Patent ID: 11926490
Assignee: MARCHESINI GROUP S.P.A.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for extracting pharmaceutical containers to be filled, the containers being bottles, from relative support elements constituted by a tray, wherein the bottles are arranged in the tray with the relative mouths for insertion of a pharmaceutical substance or product facing towards the bottom of the tray, the apparatus comprising:
an advancement line, for advancing the trays, with the bottles inside, and for stopping the trays at a rest station;
a handling organ;
a pickup and transfer station, for picking up the bottles from the tray positioned by the advancement line in the rest station,
wherein the pickup and transfer station comprises:
a suction plate, provided on a relative face of a plurality of seats, each of which being conformed so as to be able to house internally thereof the bottom and a portion of the body of a bottle, the plurality of seats being predisposed on the face of the suction plate in an arrangement corresponding to the arrangement of the bottles present in the trays, and each of the seats being predisposed and configured to be connected to a suction source, so as to exert a suction action,
a frame conformed in such a way as to have at least a through-housing having a shape and dimensions such as to be able to receive the suction plate, by form coupling, the frame being predisposed in such a way as to be activatable in rotation about a first rotation axis in order to be positionable in a first operating position, in proximity of the rest station of the advancement line, and in a second operating position in proximity of the handling organ;
gripping and moving means of the suction plate, configured and predisposed to pick up and move the suction plate, the gripping and moving means being activatable, when a tray is positioned in the rest station of the advancement line and the frame is positioned in the first operating position, so as to collect and move the suction plate so as to position the suction plate above the tray and lower the suction plate towards the tray so that the bottles present therein are housed in the seats of the suction plate, in such a way that the bottles are retained by suction in the seats, and then to raise the suction plate, with the bottles retained by suction in the seats and position the suction plate at the through-housing of the frame so that the bottles, retained by suction in the seats, are turned with the mouths thereof facing downwards,
releasable coupling means, configured and predisposed to releasably retain the suction plate once positioned in the housing,
with the frame, once the gripping and moving means have positioned and released the suction plate in the housing, being activatable in rotation about the rotation axis in such a way as to be positioned in the second operating position, thus causing the suction plate borne by the housing to perform a rotation about the rotation axis so that the bottles retained in the relative seats are arranged with the relative mouths facing upwards when the frame is in the second operating position,
and wherein the handling organ is predisposed and configured to grip, handle, move and release the bottles, so that when the frame has been positioned in the second operating position with the relative housing which bears the suction plate with the bottles in the relative seats, the handling organ can be activatable to grip a group of bottles and extract the bottles from the seats of the suction plate, and repeat the above operations up to removing all the bottles from the seats of the suction plate.