DESC:FIELD
The present disclosure relates to the field of packaging.
BACKGROUND
The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure but is not necessarily prior art.
Packaging is an integral and critical part in a pharmaceutical industry. Various types of packaging equipment are used to pack a variety of pharmaceutical products. Specifically, the packaging of tablets is a complex process. Conventionally, specially designed tablet feeding systems are used to place the tablets in pockets made in blister pack.
Traditionally, blister packs have a plurality of rows of tablet pockets which have all the tablets placed in a similar orientation, such that the axis of the tablet pocket is parallel to the direction of travel of web on which the blister pack moves. For filling such type of the blister pack, an inline feeding system is used, where the tablets travel along a plurality of tracks in an orientation of the tablet axis parallel to the length of the track. The tablets travel along the tracks to land into the tablet pockets formed in the blister pack. Once each pocket is filled, the blister pack moves forward on the web to allow a preceding empty pocket to come in a position to accept a tablet from the track.
Also, there are tablet feeding systems which dispose tablets from the tracks in an orientation that is orthogonal to the orientation of tablets disposed by inline feeding systems. This type of feeding system is used to fill blister packs that are having the tablet pocket axis orientated orthogonal to the direction of travel of web while filling the tablets.
There are instances where the blister pack is having at least one tablet pocket row with the axis of tablet pockets orthogonal to the axis of tablet rows in the remaining pocket rows. Separate tablet feeding systems are designed and used to fill such blister packs. These systems dispose tablets in an orientation, which is perpendicular to the direction of movement of the web. After few tablet pocket rows are filled using an inline feeding system the blister pack is rotated by 90 degrees and placed on a web to carry the rotated blister pack to the separate feeding system which disposes tablets in an orientation that is perpendicular to the direction of travel of the web.
Use of separate systems to place the tablets in orthogonal tablet pocket rows increases the manufacturing and operational cost, and consumes more time for tablet packaging.
There is, therefore, felt a need of a feeding system for articles that alleviates the aforementioned drawbacks.
OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:
The object of the present disclosure is to provide an article feeding system that reduces the packaging time for article like tablets and capsules.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a feeding system that reduces the number of feeding systems needed for filling rows of multi-directional oriented tablet pockets.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a feeding system that increases the efficiency of the article/tablet/capsule feeding process.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a feeding system that lowers the cost of production of articles such as tablets and capsules.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a feeding system that saves valuable floor space.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure envisages a feeding system for articles such as capsules and tablets.
The present system comprises a supply zone (not shown in figures) for supplying the articles to the system, and a first set of tracks that extends from the supply zone up to a blister strip feeding location. The first set of tracks are configured for transporting the articles from the supply zone to the blister strip feeding location that is located operatively below the supply zone. The system further comprises a second set of tracks that extends from the supply zone up to a predetermined location before reaching the blister strip feeding location and a set of auxiliary base plates that extends from operative bottom ends of the tracks of the second set of tracks up to the blister strip feeding location, and a third set of tracks formed in the auxiliary base plates, wherein the tracks of the third set of tracks follow a curved path such that the orientation of the article landing into pockets of blister strips is orthogonal to the orientation of the articles during landing from the first set of tracks into the auxiliary tracks.
The shape of the articles is preferably cylindrical, oblate spheroid, or prolate-spheroid.
The track/s of the feeding system is/are inclined at an angle that ranges from 30 degree to 60 degree with respect to a horizontal surface.
The baseplate and the auxiliary baseplates are provided with manual stoppers (not shown in figures). Each of the manual stoppers is configured for stopping the flow of the articles in the respective track/s towards the blister strip feeding location.
According to an aspect of the invention a plurality of sensors (not shown in figures) is provided along the track/s for detecting the quality of articles, continuity of the articles in the track/s, and for counting the flow rate of articles through the track/s.
The feeding system is provided with a controller (not shown in figures) that is configured for controlling the operation and speed of the system.
According to another aspect of the invention the auxiliary plates are modular. The tracks are provided with transparent covers for easy visual observation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
An article/tablet feeding system of the present disclosure will now be described with the help of the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates an isometric view of a blister pack with two rows of tablet pockets;
Figure 2 illustrates an isometric view of an inline feeding system that is configured to deliver tablets and capsules with their longitudinal axis parallel to the direction of travel of conveyor/web on the blister pack;
Figure 3 illustrates an isometric view of an across feeding system that is configured to deliver tablets and capsules with their longitudinal axis orthogonal to the direction of travel of conveyor/web on the blister pack; and
Figure 4 illustrates an isometric view of a multi direction feeding tracks of the article feeding system.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
50 - Blister pack
51 – Blister strip base
52 - First row of tablet pockets
54 – Second row of tablet pockets
100 – Inline feeding system
105 – Collection vessel
110 – Baseplate
111 – Tracks
115 – Stand
200 – Across feeding system
210 – Baseplate
211 – Tracks
211a – Tablet release portions
300 - Article feeding system
320 – Base plate
360 - First set of feed tracks
370 - Second set of feed tracks
390 - Third set of feed tracks
395 – Curved portion of third set of feed tracks
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments, of the present disclosure, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Embodiments are provided so as to thoroughly and fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to the person skilled in the art. Numerous details are set forth, relating to specific components, and methods, to provide a complete understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the details provided in the embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, well-known processes, well-known apparatus structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail.
The terminology used, in the present disclosure, is only for the purpose of explaining a particular embodiment and such terminology shall not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used in the present disclosure, the forms "a,” "an," and "the" may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly suggests otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," “including,” and “having,” are open ended transitional phrases and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, modules, units and/or components, but do not forbid the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The particular order of steps disclosed in the method and process of the present disclosure is not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance as described or illustrated. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element is referred to as being "mounted on," “engaged to,” "connected to," or "coupled to" another element, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed elements.
The terms first, second, third, etc., should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure as the aforementioned terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another component, region, layer or section. Terms such as first, second, third etc., when used herein do not imply a specific sequence or order unless clearly suggested by the present disclosure.
Terms such as “inner,” “outer,” "beneath," "below," "lower," "above," "upper," and the like, may be used in the present disclosure to describe relationships between different elements as depicted from the figures.
A blister pack 50 intended to be filled with articles 101 such as tablets or capsules is depicted in Figure 1. A first row tablet pockets 52 and a second row of tablet pockets 54 is shown with the axis of the tablet pockets in the first row 52 orthogonal to the axis of the tablet pockets in the second row 54.
A traditional inline feeding system 100, as shown in Figure 2 comprises a collection vessel 105, a baseplate 110, plurality of feed tracks 111 that are parallel to each other, and a stand 115 for supporting other components of the feeding system 100. The feed tracks 111 extend from the collection vessel 105 to a delivery location where the blister strips are traversing on a conveyor or a web (not shown in figure). The delivery end of the feed tracks 111 extends less than 2 mm above the traversing blister strips. The longitudinal axis of each tablet or capsule traversing through the feed tracks 111 is parallel to the direction of travel of the conveyor. Difficulty arises when the blister packs moving on the conveyor has several pockets with their orthogonal to direction of travel of the conveyor. Also the system 100 cannot be used to fill blister packs with several pockets which are orthogonal to the other pockets on the same blister pack.
To fill pockets having orthogonal orientation with respect to the direction of travel of the conveyor, a custom design across feeding system 200 as depicted in Figure 3 is used. The across feeding system 200 comprises a plurality of feed tracks 211 formed on a baseplate 210. Tablet release portion211a of each feed track 211 follows a curved path such as to change the orientation of the tablets traversing the feed tracks 211, such that the orientation of the tablet 101 when landing into the blister pack is orthogonal to the direction of travel of the conveyor. However, the limitation with the across feeding system is that it cannot be used for feeding blister pockets having orientation parallel to the direction of travel of the conveyor. Tablets or capsules enter at the top portion of each track 211, traverse through the tracks 211, and land into the empty pockets in the blister packs after changing the direction in the tablet release portions211a of the feed tracks.
Articles such as tablets and capsules enter from the operative top portion of the conventional feeding systems (100 and 200). The containers are usually vibrating type for facilitating continuous supply of the tablets and capsules. The tablet/article feeding systems (100 and 200) include feed tracks (111 and 211) defined by slots formed on a base plate (110 and 210) which extends from the container to an operatively fixed distance above the web or the conveyor. These types of feeding systems (100 and 200) are used on large scale where all the blister packs have similarly oriented tablets pockets.
There exist tablet pocket layouts that have the axis of the tablet pockets orthogonal to the length of tracks, through which the tablets are being fed to the blister packs travelling along the web (not shown specifically in figures). It becomes difficult to adjust the filling process to accommodate a row of tablet pockets which is not having the tablet axis in an orientation similar to the axis of the tablet pockets of the remaining rows of the tablet pockets.
The present disclosure envisages a feeding system wherein, tablets are continuously fed through tracks to dispose the tablets into tablet pockets formed in blister packs.
In a conventional feeding system, the tablet pocket rows 52 and 54 are required to be filled separately either by using two separate feeding systems or by recirculating the blister strips on the conveyor or web after rotating each blister strip/pack by 90 degrees. This approach is, however costly and time consuming. A separate feeding system costs in the range of three to four lac rupees. The extra cost required for recirculating the blister strips 50 can be calculated by multiplying the extra time the blister strips 50 travel on the conveyor/web with the operating cost of the feeding system per unit time.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, an article feeding system 300 as illustrated in Figure 4. The system 300 is configured to facilitate for filling of rows (52 and 54) of tablet pockets shown in Figure 1. The feeding system 300 includes a tablet supply zone (not shown in figures), a first set of feed tracks 360, a second set of feed track 370, at least one secondary feed track 390 operatively disposed just below the operative end of the shorter second track/s 370 and a control means (not shown specifically in figures) for controlling the landing of tablets from the tracks (360, 390) into the rows of tablet pocket (52, 54) formed in the base 51 of blister pack . Further, a variety of advanced equipment may be included in the present tablet feeding system to control the rate of supplying tablets, to sense the presence any blockage and to detect the orientation of blister packs. The blister packs are carried by the web to another work station in the factory, where a closing lid/foil is applied on the blister packs to provide an air tight and septic closure of the tablets. The blister packs are further automatically stacked in the factory using cartoning machine and made ready for dispatch.
The end portion 311a of profile of the third set of feed tracks 390 is curved near the tablet delivery end such as to change the direction of tablets received from the preceding shorter second set of feed tracks 370. The curved profile facilitates the landing of tablets from a selected number of tracks to be orthogonal to the orientation of the tablets that are landed from first set of tracks 360 into the respective tablet pockets. Figure 4 illustrates ends of tracks 390 whose operative bottom ends are orthogonal to the tracks 360. The tracks 360 and 390 may be present in any number and combination that is decided by the type of blister packs 50 that are filled by the present feeding system 300.
The feeding system 300 facilitates the filling of all tablet pockets (52 & 54) in a single setup of tablet filling process. The feeding system 300 facilitates saving of floor space in factories.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the feeding system is also provided with suitable sensing and control means to ensure smooth supply of tablets and to check for any blockage in the tracks (360, 370, and 390). The control means include tablet aligning means, tablet counters and a mechanism for adjusting the height of the feed tracks above the web at which the tablets are released during the feeding process.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Individual components of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, are interchangeable. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.
TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages including, but not limited to, the realization of a feeding system for articles that:
• reduces the packaging time for tablets;
• reduces the number of feeding systems needed for filling rows of multi-directional oriented tablet pockets;
• increases the efficiency of tablet feeding systems;
• lowers the cost of production of tablets; and
• has saved floor space in factory.
The foregoing disclosure has been described with reference to the accompanying embodiments which do not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form a part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
The numerical values mentioned for the various physical parameters, dimensions or quantities are only approximations and it is envisaged that the values higher/lower than the numerical values assigned to the parameters, dimensions or quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure, unless there is a statement in the specification specific to the contrary.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.
,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A feeding system (300) for feeding articles (101) into pockets of a blister strip (50), said system (300) comprising:
• a supply zone (not shown in figures) for supplying said articles to said system (300);
• a first set of tracks (360) extending from said supply zone up to a blister strip feeding location (380), said tracks (360) configured for transporting said articles (101) from said supply zone to said blister strip feeding location (380) located operatively below said supply zone;
• a second set of tracks (370) extending from said supply zone up to a predetermined location before reaching said blister strip feeding location (380);
• a set of auxiliary base plates (321) extending from operative bottom ends of the tracks of said second set of tracks (370) up to said blister strip feeding location (380); and
• a third set of tracks (390) formed in said auxiliary base plates (321); characterized in that, the tracks of said third set of tracks (390) follow a curved path such that the orientation of the article (101) just before landing into the pockets of blister strips (50) is orthogonal to the orientation of the articles (101) during landing from said first set of tracks (360) into a blister pack (50).
2. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, the shape of said articles (101) is selected from a group consisting of a cylindrical shape and an elliptical shape.
3. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said track/s (360, 370, and 390) is/are inclined at an angles that ranges from 30 degree to 60 degree with respect to a horizontal surface.
4. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a baseplate (320) and said auxiliary baseplates (321) are provided with manual stoppers (not shown in figures), each of said manual stoppers being configured for stopping the flow of said articles (101) in respective said track/s (360, 370, and 390) towards said blister strip feeding location.
5. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of sensors (not shown in figures) is provided along said track/s (360, 370, and 390), said sensors being configured for detecting the quality of articles (101), continuity of said articles (101) in said track/s (360, 370, and 390), and counting the flow rate of articles (101) through said track/s (360, 370, and 390).
6. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, is provided with a controller (not shown in figures) configured for controlling the operation and speed of said system (300).
7. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said auxiliary plates (321) are modular.

8. The feeding system (300) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tracks (360, 370, and 390) are provided with transparent covers.