ROTARY PRESS AND METHOD FOR SETTING UP AND OPERATING A ROTARY PRESS

Abstract

A rotary press comprises a rotor that can be rotated by a rotary drive. The rotor has an upper punch guide for upper press punches and a lower punch guide for lower press punches and a die plate arranged between the punch guides. The upper and lower press punches are configured interact with cavities of the die plate. A filling device loads filling material into cavities of the die plate and at least one measuring device coupled to the filling device for monitoring the availability of the filling material in the filling device. The rotary press further includes at least one upper pressing device and at least one lower pressing device that are configured to interact with the upper press punches and the lower press punches to press the filling material in the cavities of the die plate into a pellet. An ejection device is configured to eject the pellets. wherein at least one measuring device is arranged on or in the filling device for monitoring the availability of the filling material in the filling device.

Claims

1. A rotary press comprising: upper press punches and lower press punches; a rotor configured to be rotated by a rotary drive, wherein the rotor comprises an upper punch guide for the upper press punches, a lower punch guide for the lower press punches, and a die plate disposed between the upper and lower punch guides, wherein the upper and lower press punches are configured to interact with cavities of the die plate; a filling device configured to load filling material into the cavities of the die plate; at least one upper pressing device and at least one lower pressing device configured to interact with the upper press punches and the lower press punches during operation such that they press the filling material into the cavities of the die plate to produce pellets; an ejection device configured to eject the pellets from the rotary press; and at least one measuring device coupled to the filling device and configured to monitor availability of filling material in the filling device.

2. The rotary press according to claim 1, wherein the at least one measuring device comprises an optical measuring device.

3. The rotary press according to claim 1, wherein the at least one measuring device is disposed in the filling device and configured to measure a fill level of the filling material in a filling chamber of the filling device that is disposed directly above the die plate.

4. The rotary press according to claim 3, wherein the at least one measuring device is an optical distance measuring device disposed at a specific position in the filling device, wherein the optical distance measuring device is configured to emit measuring radiation directed toward a surface of the filling material of the filling chamber, and wherein the optical distance measuring device is further configured to measure a distance to the surface of the filling material using measuring radiation reflected by the surface of the filling material to determine a fill level of the filling material in the filling chamber therefrom.

5. The rotary press according to claim 4, further comprising at least one rotatably driven stirring impeller with a plurality of stirrer blades disposed in the filling chamber of the filling device that is configured to stir the filling material in the filling chamber during operation, wherein the optical distance measuring device is disposed above the at least one stirring impeller and configured to emit measuring radiation which passes between the plurality of stirrer blades of the at least one stirring impeller and onto the surface of the filling material, and wherein the optical distance measuring device is further configured to receive measuring radiation reflected by the surface of the filling material which passes back between the plurality of stirrer blades of the rotatably driven stirring impeller.

6. The rotary press according to claim 3, further comprising at least one other measuring device arranged in the filling device and configured to measure a fill level of filling material in a second filling chamber disposed above or to a side of the filling chamber of the filling device.

7. The rotary press according to claim 6, wherein the at least one other measuring device is a second optical distance measuring device disposed at a specific position in the filling device, the second optical distance measuring device is configured to emit measuring radiation directed toward a surface of the filling material in the second filling chamber, and wherein the second optical distance measuring device is further configured to measure a distance to a surface of the filling material in the second filling chamber using measuring radiation reflected by the surface of the filling material in the second filling chamber and is configured to determine a fill level of the filling material in the second filling chamber therefrom.

8. The rotary press according to claim 7, further comprising at least one rotatably driven stirring impeller including a plurality of stirrer blades disposed in the second filling chamber of the filling device and configured to stir the filling material located in the second filling chamber during operation, wherein the second optical distance measuring device is disposed above the at least one rotatably driven stirring impeller and configured to emit measuring radiation which passes between the plurality of stirrer blades of the at least one rotatably driven stirring impeller and onto the surface of the filling material in the second filling chamber, and wherein the second optical distance measuring device is configured to receive measuring radiation reflected by the surface of the filling material in the second filling chamber which passes back between the plurality of stirrer blades.

9. The rotary press according to claim 3, wherein the at least one measuring device is configured to measure the fill level of the filling material in a supply section of the filling device, and wherein the supply section of the filling device is configured to supply filling material to the filling chamber of the filling device.

10. The rotary press according to claim 1, further comprising a display means configured to display measured data of the at least one measuring device during a setup process of the rotary press and during production mode of the rotary press.

11. The rotary press according to claim 10, further comprising a control device configured to receive the measured data of the at least one measuring device and configured to control operating parameters of the rotary press during the setup process and during production mode of the rotary press.

12. The rotary press according to claim 11, wherein the control device is configured to control operating parameters of the rotary press during the setup process of the rotary press, and during the production mode of the rotary press so that a target amount of filling material is available in the filling device.

13. The rotary press according to claim 12, wherein the control device is configured to control a rotary speed of the rotor, and a rotary speed of a stirring impeller of the filling device, and an amount of filling material supplied to the filling device as operating parameters of the rotary press.

14. The rotary press according to claim 13, wherein the control device is configured to control the operating parameters of the rotary press so that the target amount of filling material is available in the filling device based on measured data of the at least one measuring device during the setup process and during the production mode of the rotary press.

15. The rotary press according to claim 13, wherein the rotary speed of the rotor, and the rotary speed of a stirring impeller of the filling device, and an amount of filling material supplied to the filling device are configured to be controlled as operating parameters of the rotary press.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to figures. Schematically,

[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of an embodiment of a rotary press,

[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates a top plan of a stirring impeller of the embodiment of the rotary press of FIG. 1, and

[0030] FIG. 3 illustrates a front plan view of a measuring device of the embodiment of the rotary press of FIG. 1.

[0031] The same reference numbers refer to the same objects in the figures unless indicated otherwise.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0032] The rotary press shown in FIG. 1 comprises a rotor in a manner known per se that can be rotated for example about a vertical axis by means of a rotary drive (not shown in detail). The rotor comprises an upper punch guide 10 for a plurality of upper press punches 12, and/or a punch guide 14 for a plurality of lower press punches 16. Moreover, the rotor comprises a die plate 18 in which a plurality of holes or cavities 20 are formed. A single pair of an upper punch and lower punch 12, 16 is assigned to a cavity 20 of the die plate 18 and rotates jointly with the die plate 18. While rotating, the upper punches 12 and lower punches 16 are moved axially, in particular by means of upper control cams 22 and lower control cams 23. Moreover, the rotary press comprises a filling device 24 by means of which powdered filling material 26 is supplied in the depicted example to the cavities 20 of the die plate 18 rotating below the filling device 24. For this, the filling device 24 comprises a supply section with a filling funnel 28, and a supply tube 30 through which the filling material 26 is supplied to a filling chamber 32 designed in the form of a filling shoe. A rotatably driven stirring impeller 34 is located in the filling chamber 32 in the depicted example. Of course, other filling chambers can also be provided in which a stirring impeller may also rotate.

[0033] The rotary press furthermore comprises an upper pre-pressing device with an upper pre-pressing roller 36, and a lower pre-pressing device with a lower pre-pressing roller 38. The upper pre-pressing roller 36 is mounted on an upper pressing roller holder 40, and the lower pre-pressing roller 38 is mounted on a lower pressing roller holder 42. Moreover, an upper main pressing device with an upper main pressing roller 44 and a lower main pressing device with a lower main pressing roller 46 are provided. The upper main pressing roller 44 is mounted on an upper pressing roller holder 48, and the lower main pressing roller 46 is mounted on a lower pressing roller holder 50. Moreover, the rotary press according to the invention comprises an ejection device 52 with a scraper 54 arranged above the die plate 18 and a discharge channel 56.

[0034] During operation, the filling device 24 fills the holes 20 in the die plate 18 with filling material 26 under gravity in a manner known per se. The bottom sides of the holes 20 are closed at this time by the lower punches 16. In the region of the pre-pressing rollers 36 and 38, the filling material 26 is pre-pressed in the cavities 20 by the upper and bottom punches 12, 16. In the region of the main pressing rollers 44 and 46, the main pressing of the filling material 26 in the cavities 20 into pellets 58, in particular tablets 58, is carried out by the upper and bottom punches 12, 16. Then, the upper punches 12 leave the cavities 20, and the produced tablets 58 are ejected by the lower punches 16 out of the cavities 20 and are supplied by the scraper 54 to the discharge channel 56.

[0035] In the plan view in FIG. 2, the direction of rotation 60 of the die plate 18 is indicated by the arrow 60. The divided circle on which the cavities 20 of the die plate 18 are arranged (of which only three are depicted in FIG. 2 for reasons of clarity), is depicted in a dashed line at reference sign 62. In the illustration in FIG. 2, the stirring impeller 34 of the filling device 24 can be seen in greater detail. On one hand, the direction of rotation of the stirring impeller 34 is illustrated as an example by the arrow 64. The direction of rotation of the stirring impeller 64 and/or the direction of rotation 60 may also in principle be opposite. On the other hand, a plurality of stirrer blades of the stirring impeller 34 can be seen at reference sign 66. The cavities 20 are filled with filling material 26 in the region depicted with a dashed line in FIGS. 2 and 3 at reference sign 68.

[0036] A measuring device according to the invention is shown at reference sign 70 in FIG. 3. The measuring device 70 in the present example is an optical distance measuring device 70 arranged at a specific position in the filling device 24, such as a laser distance measuring device. The distance measuring device 70 emits optical measuring radiation from above toward the surface of the filling material 26 as shown in FIG. 3 at reference sign 72. The measuring radiation is reflected by the surface of the filling material 26 and returns to the distance measuring device 70 as shown in FIG. 3 at reference sign 74. For example, the distance measuring device 70 determines its distance from the surface of the filling material 26 by using a runtime measurement and from that, determines the fill level 76 of the filling device 24 of the filling material 26 in the filling chamber 32 of the filling device 24. As can be discerned in FIG. 3, the distance measuring device 70 is arranged above the stirring impeller 34 so that the measuring radiation emitted by the distance measuring device 70 passes between the stirrer blades 66 that regularly interrupt the measuring path, reaches the surface of the filling material 26, and returns to the distance measuring device 70 after being reflected.

[0037] The measuring data for measuring device 70 can be fed to a control device (not shown in detail) of the rotary press. Based on the measured data, the control device can control operating parameters of the rotary press during a rotary press setup process, and/or during the production mode of the rotary press, so that a target amount of filling material 26 is always in the filling device 24. For this, the control device can for example control the rotary speed of the rotor of the rotary press, and/or the rotary speed of the stirring impeller 34 of the filling device 24 as operating parameters. In addition, the rotary press can comprise display means (not shown in detail) that display the measured data of the measuring device 70 for an operator during a setup process of the rotary press, and/or during production mode of the rotary press.

REFERENCE NUMBER LIST

[0038] 10 Upper punch guide

[0039] 12 Upper press punches

[0040] 14 Lower punch guide

[0041] 16 Lower press punches

[0042] 18 Die plate

[0043] 20 Cavities

[0044] 22 Upper control cams

[0045] 23 Lower control cams

[0046] 24 Filling device

[0047] 26 Filling material

[0048] 28 Filling funnel

[0049] 30 Supply tube

[0050] 32 Filling chamber

[0051] 34 Stirrer impeller

[0052] 36 Upper pre-pressing roller

[0053] 38 Lower pre-pressing roller

[0054] 40 Upper pressing roller holder

[0055] 42 Lower pressing roller holder

[0056] 44 Upper main pressing roller

[0057] 46 Lower main pressing roller

[0058] 48 Upper pressing roller holder

[0059] 50 Lower pressing roller holder

[0060] 52 Ejection device

[0061] 54 Scraper

[0062] 56 Discharge channel

[0063] 58 Pellets, tablets

[0064] 60 Arrow

[0065] 62 Divided circle

[0066] 64 Arrow

[0067] 66 Stirrer blade

[0068] 68 Region

[0069] 70 Distance measuring device

[0070] 72 Measuring radiation

[0071] 74 Measuring radiation