JPH0562040B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a powder compression molding machine used for producing, for example, pharmaceutical tablets.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

Generally, powder compression molded products such as tablets (hereinafter referred to as
In order to manufacture a compression molded product, a step of measuring and mixing at least two types of powder or granules is required. After this mixing, the mixed powder and granular material is supplied to a powder compression molding machine (hereinafter referred to as a compression molding machine) for manufacturing compression molded products, but conventionally, after mixing the powder and granular material in a mixer, This mixed powder and granular material was received in a container drum or the like, and the container drum was manually transported and supplied to a compression molding machine.

Additionally, a device has been proposed that automatically feeds powder and granules to a compression molding machine after mixing them.
There are problems with the compression molding machine's quick response to production volume and quantitative supply.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can completely automatically produce compression molded products that require the mixing of at least two types of powder or granules, quickly and quantitatively in accordance with the production volume of the compression molding machine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compression molding machine in which a powder and granular material quantitative mixing supply device is integrally arranged so that mixed powder and granular material can be supplied to the compression molding machine.

[Means to solve the problem]

According to the present invention, the above objects include a mixer main body, a stirring blade disposed in the mixer main body, an electric motor for driving the stirring blade, and at least two kinds of powder in the mixer main body. fixed quantity supply means for measuring and supplying each of the granules; a first level detection means for detecting a predetermined level of the granules in the mixer body; and opening and closing of a lower opening of the mixer body. an on-off valve for controlling the mixer body, an intermediate container having a supply port arranged directly below the mixer main body and connected to the lower opening; a second level detection means for detecting the powder and granules, a discharger for cutting out the powder and granules from the intermediate container, a storage hopper to which the powder and granules are supplied from the discharger, and a storage hopper for supplying the powder and granules in the storage hopper. It comprises a third level detection means for detecting a predetermined level, and when the second level detection means detects that the powder or granular material in the intermediate container is below the predetermined level, the opening/closing valve is opened. , when the mixed powder and granular material is discharged downward from the mixer main body into the intermediate container, and the first level detection means detects that the powder and granular material in the mixer main body is below the predetermined level; The on-off valve is closed, and the at least two types of powder and granules to be mixed are supplied in predetermined amounts into the mixer main body by the quantitative supply means, and the detection signal of the third level detection means is By controlling the drive of the discharger, the powder and granular material is always stored in the storage hopper up to the predetermined level, and the powder and granules are quantitatively and continuously stored in the storage hopper according to the production amount of the compression molding machine. This is achieved by a compression molding machine equipped with a quantitative mixing supply device for powder and granular material, which is characterized in that the mixed powder and granular material can be supplied to the compression molding machine from above.

[Effect]

Mixing of at least two types of powder and granular materials in predetermined amounts is carried out for a predetermined period of time in the mixer main body.

When the mixed powder and granular material in the intermediate container located below this decreases to a predetermined level, the on-off valve is opened and the mixed powder and granular material is supplied from the mixer main body into the intermediate container. On the other hand, the mixed powder and granular material is always cut out from the intermediate container into the storage hopper by the discharge machine, and the mixed powder and granular material is always present in the storage hopper up to a predetermined level by driving control of the discharge machine. There is.

When the mixed powder and granular material in the mixer main body is almost gone or the main body is empty, the on-off valve is closed, and at least two or more types of powder and granular material are weighed in predetermined amounts and introduced into the mixer from above. Supplied into the main body.

Mixed powder and granular material is constantly supplied from the storage hopper to the compression molding machine in a quantitative manner according to the amount of mixed powder and granular material consumed by the compression molding machine, that is, the production amount of compression molded products.

Mixed powder and granules are supplied according to the production volume of the compression molding machine, so oversupply may cause some problems in the operation of the compression molding machine, or insufficient supply may cause problems in the dies of many molding sections. There is no fear that any of the holes will become empty.

Since the above steps are performed completely automatically, productivity can be improved and high-quality compression molded products can be produced.

〔Example〕

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A compression molding machine equipped with a powder/grain material quantitative mixing and feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the apparatus for quantitatively mixing and supplying powder and granular material will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway elevational view of the device.
extends through the mixer body 3 and has its lower end 5 inside the mixer body 3.
stands out. Note that the output shaft rotatably passes through the lid 4 of the mixer main body 3.

A stirring blade 30 is fixed to the lower end 5 of the output shaft, and this comprises a pair of blade plates 7, 8 and a reinforcing plate 6 which also has the effect of enhancing the stirring action. The vanes 7 and 8 are mutually connected as shown in FIG.
They are spaced apart by 180 degrees and extend obliquely so as to be close to the inner wall surface 9a of the container 9 of the mixer main body 3. Round holes 31a and 31b are formed in the inner wall surface 9a of the container 9 at a distance of 120 degrees from 180 degrees, for example, as shown in FIG. Level detectors 10a and 10b are installed so that they are aligned.

An intermediate container 14 is disposed below the mixer main body 3, and a round hole is formed in this lid 15, and the outlet 11a of the container 9 of the mixer main body 3 overlaps with the round hole to form a short cylindrical outlet portion 11. is formed. An annular valve seat 17 is formed around the discharge port 11, and an on-off valve body 12 that can be seated and removed from the annular valve seat 17 is provided. In the state shown in FIG. 1, the valve seat 17 is seated and the discharge port 11 is closed. A valve body driver 1 is installed on the peripheral wall of the intermediate container 14.
3 is attached, and its output shaft 16 is the first
In the figure, it can be moved up and down and rotated.

The above-described on-off valve body 12 is attached to the output shaft 16 via a connecting portion 12a. The supply port of the intermediate container 14, that is, the on-off valve body 12, is arranged directly below the mixer main body 3, so that the powder and granules discharged from the mixer main body 3 are directly supplied to the intermediate container 14. It is configured. When opening the discharge port 11, the output shaft 16 is driven by the valve body driver 13 so that the opening/closing valve body 12 moves toward the annular valve seat 17 as shown in the figure.
The output shaft 16 is tilted counterclockwise so as to be separated downwardly by a predetermined distance from the output shaft 16, and then rotated by a predetermined angle around the output shaft 16.

Due to this movement, the opening/closing valve body 12 moves to the valve seat 1.
7 to prevent this wear. This ensures that the valve remains tightly closed for a long period of time. Also, container 14
A level detector 18 is attached to the peripheral wall at a predetermined height.

A cutout disk 20 is disposed to cover the lower end opening 14a of the intermediate container 14, and is supported so as to be slidable and rotatable on a support 19 fixed to the lower end of the intermediate container 14. An electric motor 21 is fixed to the support 19, and has a built-in speed reduction mechanism.
The output shaft 22 has a hole 19a formed in the support 19.
It is fixed to the cut-out disk 20 by loosely fitting it through.

The output shaft 22 is the lower end opening 14a of the intermediate container 14.
It is located at an eccentric position with respect to the circular shape (as shown in FIG. 3). Since the output shaft 22 is fixed at the center of the cut-out disk 20, the cut-out disk 20 is attached to the intermediate container 1.
It rotates eccentrically with respect to the lower end opening 14a of 4.

As shown in FIG.
When rotates, these in turn support 19
It is configured so that it can be aligned with the discharge port 19b formed in the. The support body 19 is also integrally formed with a discharge cylinder portion 23 that is aligned with the discharge port 19b, and is connected to a storage hopper 24 (a first The upper end portion (partially shown in the figure) is fitted to be slidable in the vertical direction via a dustproof annular elastic body R. A level detector 25 is attached to the peripheral wall of the storage hopper 24 at a predetermined height. Incidentally, the storage hopper 24 may be made of a transparent material so that the level can be easily detected.

Next, details of the compression molding machine will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

In Figure 4, the compression molding machine has a total of 40
A drive shaft 41 extends vertically through the center, and is driven by an electric motor 42 located at the bottom to control the type of compression molded product or its production volume through belts, pulleys, gears, etc. Accordingly, it is rotated at a predetermined speed. Drive shaft 41
A lower punch guide rotating body 43, a die forming rotating body 45 above this, and an upper punch guide rotating body 46 are fitted above this, and these rotate integrally with the drive shaft 41. There is.

As shown in FIG. 6, a large number (16 in this embodiment) of guide holes 43a are formed in the outer circumference of the lower punch guide rotating body 43, into which a rod-shaped lower punch 44 can freely slide up and down. It is inserted into. Mortar forming rotating body 4
A mortar hole 57 is formed in the outer circumference of the punch 5 in alignment with the guide hole 43a described above, and the reduced diameter upper end portion 44a of the lower punch 44 is slidably inserted into this. 16 is also aligned with the mortar hole 57 on the outer periphery of the upper punch guide rotor 46.
Guide holes 46a are formed, into which a rod-shaped upper punch 47 is inserted so as to be vertically slidable.

As shown in FIG. 6, a band-shaped scraping plate 53 is fixed to a stationary portion of the rotor-forming rotary body 45 so as to abut along the substantially radial direction of the rotary body 45, although this is not explicitly shown.

The storage hopper 24 described above is fixed to a stationary part, but its lower part 50 is inclined downwardly toward the drive shaft 41, and an adjustment guide chute 51 is fitted into this lower end. This is slidable with respect to the lower part 50 of the storage hopper 24, and the distance between this lower end opening and the upper surface of the die-forming rotating body 45 can be adjusted. It is adapted to be fixed to an L-shaped support member 52. By this fixed position, the amount of mixed powder and granular material supplied from the storage hopper 24 to the die forming rotating body 45 is adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 5, the upper punch guide rotating body 4
A main reduction upper roll 48 is disposed adjacently above the lower punch guide rotor 43, and a main reduction roll 49 is correspondingly provided adjacently below the lower punch guide rotating body 43.

Upper and lower guide members 5 are provided above and below the rotating bodies 46 and 43.
8 and 59 are arranged along the outer periphery of the rotating bodies 46 and 43, and as the rotating bodies 46 and 43 rotate, the upper punch 47 and the lower punch 44
9 allows it to move up and down. Note that the direction of rotation of the rotating bodies 43, 45, and 46 is from the left to the right as shown by arrow A in FIG. Further, on the upstream side of the main pressure upper and lower rolls 48 and 49, a preload upper and lower roll 5 is provided adjacent to these.
4,55 are arranged.

The upper punch 47 and the lower punch 44 are in a predetermined rotation phase, and their end surfaces 47b and 44b are respectively preloaded by the upper and lower rollers 5.
4, 55 and the outer peripheral surfaces of the main pressure upper and lower rollers 48, 49. In addition, in FIG. 5, 60 is a quantity adjustment mechanism for adjusting the amount of powder and granules filled into the mortar hole 57. Furthermore, a dust-proof benice 56 is provided between the lower end reduced diameter portion 47a of the upper punch 47 and the rotating body 46.

Although the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above,
Next, this effect will be explained.

Now, in FIG. 1, the on-off valve body 12 is closed, and there is no powder in the container 9 of the mixer main body 3 and the lower intermediate container 14 at each level detector 10a, 10.
It is assumed that b and 18 are present at or above the detection level. At least 2 in the mixer main body 3
There are more than one kind of powder and granular material, and the stirring blade 30 is rotated by the rotation of the rotating shaft 5 driven by the motor 1.
The powder and granular material is stirred and mixed by the blades 7 and 8 and the reinforcing part 6 for a predetermined period of time.

On the other hand, the cutout disk 20 disposed to cover the lower end opening 14a of the intermediate container 14 is rotated clockwise, for example, as shown by the arrow in FIG. When the received mixed powder and granular material reaches a position where it is aligned with the opening 19b of the support body 19, the powder and granular material falls downward from the notch 20a, and passes through the discharge tube section 23 and reaches the storage hopper 24.
supplied to. In the storage hopper 24, the level of the stored granular material is detected by a level detector 25, and the motor 21 that drives the cutting disk 20 is controlled so that the level of the granular material is at a predetermined level. This control may be performed by repeatedly driving and stopping the motor 21, or may be performed by changing the rotational speed of the motor so that the level of the powder or granular material is constant.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, storage hopper 2
Powder is constantly and quantitatively supplied onto the die forming rotary body 45 from a guide chute 51 that fits into the lower part 50 of the die forming rotary body 45. The lower punch 44 and the upper punch 47 move up and down as the rotating bodies 43, 45, and 46 rotate, and the lower punch 44 and the upper punch 47 shown on the left side in FIG. 5 are at the lowest and highest positions, respectively. The powder and granules supplied to the mortar hole 57 are now ground by the scraper plate 53. That is, the mortar hole 5 is placed flush with the upper surface of the mortar forming rotating body 45.
7 is filled with powder. Rotating body 43, 45, 4
6 rotates further and the upper punch 47 and lower punch 44 come into contact with the preload rolls 54 and 55, and are pressed by the rolls, causing the lower punch 44 to move upward and the upper punch 47 to move downward. Pre-compress the granular material. Furthermore, rotating body 4
3, 45, and 46 rotate, this time the main pressure roll 4
8 and 49, the lower punch 44 and the upper punch 47 are further moved toward each other (the upper and lower punches shown on the right side in FIG. 5), and the powder in the mortar hole 57 is compressed to a predetermined size. Molded.

When the rotating bodies 43, 45, and 46 further rotate, the upper punch 47 is moved upward by the guide member 58,
The lower end reduced diameter portion 47a exits upward from the mortar hole 57.

On the other hand, the lower punch 44 is further pushed upward by the guide member 59. As a result, the compression-molded product is pushed out above the upper surface of the die-forming rotating body 45. Although not shown, this compression molded product is guided to the compression molding machine discharge port by a guide member.

In FIG. 1, when the level detector 18 detects that the level of the powder in the intermediate container 14 has fallen below a predetermined level, the valve body driver 13 is driven by this detection signal, and the valve body 12 is not shown in the figure. After moving slightly below the position, it rotates around the output shaft 16 by a predetermined angle.

As a result, the discharge port 1 of the container 9 of the mixer main body 3
1 is opened, and the mixed powder and granular material in the container 9 is transferred to the intermediate container 1.
It is discharged into 4.

At this time, the stirring blade 30 is stopped if the predetermined mixing time has elapsed, but it may be rotated again so that the mixed powder and granular material in the container 9 can be easily discharged into the intermediate container 14. In this case, the stirring blade 30
The mixed powder and granular material is discharged from the container 9 while rotating, but when the level of the powder and granular material in the container 9 decreases to be lower than the level detected by the level detectors 10a and 10b, the level detectors 10a and 10
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, a pulse-like signal is output from each signal b as time t elapses. This is because the blade parts 7 and 8 of the stirring blade 30 are close to the inner wall surface 9a of the container 9, so the level detector 10
This is because the level detectors a and 10b sense the blades 7 and 8, but in this way, the two level detectors 10a and 10
By disposing b, it is confirmed that the level of powder and granular material in the container 9 is certainly lower than a predetermined level.

That is, when the powder or granular material exists in the container 9 at a predetermined level or higher, a detection signal as shown in FIG. 7C is output from the level detectors 10a and 10b. If either of the blade portions 7, 8 stops at the position of this detector, a signal as shown in FIG. 7C will be output from this detector.

In this case, even though the level of the powder or granular material in the container 9 has certainly decreased to a predetermined level or less, the following operations, for example, the sequence of introducing the powder or granular material into the container 9 and starting the rotation of the stirring blade 30, are performed. Operations cannot be performed smoothly.

However, in this embodiment, two level detectors 10 are used.
Since level detectors a and 10b are arranged at a different angular interval from the angular interval of blade parts 7 and 8, as shown in FIG. The level of the granular material may be below a predetermined level, so that the stirring blade 30 is stopped and one blade part 7 or 8 is stopped at the position of one of the detectors 10a or 10b. Even if the other detector 10b or 1
No signal is output from 0a. This makes it easy to prevent erroneous operations such as opening and closing the opening/closing valve body 12 again at the same time as rotating the stirring blade 30 once stopped, immediately after assuming that there is mixed powder and granular material to be discharged.

As described above, the level detectors 10a and 10b
When a signal as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B is generated, the stirring blade 30, that is, the rotation of the electric motor 1 is stopped after a predetermined time, and after a further predetermined time, the rotation of the valve body driver 13 is stopped.
is driven, and the opening/closing valve body 12 closes the outlet part 1 of the container 9.
Close 1.

Next, predetermined amounts of at least two or more types of powder or granular materials are automatically weighed from above, or the predetermined amounts of each powder or granular material may have already been automatically weighed and are in a standby state, but the mixer main body 3 container 9
It is fed into the interior using an electromagnetic feeder, screw feeder, table feeder, etc., or a valve. At this time, it is also possible to set an appropriate time difference between the start of supply of each powder and rotate the stirring blade 30 while supplying each powder quantitatively in accordance with the stirring and mixing time to stir and mix each powder. may be stirred and mixed after supplying.

In addition, although not shown in the figure, the opening for dust collection is provided in the lid 4.
may be installed to collect dust if necessary.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above,
The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiments, a compression molding machine for producing a tablet-shaped compression molded product has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and is generally applicable to compression molding of powder or granular materials.

Further, in the above embodiment, one level detector 18 is provided in the intermediate container 14 to detect only the lower limit level, but a level detector for detecting the upper limit level is further provided above to provide even more detailed equipment. It may also be possible to perform control of the following. Further, in the above embodiment, the cutting disk 20 was provided to cut the powder from the intermediate container 14 to the storage hopper 24.
The material may be cut out using other discharge machines, such as a vibrating feeder, screw feeder, table feeder, etc.

The flow of the process including the compression molding machine of the present invention is as shown in Fig. 8, in which the mixer main body 3, intermediate container 14,
Compression molding machine 40, first raw material measuring feeder 101,
First raw material measuring container 102, first raw material discharge feeder 103, first raw material storage container 104, level meter 10
4a, first raw material supply device 105, first raw material weighing machine 106, second raw material weighing feeder 107, second raw material measuring container 108, second raw material discharge feeder 109,
Second raw material storage container 110, second raw material stirring device 11
1, a second raw material measuring device 112 and a dust collector 113 are arranged as shown in the figure.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the compression molding machine with a quantitative mixing supply device for powder and granular materials of the present invention, the process from quantitative mixing of at least two or more types of powder and granular materials to compression molding can be carried out continuously and completely while maintaining quantitative properties. This can be carried out automatically, improving productivity, preventing scattering of powder or foreign matter from entering, and producing high-quality compression molded products at low cost. Moreover, the overall structure can be made extremely compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway elevational view of a powder quantitative mixing supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along the - line in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the same line in FIG. Figure 4 is a partially broken elevation view of the same compression molding machine, Figure 5 is an expanded cross-sectional view of the main parts of Figure 4,
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view along the - line in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a graph for explaining the operation of this embodiment. FIG. 8 is a system diagram showing the overall flow. In the figure, 3... mixer main body, 10a,
10b, 8, 25... Level detector, 14... Intermediate container, 20... Cutting disc, 24... Storage hopper, 40... Compression molding machine.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A mixer main body, a stirring blade disposed in the mixer main body, an electric motor for driving the stirring blade, and at least two types of powder and granular material in the mixer main body, respectively. a quantitative supply means for metering and supplying, a first level detection means for detecting a predetermined level of powder or granular material in the mixer main body, and an opening/closing means for opening/closing a lower opening of the mixer main body. a valve; an intermediate container having a supply port arranged directly below the mixer main body and connected to the lower opening; a second level detection means; a discharging machine for cutting out the powder and granular material from the intermediate container; a storage hopper to which the powder and granular material is supplied from the discharging machine; and a predetermined level of the powder and granular material in the storage hopper. and a third level detection means for detecting, and when the second level detection means detects that the powder or granular material in the intermediate container is below the predetermined level, the opening/closing valve is opened and the mixer is activated. The mixed powder and granular material is discharged from the main body into the intermediate container below, and when the first level detection means detects that the powder and granular material in the mixer main body is below the predetermined level, the on-off valve is turned on. When the lid is closed, predetermined amounts of at least two types of powder and granular material to be mixed are supplied from above into the mixer main body by the metered supply means, and the discharger is controlled by a detection signal from the third level detection means. The powder and granules are always stored in the storage hopper up to the predetermined level by controlling the drive of the storage hopper. 1. A compression molding machine with a quantitative supply device for powder and granular material, characterized in that powder can be supplied to the compression molding machine from above. 2. The first level detection means consists of two level detectors, and when the stirring blade stops and a part of the stirring blade stops near one of the level detectors, the level 2. The compression molding machine with a powder quantitative mixing supply device according to claim 1, wherein the other of the detectors is disposed at a position a predetermined distance away from any part of the stirring blade. 3. The storage hopper has a cylindrical shape and is arranged vertically, and a guide chute is slidably fitted to the lower end of the storage hopper, and the supply speed of powder and granular material to the compression molding machine can be changed by vertically adjusting the guide chute. A compression molding machine equipped with a powder/grain material quantitative mixing supply device according to claim 1.