JP-7854589-B2 - Drug feeder, drug dispensing device, method for calibrating a drug feeder, and method for detecting a malfunction in a drug feeder

JP7854589B2JP 7854589 B2JP7854589 B2JP 7854589B2JP-7854589-B2

Inventors

粕屋雅彦
浅岡千晴
吉川克朗
宮本有
深森亮輔

Assignees

株式会社湯山製作所

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20220325
Priority Date: 20210427

Claims (9)

A drug feeder comprising a drug container for containing powdered drug, a holding member for holding the drug container, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, wherein the drug feeder is capable of discharging powdered drug from the drug container and detecting the amount of powdered drug discharged by the weight measuring means, The device has a weight member and a lifting means for raising and lowering the weight member, and it is possible to calibrate the weight measuring means and/or detect a malfunction by comparing the state in which the load of the weight member is applied to the weight measuring means with the state in which the load of the weight member is not applied to the weight measuring means . Having a weight-receiving section, The weight-receiving portion of the drug feeder is capable of receiving the load of the weight member both when the holding member is holding the drug container and when the drug container is removed from the holding member.
The drug feeder according to claim 1, wherein the lifting means, in addition to the weight member, lifts and lowers at least one of the weight measuring means or the drug container.
The measurement means and inspection section are formed including the weight member, the lifting means, and the weight receiving portion. The drug feeder according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the calibration and/or fault detection are performed by the measurement means inspection unit, and the measurement means inspection unit is arranged around the holding member.
A drug feeder comprising a drug container for containing powdered drug, a holding member for holding the drug container, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, wherein the drug feeder is capable of discharging powdered drug from the drug container and detecting the amount of powdered drug discharged by the weight measuring means, The device has a weight member and a lifting means for raising and lowering the weight member, and it is possible to calibrate the weight measuring means and/or detect a malfunction by comparing the state in which the load of the weight member is applied to the weight measuring means with the state in which the load of the weight member is not applied to the weight measuring means. Having a weight-receiving section, The lifting mechanism comprises a motor which is a power source, a cam which rotates due to the operation of the motor, and a lifting member which is placed on the cam. The lifting member moves up and down in conjunction with the rotation of the cam while maintaining its position on the cam. A drug feeder in which the lifting member pushes the weight member upward from below, causing the weight member to transition from a state in which it is in contact with the weight receiving portion to a state in which it is not in contact with the weight receiving portion.
A drug feeder comprising a drug container for containing powdered drug, a holding member for holding the drug container, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, wherein the drug feeder is capable of discharging powdered drug from the drug container and detecting the amount of powdered drug discharged by the weight measuring means, The device has a weight member and a lifting means for raising and lowering the weight member, and it is possible to calibrate the weight measuring means and/or detect a malfunction by comparing the state in which the load of the weight member is applied to the weight measuring means with the state in which the load of the weight member is not applied to the weight measuring means. Having a weight-receiving section, The weight receiving portion is part of the holding member and is formed at a position below the held drug container. By raising and lowering the weight member, the state in which the weight member is placed on the weight receiving portion and the load of the weight member is applied to the weight measuring means is switched between a state in which the weight member is separated upward from the weight receiving portion. The weight member is positioned below the held drug container in both the state in which it is placed on the weight receiving portion and the state in which it is separated above the weight receiving portion, in a drug feeder.
A drug feeder according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the drug container can be manually held in the holding member, and the drug container held in the holding member can be manually removed.
A drug dispensing device equipped with a drug feeder, The aforementioned drug feeder comprises a drug container in which powder is contained, a holding member for holding the drug container, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, and is capable of discharging powder from the drug container and detecting the amount of powder discharged by the weight measuring means. The device comprises a drug packaging section for packaging powdered medicine, a hopper member into which the powdered medicine supplied to the drug packaging section is fed, and a hopper-side weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the hopper member. A drug dispensing device that dispenses a target amount of powdered drug based on the detection value of the weight measuring means, puts the dispensed powdered drug into a hopper member, and performs fault detection based on the detection value of the weight measuring means on the hopper side.
A method for detecting a malfunction in a drug feeder, comprising a drug container for containing powdered drug, a holding member for holding the drug container, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the drug container, wherein the weight measuring means is capable of detecting the amount of powdered drug discharged, The process includes a weight acquisition step in which the weight is measured by the weight measuring means while the load of the weight member is applied to the weight measuring means, Prior to the dispensing of the powdered drug, the weight acquisition process is performed. After the dispensing operation of the powder, the weight acquisition process is performed again. A method for detecting a malfunction in a drug feeder, comprising comparing the weight obtained in the weight acquisition step performed prior to the dispensing of the powdered drug with the weight obtained in the weight acquisition step performed after the dispensing of the powdered drug, to determine whether or not the weight measuring means was malfunctioning during the dispensing of the powdered drug.
The drug feeder failure detection method according to claim 8, wherein in the drug dispensing operation, the drug dispensing section of the drug container is opened to dispense the drug, and in the operation to detect the amount of drug dispensed, an operation is performed to obtain the weight of the drug container before dispensing the drug as the original weight, and before opening the drug dispensing section of the drug container, an operation is performed to obtain the weight of the drug container before dispensing the drug as the original weight.

Description

This invention relates to a drug feeder for measuring and dispensing a predetermined amount of drug. Furthermore, it relates to a drug dispensing device equipped with such a drug feeder. Moreover, it relates to a method for calibrating such a drug feeder and a method for detecting malfunctions in such a drug feeder. In recent years, large hospitals and large pharmacies have been introducing powder dispensing devices and drug dispensing devices equipped with powder dispensing functions. The conventional drug dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires manual removal of the prescribed powdered medicine vials from the medicine cabinet and weighing the total weight of the specific prescribed powdered medicine using a scale such as a balance, and can hardly be called a fully automated device. To address this problem, the applicant has put into practical use the drug dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 2. The drug dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 2 incorporates a container storage device for storing a large number of drug containers, a robot for transporting drug containers, a container placement device for vibrating drug containers to discharge drug from them, and a dispensing tray. The container placement device also has a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the drug containers. The system automatically selects the necessary drug containers, places them on a container placement device using a robot, and vibrates the drug containers to directly dispense the drug into a dispensing tray. While dispensing the drug, a weight measuring device monitors the weight of the drug containers to detect the amount of drug being dispensed, and stops the vibration when the amount of drug dispensed reaches a predetermined level. Subsequently, the robot is driven to move the drug container onto another weight-measuring device, and the weight of the drug container is detected again by the other weight-sensing device. This re-weight detection operation is primarily performed to detect malfunctions in the weight measurement system. In other words, the weight of the drug container after drug discharge, as detected by the weight measuring means of the container placement device, is compared with the weight of the same drug container detected by another weight detection means. If the two are the same, the weight measuring means is not malfunctioning; if there is a difference between the two, the weight measuring means may be malfunctioning. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-85703International Publication No. 2015/076267 This is a perspective view showing a drug dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, with the top lid open.Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the area around the dispensing tray of the drug dispensing device.Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the drug feeder.Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the drug feeder with the information reading mechanism omitted.This is a perspective view showing the drug feeder observed from a different angle than Figure 4.This is a perspective view showing the drug feeder (feeder body) detached from the drug container holding member.Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the drug feeder from a different direction.Figure 6 is a side view showing the feeder unit.This is a side view showing a model of the feeder body shown in Figure 8.Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the weight calibration section from a different direction.Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the weight calibration section.This figure shows the upper guide member of Figure 10, where (a) is a perspective view observed from below and (b) is a cross-sectional view.Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the weight calibration unit when transitioning from the first state to the second state, in the order of (a) to (c).(a) is a perspective view showing a weight according to a different embodiment than that shown in Figure 11, and (b) is a perspective view showing a weight support member according to a different embodiment than that shown in Figure 11.(a) is a schematic diagram showing a drug feeder according to an embodiment different from the above embodiment, and (b) is a schematic diagram showing how the drug feeder in (a) transitions from a first state to a second state.Figure 2 schematically shows a calibration instrument that can be attached to the scraping device, where (a) is a perspective view of the instrument attached to the scraping device, and (b) is an explanatory diagram showing the calibration instrument in (a) disassembled.(a) is a schematic diagram illustrating how the weight member is supported by the calibration device shown in Figure 16, and (b) is a schematic diagram illustrating how the weight member is placed on the vibration-side horizontal section using the calibration device shown in Figure 16.This is a schematic diagram illustrating a drug feeder according to an embodim