Apparatus for cutting series of medicine packets

Abstract

An apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets discharged from an automatic medicine packaging machine into individual doses to automatically load the cut medicine packets on a loading device is disclosed. The apparatus includes a feeding device for feeding the series of medicine packets from the upper side of a main body to a stepped part at the other side of the main body, a cutting device for cutting the series of medicine packets by one medicine packet at the stepped part, a loading device for loading the medicine packets, cut by the cutting device and dropped to the stepped part, by a predetermined number, and a controller including a position sensor for detecting a position of the hole in the medicine packet and controlling the feeding device and the cutting device based on the position information of the hole of the medicine packets inputted from the position sensor.

1 . An apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets comprising: 
 a feeding device for feeding the series of medicine packets, in which the medicine packets having holes are continuously connected to each other, from the upper side of a main body to a stepped part formed at the other side of the main body;    a cutting device for cutting the series of medicine packets fed along the upper side of the main body by one medicine packet at the stepped part;    a loading device for loading the medicine packets, cut by the cutting device and dropped to the stepped part, in predetermined number; and    a controller including a position sensor for detecting a position of the hole formed in the medicine packet fed along the upper side of the main body and controlling the feeding device and the cutting device based on the position information of the hole of the medicine packets inputted from the position sensor.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a winding roll, disposed at a side of the main body  10  at the leading end of the feeding device, around which the series of medicine packets is wound.    
   
   
       3 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the feeding device comprises: 
 a pair of feeding rollers driven by a motor and disposed at the upper side of the main body to bite and feed the upper and lower sides of the medicine packets into the feeding device; and    a belt conveyor for conveying the medicine packets fed to the feeding device by the feeding rollers.    
   
   
       4 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 3 , wherein the feeding device further comprises: 
 a plurality of fixing pins for elastically pressing the upper sides of the medicine packets conveyed by the belt conveyor; and    a pressing plate installed at the upper side of the main body to be elastically moved upward and downward by springs installed around the fixing pins.    
   
   
       5 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the cutting device comprises: 
 a lower knife installed at the upper end of the main body;    an upper knife corresponding to the lower knife and installed above the lower knife;    a guide rod, in which the upper knife is installed to the upper end thereof, disposed in the main body to be slid upward and downward; and    a vertical driving part installed in the main body to move the guide rod upward and downward under the control of the controller.    
   
   
       6 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 an elastically folded door installed in the stepped part near to the side of the lower knife such that the stepped part supports the medicine packets cut by the upper knife;    a pusher is installed at the side of the upper knife and presses the medicine packet positioned at the upper side of the door downward; and    a lower hole formed in the lower side of the pusher to press the periphery of the medicine packet.    
   
   
       7 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the loading device comprises: 
 a loading pin installed in the stepped part and inserted into the holes formed in the medicine packets when the medicine packets cut by the cutting device are dropped; and    a lower plate detachably coupled with the upper side of the stepped part and attached to the lower side of the loading pin to enable the loading pin to be detached from the stepped part.    
   
   
       8 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the loading device comprises: 
 a plurality of loading pins respectively having lower plates coupled with the lower ends thereof;    a sliding plate, installed to the upper side of the stepped part to slide in the horizontal direction, in which the plural lower plates are detachably coupled to the upper side; and    a horizontal driving part for moving the sliding plate in the horizontal direction under the control of the controller.    
   
   
       9 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the loading device comprises: 
 a plurality of loading pins respectively having lower plates installed to the lower sides thereof;    a rotating plate, rotatably installed to the upper side of the stepped part, in which the plural loading plates are detachably installed along the circumference thereof; and    a rotation driving part controlled by the controller to rotate the rotating plate.    
   
   
       10 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the loading device comprises: 
 an open-topped loading case, detachably installed to the upper side of the stepped part, in which the cut medicine packets are dropped and loaded.    
   
   
       11 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a length detecting device provided at the side of the main body to detect a length of the series of medicine packets discharged from the automatic medicine packaging machine and to input the detected length to the controller such that the feed of the series of medicine packets to the feeding device is adjusted.    
   
   
       12 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 11 , wherein the length detecting device comprises: 
 a weight rod for pressing the upper side of the series of medicine packets positioned between the automatic medicine packaging machine and the feeding device due to its weight;    a link hinged with an end of the weight rod at an end and hinged with the main body at the other end;    an angle sensor installed in the main body to detect an angle of the link and to input the detected angle to the controller; and    a guide roller provided to a leading end of the main body to guide the series of medicine packets to the feeding device.    
   
   
       13 . An apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets comprising: 
 a feeding device for feeding the series of medicine packets, in which the medicine packets having holes are continuously connected to each other, from the upper side of a main body to a stepped part formed at the other side of the main body;    an inspector for inspecting a barcode of the medicine packets fed by the feeding device and tablets in the medicine packets;    a cutting device for cutting the series of medicine packets fed along the upper side of the main body into individual medicine packets at the stepped part;    a rejecting and loading device for rejecting or loading the cut medicine packets based on the information received from the inspector;    a controller including a position sensor for detecting a position of the hole formed in the medicine packet fed along the upper side of the main body and controlling the feeding device, the cutting device, and the rejecting and loading device based on the position information of the hole of the medicine packets inputted from the position sensor.    
   
   
       14 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 13 , wherein the feeding device comprises: 
 a guide roller disposed at the side of the main body;    a pair of feeding rollers driven by a motor and disposed at the upper side of the main body to bite and feed the upper and lower sides of the medicine packets guided by the guide roller into the feeding device; and    a belt conveyor for conveying the medicine packets fed by the feeding rollers.    
   
   
       15 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 14 , wherein the feeding device further comprises: 
 a plurality of fixing pins for elastically pressing the upper sides of the medicine packets conveyed by the belt conveyor; and    a pressing plate installed at the upper side of the main body to be elastically moved upward and downward by springs installed around the fixing pins.    
   
   
       16 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 13 , wherein the inspector comprises: 
 a barcode reader installed to the upper side of the feeding device to inspect whether the barcode printed on the upper side of the medicine packet is detected or not;    a camera installed to the side of the barcode reader above the feeding device to capture images of tablets accommodated in the medicine packets exposed by a backlight installed in the feeding device; and    an image reader for determining whether the tablets are damaged or not using an image captured by the camera and inputting the result to the controller.    
   
   
       17 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 13 , wherein the cutting device comprises: 
 a lower knife installed at the upper end of the main body;    an upper knife corresponding to the lower knife and installed above the lower knife;    a guide rod, in which the upper knife is installed to the upper end thereof, disposed in the main body to be slid upward and downward; and    a vertical driving part installed in the main body to move the guide rod upward and downward by the control of the controller.    
   
   
       18 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 13 , wherein the rejecting and loading device comprises: 
 an elastically folded door installed in the stepped part near to the side of the lower knife such that the stepped part supports the medicine packets cut by the cutting device;    a rejecting plate for rejecting the cut medicine packet positioned on the door and determined to be a defective medicine packet from a side to the other side of the stepped part;    a rejecting plate driving part for driving the rejecting plate to reciprocally move in the horizontal direction;    a pusher is installed above the door in the vertical direction to drop a normal medicine packet cut by the cutting device; and    a pusher driving part for driving the pusher to reciprocally move in the vertical direction.    
   
   
       19 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 18 , wherein the rejecting and loading device further comprises: 
 an accumulating vessel disposed at the side of the stepped part to accumulate the defective medicine packet removed from the side by the rejecting plate;    a loading pin installed in the stepped part and inserted into the holes formed in the medicine packets when the medicine packets are dropped by the pusher; and    a lower plate detachably coupled with the upper side of the stepped part and detachably attached to the lower side of the loading pin.    
   
   
       20 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 13 , further comprising a length detecting device including: 
 a weight rod for pressing the upper side of the series of medicine packets positioned between the automatic medicine packaging machine and the feeding device due to the own weight of the weight rod;    a link hinged with an end of the weight rod at an end and hinged with the main body at the other end; and    an angle sensor installed in the main body to detect an angle of the link and to input the detected angle to the controller.    
   
   
       21 . An apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets comprising: 
 a feeding device for feeding the series of medicine packets, in which the medicine packets having holes are continuously connected to each other, from the upper side of a main body to a stepped part formed at the other side of the main body;    a visual inspector for inspecting whether the medicine packets are defective or normal with the naked eye and assigning the inspected medicine packets to defective medicine packet or normal medicine packets, and including: 
 a pair of cameras for capturing images of the upper and lower sides of the respective medicine packets fed by the feeding device;  
 a monitor for displaying the images of the upper and lower sides of the medicine packets captured by the cameras;  
 a button manipulation part for assigning the medicine packets to be a defective medicine packet or a normal medicine packet; and  
   a cutting device for cutting the medicine packets one by one from the series of medicine packets, which has been inspected by the visual inspector, fed to the stepped part at the side of the main body.    
   
   
       22 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 21 , further comprising a defective medicine packet marker for marking medicine packets, assigned to a defective medicine packet by the visual inspector, marks indicating a defective medicine packet.  
   
   
       23 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 22 , wherein the defective medicine packet marker comprises: 
 a punch installed at a side of the visual inspector above the main body to slide up and down; and    a punch driver for moving the punch in the vertical direction according to a defective medicine packet assigning signal inputted by the button manipulation part.    
   
   
       24 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 23 , further comprising: 
 a rejecting and loading device for rejecting the defective medicine packets among the medicine packets cut by the cutting device and positioned at the stepped part to a side of the apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets and for dropping the normal medicine packets and loading the dropped normal medicine packets by a predetermined number of the normal medicine packets; and    a controller including a sensor for detecting through-hole formed in the medicine packets by the punch to determine whether the feeding medicine packets and insert holes formed in the medicine packets, and controlling the feeding device, the cutting device, and the rejecting and loading device according to the detected information inputted from the sensor.    
   
   
       25 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 24 , wherein the rejecting and loading device comprises: 
 a door installed in the stepped part to support the medicine packets cut by the cutting device and elastically pivoted;    a rejecting plate for pushing the medicine packets positioned on the door after cutting and determined to be the defective medicine packets from the upper side of the stepped part to the side of the apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets;    a rejecting plate driving part for reciprocating the rejecting plate in the horizontal direction;    a pusher vertically installed above the door to drop the normal medicine packets cut by the cutting device; and    a pusher driving part for reciprocating the pusher in the vertical direction.    
   
   
       26 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 25 , wherein the rejecting and loading device comprises: 
 an accumulating vessel disposed at the upper side of the stepped part to accumulate the defective medicine packets pushed to the side by the rejecting plate;    a loading pin installed in the stepped part and inserted into the insert holes formed in the medicine packets when the medicine packets are dropped by the pusher; and    a lower plate detachably coupled with the upper side of the stepped part and detachably attached to the lower side of the loading pin.    
   
   
       27 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 21 , wherein the feeding device comprises: 
 a guide roller disposed at the side of the main body;    a pair of feeding rollers driven by a motor and disposed at the upper side of the main body to bite and feed the upper and lower sides of the medicine packets guided by the guide roller into the feeding device; and    a pair of discharging rollers disposed at the other upper side of the main body, corresponding to the feeding rollers, and driven by a motor to bite and feed the upper and lower sides of the series of medicine packets to the stepped part.    
   
   
       28 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 21 , wherein the cutting device comprises: 
 a lower knife installed at the upper end of the main body;    an upper knife corresponding to the lower knife and installed above the lower knife;    a guide rod, in which the upper knife is installed to the upper end thereof, disposed in the main body to be slid in the vertical direction; and    a vertical driving part installed in the main body to move the guide rod upward and downward.    
   
   
       29 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 24 , further comprising a length detecting device provided at the side of the main body to detect a length of the series of medicine packets discharged from the automatic medicine packaging machine and to input the detected length to the controller such that the feed of the series of medicine packets to the feeding device is adjusted.  
   
   
       30 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 9 , wherein the length detecting device comprises: 
 a weight rod for pressing the upper side of the series of medicine packets positioned between the automatic medicine packaging machine and the feeding device due to its weight;    a link hinged with an end of the weight rod at an end and hinged with the main body at the other end; and    an angle sensor installed in the main body to detect an angle of the link and to input the detected angle to the controller.    
   
   
       31 . The apparatus for cutting a series of medicine packets as set forth in  claim 21 , wherein the button manipulation part comprises: 
 a defective medicine packet assigning button for assigning the medicine packets displayed on the monitor to the defective medicine packets; and    a normal medicine packet assigning button for assigning the medicine packets displayed on the monitor to the normal medicine packets.