shown in FIG. 15, the processed film 131 'has perforations 140 in the shape of a lid and circular alignment holes 141 formed therein, and is cut along the cutting line 142 for each pallet.

In the film transfer device 44, the transfer head 150 sucks and holds the die-cut film 131 ′ that has been separated into each leaf for each pallet, and transfers this to the top of the manufacturing line conveyor 34 to be transferred to the pallet 60. It is designed to be placed on the held capsules 1, ... As shown in FIG. 16, the die-cut film holding surface of the transfer head 150 is provided with positioning tools 151 and 151 to be inserted into the alignment holes 141 and 141 of the die-cut film 131 ′. 1'is held in place.

The positioning tool 151 is held in the holding hole 153 while being biased downward by the spring 152, and can be pulled in from the die-cut film holding surface by pushing it up from below. An engaging recess 151a with which the tip of the positioning pin 67 of the pallet 60 is engaged is formed at the tip of the positioning tool 151.

When the transfer head 150 holding the die-cut film 131 ′ is lowered to a predetermined height above the pallet 60, the tip of the positioning pin 67 of the pellet 60 is engaged with the engaging recess 151 a of the positioning tool 151. To do. As the transfer head 150 descends as it is, the positioning tool 151 is pushed into the holding hole 153 and the tip of the positioning pin 67 is inserted into the holding hole 153. In this state, the transfer head 150 releases the die cut film 131 ', and the die cut film 131' is transferred to the pallet 60. By transferring in this manner, the positioning pin 67 can be surely inserted into the alignment hole 141 of the die-cut film 131 ', and the lid portion 131a of the die-cut film, ... is always attached to each capsule 1 on the pallet. It will be located exactly above.

The heat-sealing device 46 includes a seal head 160 whose lower surface is kept at a high temperature, and the seal head is pressed onto the capsule 1 from above the die-cut film 131 ′ to apply it to the back surface of the film. The heat-melting adhesive is melted, and the capsules 1, ... And the lid portions 131a ,. In this step, the aluminum film is not separated into the lid portions 131a, ... And the scrap portion 131b, but remains in the form of one sheet.

The film separating device 47 separates the die-cut film 131 ′ mounted on the capsule into a lid material part 131 a ... And a scrap part 131 b (see FIG. 15), and separates the separated scrap part 131 b to the side of the conveyor 34. The scrap is held by the installed scrap holder 191.

The capsule-containing product take-out device 54 takes out the capsule-containing products 4, ... From the capsule carrying pallet 60, and the suction cups 241 ,. Transfer to the case located on the conveyor. When the capsule-containing products 4, ... Are taken out from the capsule-conveying pallet 60, as shown in FIG. 17, by pushing up the capsule-containing product 4 with the push-up pin 250 inserted into the push-up pin hole 65 from below, The capsuled product 4 is detached from the bush 62.

[0025]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, by using the pallet for capsule transportation according to the present invention in the device for manufacturing capsule-containing products, the filling of the capsule with the filling object and the check of the filling of the filling object with the capsule are checked. Now, the necessary processing such as mounting the lid material can be performed on the same conveyor, and the configuration of the entire device can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a usage state of a capsule transportation pallet.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a pallet for transporting capsules.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view of a capsule conveying pallet.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a product containing capsules.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a capsule.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the capsule.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the capsule.

FIG. 8 is an overall plan view of a capsuled product manufacturing line.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the production line conveyor.

10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of an auxiliary pallet.

FIG. 12 is a partial sectional side view of an auxiliary pallet.

FIG. 13 is a front view of the filling check device.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of the filling check device.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of a die cutting method for a film.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a film positioning method.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a method for taking out a capsuled product.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Capsule 2 Powder (Item to be Filled) 3 Lid 4 Product with Capsule 30 Product Production Line with Capsule 34 Manufacturing Line Conveyor 39 Powder Filling Device 40 Filling Check Device 44 Film Transfer Device 46 Heat Sealing Device 54 Capsule Product Removal Device 60 Pallet for capsule transportation 61 Capsule holding part 67 Positioning pin 68 Side mark 120 Photoelectric switch for timing detection 121 Photoelectric switch for filling check 131 'Die cut film

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A capsule-conveying pallet for conveying capsules filled with an object to be filled such as powder, and a capsule-holding section capable of aligning and holding a plurality of capsules in a fixed posture, and the capsule-holding section. Capsule transport pallet characterized in that it is provided with a side mark for displaying the position in the transport direction of the row of capsules held in the section, and a positioning pin for positioning each capsule holding section at a predetermined position. .