Packaging device with fault detection

Abstract

A method for packaging discrete medicaments in pouches in a packaging device configured to form and fill the pouches in an elongated web, the method comprising the following steps: transporting the elongated web along a web trajectory, printing information on the elongated web related to the discrete medicaments that are fed to the elongated web at the position of the printed information on the elongated web, feeding the discrete medicaments to the elongated web at the position on the elongated web of the related printed information, inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web, and in response to a fault being detected, printing a fault indication or a fault symbol on the elongated web, and forming an empty pouch at the position of the fault indication or fault symbol.

Claims

1. A method for packaging discrete medicaments in pouches in a packaging device configured to form and fill the pouches in an elongated web, the method comprising the following steps: transporting the elongated web along a web trajectory, printing information on the elongated web related to the discrete medicaments that are fed to the elongated web at the position of the printed information on the elongated web, feeding the discrete medicaments to the elongated web at the position on the elongated web of the related printed information, inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web, and in response to a fault being detected, printing a fault indication or a fault symbol on the elongated web, and forming an empty pouch at the position of the fault indication or fault symbol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fault is a faulty pouch, and the printing of the fault indication or a fault symbol on the elongated web is performed upstream from the detected faulty pouch.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transporting of the elongated web along the web trajectory is done by means of a web drive.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the printing information on the elongated web is done by means of a printer at a print station.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the packaging device comprises a transport monitoring device for monitoring the transport of the elongated web along the web trajectory for the step of inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to an alignment of the elongated web.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the packaging device comprises an inspection station along the web trajectory for the step of inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the inspection station comprises one or more of an inspection camera, an inspection sensor, an inspection photo sensor, an inspection laser photo sensor, or an ultrasonic inspection sensor, and the inspecting comprises an inspection of the elongated web by said inspection camera, inspection sensor, inspection photo sensor, inspection laser photo sensor or an ultrasonic inspection sensor.

8. The method according to claim 1, and further comprising applying a heat sealing in the elongated web to enclose the medicaments that have been fed to the elongated web.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web comprises sensing a faulty heat sealing.

10. The method of claim 1, and further comprising applying a separation perforation line in the elongated web between pouches to be formed, and wherein the step of inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web comprises detecting a faulty separation perforation line.

11. The method of claim 1, and further comprising forming a tear notch, and wherein the step of inspecting the elongated web to determine whether there is a fault related to the elongated web comprises detecting a faulty tear notch.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the elongated web comprises a foil that forms a front side and a back side between which the medicaments are received.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the foil is folded back onto itself, whereby the front side continues into the back side via a fold that forms a bottom edge of the elongated web.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the foil comprises a printable plastic.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of printing a fault indication or a fault symbol on the elongated web comprises printing the fault indication or fault symbol on the elongated web upstream from the fault.

16. Computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium with instructions saved thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause a packaging device to perform the method according to claim 1.

17. A packaging device for packaging discrete medicaments in pouches, the packaging device comprising: a web drive for transport of the elongated web in a transport direction over a web trajectory, a printing station for printing information on the elongated web, the information related to the discrete medicaments that are fed to the elongated web at the position of the printed information on the elongated web, and a filling station configured to feed the discrete medicaments to the elongated web in pouches formed in the elongated web, an inspection station for detecting a fault in the elongated web; and a controller to instruct the printing station to print a fault indication on the elongated web in response to a fault being detected in the elongated web.

18. The packaging device of claim 17, wherein the fault is one or more of: a faulty pouch, a faulty seal, a faulty separation perforation, a faulty tear notch and a misalignment of the elongated web with respect to one of the stations.

19. The packaging device of claim 17, wherein the inspection station comprises one or more of an inspection camera, an inspection sensor, an inspection photo sensor, an inspection laser photo sensor, or an ultrasonic inspection sensor.

20. The packaging device of claim 17, and further comprising a perforation station along the web trajectory to apply one or more separation perforation and/or tear lines in the elongated web.

21. The packaging device of claim 17, and further comprising a sealing station for sealing the pouches in the elongated web.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a feeder device and a packaging device for discrete medicaments according to an embodiment;

[0055] FIG. 2 is a schematic isometric view of the packaging device of FIG. 1 for filling pouches with the discrete medicaments;

[0056] FIG. 3A is a side view of an elongated web in which the pouches are formed in the packaging device as shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is a close-up detailed portion of FIG. 3A;

[0057] FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate a faulty pouch detection method as performed by the packaging device of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

[0058] FIG. 5 shows a small order processing method as performed by the packaging device of FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0059] FIG. 1 shows a feeder device 1 and a packaging device 20 for discrete medicaments 10. The discrete medicaments may be pharmaceuticals or solid items, articles or substances for medical use, e.g. pills, tablets, capsules or the like. The medicaments are ‘discrete’ in the sense that they can be dispensed one-by-one, individually, separately or in dose units. The discrete medicaments 10 each typically comprise an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and optionally an excipient. The discrete medicaments can be counted and administered individually to a patient. While the system refers to and discusses medicaments, the system and method could be applicable to other consumables (edible or non-edible) that are discretely packaged.

[0060] The feeding device 1 comprises a frame 2 and a horizontally extending supporting disc 3 that supports multiple radially extending arrays 5 each having multiple canisters or feeder units 6. The feeding device 1 comprises an elongated collecting hopper 7 under the supporting disc 3 that is connected to a position control motor 4, such as a servo drive, on the frame 2 via a radially extending arm 9 to be rotated around a vertical axis. Each of the feeder units 6 can be filled with batches of different discrete medicaments. The feeder units 6 are configured to discharge individual discrete medicaments, which are collected by the collecting hopper 7 that is rotated under the discharging feeder unit 6 by means of the position control motor 4. In this manner a selection of discrete medicaments 10 is counted out and compiled to be administered to a patient at once. The collecting hopper 7 merges into a hopper outlet 8 to supply the selection of discrete medicaments 10 to a packaging device 20 for packing each of the compiled selection of discrete medicaments 10 in pouches 150. The collecting hopper 7 comprises a (not shown) hopper release valve with an actuator at the hopper outlet 8 for controlled release of the compiled selection of discrete medicaments 10.

[0061] The packaging device 20 is shown in more detail in FIG. 2. The packaging device 20 is configured to form and fill pouches 150 in an elongated web 100. The packaging device 20 comprises a web drive 23 for intermittent transport of the elongated web 100 in a transport direction T through the packaging device 20 over a web trajectory 22 of the packaging device 20. The elongated web 100 is typically rolled off a stock reel 119. The elongated web 100 is also shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0062] The elongated web 100 comprises a printable, plastic foil 101 that is folded back onto itself, whereby the elongated web 100 comprises a front side 102 that continues into a back side 104 via a fold that forms a bottom edge 103. The front side 102 and the back side 103 both have a top edge 105 at the same height with respect to the bottom edge 103.

[0063] FIGS. 3A and 3B show the elongated web 100 in its finished state in which it is at the end of the web trajectory 22 of FIG. 2. During the transport through the packaging device 20 in the transport direction T as shown in FIG. 2, the elongated web 100 is provided with subsequent heat sealings 110. As best shown in FIG. 3B, the heat sealings 110 comprise an elongated front heat seal 111, an elongated back heat seal 112 and an elongated top heat seal 113 between the front side 102 and the back side 103. The front heat seal 111 and the elongated back heat seal 112 extend parallel to each other and transverse to the bottom edge 103, and the top heat seal 113 extends there between and extends parallel and spaced apart from the top edges 105.

[0064] During the transport through the packaging device 20 the elongated web 100 is provided with subsequent straight separation perforation lines 120 between the heat sealings 110. The separation perforation lines 120 extend as from the bottom edge 103 over more than half of the distance between the bottom edge 105 and the top edges 105. In this example the separation perforation lines 120 extend over more than 70% of the distance between the bottom edge 105 and the top edges 105, though that could vary in other systems depending on the size, type of foil used, etc. Thereby foil bridges 121 are formed between the separation perforation lines 120 and the top edges 105.

[0065] During the transport through the packaging device 20 the elongated web 100 is provided with subsequent tear notches 122 that start at and extend transverse to the separation perforation lines 120. The tear notches 122 extend with respect to the bottom edge 103 at a height close to but below the top heat seal 113.

[0066] The elongated web 100 defines printable areas 117 on the front side 102 within the heat sealings 110. Behind the printable area 117 the elongated web 100 forms sealed off enclosures between the bottom edge 103 and the heat sealings 110 to contain and preserve the selection of discrete medicaments 10.

[0067] After transport through the packaging device 20 the elongated web 100 can be divided manually by tearing off the separation perforation lines 120, followed by tearing the foil bridges 121 to obtain a pouch 150 or a series of interconnected pouches 150. The separated pouches 150 can be opened manually by tearing off the top heat seal 113, which is initialized at the tear notch 122.

[0068] As shown in FIG. 2, the packaging device 20 comprises, in series, a printing station 30, a filling station 40, a sealing station 50, a perforation station 60 and an inspection station 70. The printing station 30 comprises a printer 31 that is configured to print text and symbols onto the printable areas 117 of the elongated web 100. The filling station 40 comprises a spreader 41 below the hopper outlet 8 that is configured to spread the front side 102 and the back side 103 of the elongated web 100 at the top edges 105 to receive the selection of discrete medicaments 10. The sealing station 50 comprises two L-shaped heat seal stamps 51 that are moveable or driven transverse to the elongated web 100 in direction A in a symmetric manner by means of a schematically shown stamp drive 52 to form the top heat seal 113 and the back heat seal 112 of one pouch 150, and to form the front heat seal 111 of the following pouch 150. The perforation station 60 comprises two perforation mechanisms, here shown as anvils 61 that are moveable or driven transverse to the elongated web 100 in direction B in a symmetric manner by means of a schematically shown anvil drive 62 to form the separation perforation line 120 and the tear notch 122 between two pouches 150. The inspection station 70 comprises an inspection camera 71 or an inspection sensor or an inspection (laser) photo sensor, or an ultrasonic inspection sensor or other sensing/detecting device for detecting faults in the elongated web 100. The faults are, for example, bad prints, errors in or absence of the heat sealings 110, separation perforation lines 120 or the tear notches 122.

[0069] The packaging device 20 comprises a transport monitoring device, in this example an encoder 72 having a monitoring wheel against the elongated web 100 to monitor the transport of the elongated web 100 in the transport direction T.

[0070] As schematically shown in FIG. 1, the feeder device 1 and the packaging device 20 comprise a common electronic controller 80 that is connected with the feeder units 6, the position control motor 4, the hopper release valve, the web drive 23, the printer 31, the stamp drive 52, the anvil drive 62, the inspection camera 71 and the encoder 72. The electronic controller 80 comprises an electronic processor and a tangible, non-transitory memory for storing instructions, program code or software which, when executed by the processor, cause the controller 80 to control the actuation of these parts. In particular, the controller 80 is programmed to communicate with and/or form an electronic vision/inspection system together with the inspection camera 71 (or other sensor) to detect faults in the pouches 150 to be formed.

[0071] The electronic controller 80 is programmed to perform a normal processing method, a fault detection method and a small order processing method.

[0072] For performing the normal processing method as schematically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the position control motor 4 of the feeder device 1 to repeatedly bring the collecting hopper 8 under particular feeder units 6, and to control these to release the discrete medicaments 10 to count out and compile a selection of discrete medicaments 10. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the web drive 23 for feeding the elongated web 100 in the packaging device 20 from the stock reel 119 and transport in the transport direction T. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the printer 31 to repeatedly print dedicated information on the printable areas 117 of the pouches 150 to be formed, for example the patient's name and the specification of the selection of discrete medicaments inside the pouch 150 to be formed. At the subsequent filling station 40 the selection of discrete medicaments 10 is fed between the spread front side 102 and back side 103, wherein the received selection of discrete medicaments matches with the dedicated information on the printable area 117.

[0073] The electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the heat seal stamps 51 at the subsequent sealing station 50. In the previous cycle the heat seal stamps 51 had already made the front heat seal 111. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to actuate the heat seal stamps 51 to move in direction A against the elongated web 100 and back to complete the entire heat sealing 110 and to form the front heat seal 111 of the next selection of discrete medicaments that is fed by the hopper outlet 8. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the actuation of the perforation anvils 61 to move in direction B against the elongated web 100 and back to form the separation perforation line 120 and the tear notch 122 to define the pouch 150 that contains the selection of discrete medicaments and with the matching dedicated information on the printable area 117. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to detect faults in the formed pouches 150, and in absence thereof to continue the process to form a long string of interconnected pouches 150. These can be subsequently handled either by a human operator or another machine or robot.

[0074] The electronic controller 80 is programmed to power the web drive 23 while monitoring the transport of the elongated web 100 by means of the encoder 72 so as to detect related errors for example a misalignment of the elongated web 100 with respect to the movement as imposed by the web drive 23.

[0075] The electronic controller 80 is programmed to respond to errors originating from other devices or modules of the feeder device 1, such as the feeder units 6, the position control motor 4 and the collection hopper 7, for example the hopper release valve.

[0076] For performing the fault detection method as shown in FIGS. 4A-4C, the electronic controller 80 is programmed to detect faults in the formed pouches 150a-150k by means of the inspection camera 71 or the inspection sensor, or the inspection (laser) photo sensor, or the inspection laser photo sensor, or the ultrasonic inspection sensor or any other of the applied sensing/detecting device. As shown in FIG. 4A, in a first pouch 150a a fault is detected, for example a bad print in the printable area 117, an error in or absence of the heat sealing 110, an error in or absence of one of the separation perforation lines 120 between which the first pouch 150a is formed, and/or an error in or absence of the tear notch 122, and/or a misalignment of the elongated web 100 with respect to the movement as imposed by the web drive 23. The latter may for example be caused by an operator that has accidentally pulled on the end of the elongated web 100 whereby the printable area 117 becomes misaligned from filling station 40. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to control the printer 31 to print a fault symbol 180j on the printable area 117 of an upstream pouch 150j to be formed, in this example on the ninth pouch 150j. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to pause the feed of selections of discrete medicaments by the feeding device 1 whereby the ninth pouch 150j remains empty. The human operator that manually handles the string of interconnected pouches 150 is then visually warned that a human intervention is needed, in particular disposing off the bad first pouch 150a. In some embodiments, when the pouches are then handled robotically, such a fault symbol 180j would also alert the machine or robot doing the subsequent handling to dispose of such a pouch.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 4B, the normal processing method is continued, or as shown in FIG. 4C, the fault detection and error symbol printing continues for a second pouch 150b, and for a third pouch 150c when errors are detected.

[0078] Information of the error may be stored in the memory of the controller 80 and/or presented to the human or robotic operator to indicate which pouches 150 are affected. The operator may for example be notified of the number of pouches 150b-150h between the ninth pouch 150j and the faulty first pouch 150a and/or the number of pouches 150a-150c that are affected.

[0079] For performing the small order processing method as shown in FIG. 5, the electronic controller 80 is programmed to pause the printing by the printer 71 and the feed of medicaments by the feeder device 1 when the amount of pouches 150 per order is below a set minimal order value. In the shown example this minimal order value is five pouches 150. The electronic controller 80 is programmed to form the first order that comprises only a first pouch 150a and a second pouch 150b both containing their selection of discrete medicaments 10 and the matching dedicated information on the printable area 117, followed by an empty third pouch 150c, an empty fourth pouch 150d and an empty fifth pouch 150e. The empty pouches 150c, 150d, 150e may be unprinted or may receive an alternative marking that identifies said empty pouches 150c-150e as being empty or different from the filled pouches 150a, 150b. Thereafter a second order is formed, that contains five or more pouches 150f-150k.

[0080] The systems and methods according to aspects of the disclosed subject matter may also utilize a variety of special purpose computer and control systems, communications devices, networks and/or digital/logic devices for operation. Each may, in turn, be configurable to utilize a suitable computing/controller device that can be manufactured with, loaded with and/or fetch from some storage device, and then execute, instructions that cause the computing/controller device to perform a method according to aspects of the disclosed subject matter.

[0081] While the description refers to medicaments, tablets, etc., the devices and methods could be used for dispensing other types of solid discrete items for separation and packaging.

[0082] It is to be understood that the above description is included to illustrate the operation of the preferred embodiments and is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. From the above discussion, many variations will be apparent to one skilled in the art that would yet be encompassed by the spirit and scope of the present invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0083] 1 feeder device [0084] 2 frame [0085] 3 supporting disc [0086] 4 position control motor [0087] 5 radially extending arrays [0088] 6 feeder unit [0089] 7 collecting hopper [0090] 8 hopper outlet [0091] 9 arm [0092] 10 discrete medicaments [0093] 20 packaging device [0094] 22 web trajectory [0095] 23 web drive [0096] 30 printing station [0097] 31 printer [0098] 40 filling station [0099] 41 spreader [0100] 50 sealing station [0101] 51 seal stamp [0102] 52 stamp drive [0103] 60 perforation station [0104] 61 perforation anvil [0105] 62 anvil drive [0106] 70 inspection station [0107] 71 inspection camera [0108] 72 encoder [0109] 80 electronic controller [0110] 100 elongated web [0111] 101 foil [0112] 102 front side [0113] 103 bottom edge [0114] 104 back side [0115] 105 top edge [0116] 110 heat sealing [0117] 111 front heat seal [0118] 112 back heat seal [0119] 113 top heat seal [0120] 117 printing area [0121] 119 stock reel [0122] 120 separation perforation line [0123] 121 foil bridge [0124] 122 tear notch [0125] 150 pouch [0126] 180 fault symbol