Abstract:
The invention is a device ( 10 ) for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers. The containers are received in a receptacle ( 12 ), in which a carrier element ( 11 ) is inserted. The containers are arranged in receivers of the carrier element ( 11 ) in multiple rows. The device further includes a first handling unit ( 27 ) for removing the carrier element ( 11 ) from the receptacle ( 12 ), a filling and sealing device ( 35 ) for the containers, and a second handling unit ( 45 ) for reinserting the carrier element ( 11 ) into the receptacle ( 12 ) which is conveyed with the carrier element ( 11 ) on a conveying device ( 20 ). The containers are embodied as syringe barrels ( 1 ) or as containers which are to be provided with crimp caps ( 53 ), and the second handling device ( 45 ) is associated with a crimping device ( 54 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a device for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers. 
     A device of this type is already commonly known and is used in the pharmaceutical industry to fill and seal syringe barrels. The syringe barrels are here disposed in a carrier element (a so-called nest), the carrier element being in turn disposed in a receptacle (a so-called tub). Such an arrangement of the syringe barrels has the advantage that the syringe barrels can already be presterilized at the site of the glass or plastics manufacturer, so that they have merely yet to be filled and sealed by the druggist. 
     Apart from the aforementioned syringe barrels, pharmaceutical containers in the form of so-called vials and cartridges, which, in contrast to syringe barrels, are provided with an additional sealing element in the form of a crimp cap, are additionally known. With the previously known device for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers in the aforesaid carrier elements, a processing or handling of all three aforementioned containers on one and the same device is not possible. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Starting from the represented prior art, the object of the invention is to refine a device for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers such that this is suitable also for the handling or for the filling and sealing of pharmaceutical containers to be provided with crimp caps, in particular for vials and cartridges. This object is achieved in a device for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers. The invention is founded on the idea of assigning to the second handling device a crimping device, which, in dependence on the container which is respectively to be processed, can be controlled by means of the second handling device. 
     In order to enable a flexible design of the cycle times and of the configuration of the crimping device, in an advantageous refinement it is provided that a feed device having receiving elements for the containers is placed upstream of the crimping device, and in that the receiving elements of the feed device have a take-up region for the containers from the carrier element and a delivery region for the containers to the carrier element, in which the receiving elements, during the delivery or take-up of the containers by means of the second handling unit, are moved past one another together with the second handling unit. It hence becomes possible, for example, for the take-up or delivery of the containers to be realized during a movement of one carrier element, while another carrier element is at the same time present in the crimping device and is motionless there. 
     In particular it is here advantageous if the second handling unit is configured as a handling robot, whose gripper arm arranged in operative connection with the containers is freely programmable in the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to its motional path. Hence, not only is the device according to the invention fundamentally able to be adapted with respect to the type of containers to be processed, but it is also possible, moreover, given one and the same type of container, to be able to adapt easily to different container formats. 
     In order to ensure that the chance of losing a crimp cap is as low as possible and that the crimp caps are conveyed over as short a distance as possible within the device, it is additionally advantageous that a crimp cap delivery device, in which the containers respectively take up a crimp cap, is placed directly upstream of the crimping device. 
     In an alternative embodiment, which is particularly advantageous with respect to the disturbance of the laminar flow within the housing, it is provided, however, that the gripper arm, prior to the removal of the containers on the carrier element, is guided past a crimp cap supplying device, in which the gripper arm removes crimp caps, and that the gripper arm, prior to the removal of the containers from the carrier element, places a crimp cap onto the head region of each container. Since the gripper arm, in the removal of the containers from the carrier element, must in any event be brought into line with the containers, no impairment of the laminar flow ensues from the simultaneous delivery of the caps to the containers. 
     It is here particularly advantageous if the gripper arm, when the crimp cap is placed onto the container, brings the crimp cap, through crimping on opposite sides, into operative connection with the container, so that the crimp cap is secured on the container. This avoids a situation in which, following the removal of the containers from the carrier element, the crimp cap gets lost between the removal of the containers and the crimping device. 
     A pharmaceutically secure operation, which, moreover, requires no structural modifications whatever to existing factory buildings, is obtained if the device, with the exception of a feed-in gate and a feed-out gate, is accommodated in a closed housing, and if a blower device is provided, which blower device generates within the housing a laminar flow directed from the ceiling region into the floor region. 
     In order to enable adaptation to a wide variety of container formats and, fundamentally, also to different containers, it is additionally particularly advantageous that at least the filling and sealing device, the crimping device and the devices assigned to the crimping device are exchangeably fastened to standardized receiving elements. 
     In order to enable a construction of the device which is as compact as possible, as well as a neat arrangement and good laminar flow, it is additionally advantageous that the conveyor for the receiving container is of rectilinear configuration and extends between the feed-in gate and the feed-out gate in the housing, and that at least the handling devices, the filling and sealing device and the crimping device, as well as the devices assigned to the crimping device, are disposed alongside the conveyor on a common side within the housing. 
     A configuration in which the first handling device is configured as a handling robot, whose gripper arm arranged in operative connection with the containers is freely programmable in the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to its motional path, and in which, in the motional path of the gripper arm, at least one weighing device for the containers is arranged, yields the advantage that a checking of the containers with respect to the fill quantity becomes possible and the handling device can be easily adapted to different containers. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Further advantages, features and details of the invention emerge from the following description of preferred illustrative embodiments and with reference to the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows an inventive device for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers in the processing of syringe barrels, in a partially cut-open perspective representation, 
         FIG. 2  shows the device according to  FIG. 1  during the processing of vials, in a partially cut-open perspective representation, and 
         FIG. 3  shows the device according to  FIGS. 1 and 2  during the processing of cartridges, likewise in partially cut-open perspective view. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the figures, identical components are provided with the same reference numerals. That device  10  for filling and sealing pharmaceutical containers which is represented in the figures is suitable for filling and sealing both syringe barrels  1 , and vials  2  and cartridges  3 . The syringe barrels  1 , vials  2  or cartridges  3  are here respectively fed to the device  10  in an at least substantially plate-like receiving element  11  provided with receiving fixtures, the receiving element  11  being inserted in a tub-shaped receptacle  12  and being positioned there by form closure. The receptacle  12  can be sealed by means of a cover (not represented), which serves for protection during transport. This configuration has the advantage that the syringe barrels  1 , vials  2  or cartridges  3  can already be (pre)sterilized at the site of the manufacturer of the pharmaceutical containers, so that they have merely yet to be filled and sealed by the druggist. 
     The device  10  has a box-like housing  13 , in whose interior a laminar flow (not represented) directed from the ceiling region  14  in the direction of the floor region  15  of the housing  13  can be generated by means of a blower device. On one end face of the housing  13 , a feed-in gate  16  for the receptacles  12  is arranged and, on the opposite-situated end face of the housing  13  there is a feed-out gate  17  for the receptacles  12 . Within the housing  13 , on its one longitudinal side between the feed-in gate  16  and the feed-out gate  17 , a conveyor  20  for the receptacles  12  is found. 
     In the illustrative embodiment, the conveyor  20  consists of a conveyor belt  21  and two guide rails  22 ,  23 , which guide the receptacles  12  laterally during their transport through the device  10 . The rectilinearly configured conveyor  20  is located, as already explained, on one side within the housing  13 . On a table leaf  24  in the housing  13 , on the other side of the housing  13 , handling devices for the containers are disposed. Thus close to the feed-in gate  16  can be seen a weighing device  25 , which enables a plurality of pharmaceutical containers to be weighed simultaneously. The weighing device  25  is adjoined by a handling device in the form of handling robot  27 , by whose gripper arm  28 , in conjunction with a holding device  29 , the receiving element  11 , together with the pharmaceutical containers disposed therein, can be removed from the receptacle  12  and the receiving element  11  deposited on a transport plate  30 . 
     The transport plate  30  is part of a further transport device  31 , which moves the receiving element  11  continuously or cyclically. The handling robot  27  is adjoined by a filling and sealing device  35 . The filling and sealing device  35  comprises a plurality of feed pumps  36 , by means of which drugs can accurately be metered out on the basis of weight or volume. The feed pumps  36  are connected to a raisable and lowerable filling needle holder  37 . On the filling needle holder  37  there is arranged for each container, for example, a filling needle  38 . 
     Upstream of the filling needle holder  37 , furthermore, there is optionally placed a first setting tube  39 , which can introduce a specific number of balls into each container in order to produce a better mixing of the drugs prior to their administration. 
     The filling needle holder  37  is adjoined by a gallows-like sealing device  40  for syringe barrels  1 . The sealing device  40  comprises for each syringe barrel  1  a second setting tube  41 , via which a sealing plug  42  can be inserted into the syringe barrel  1 . 
     Also of fundamental importance is that the handling robot  27  or the motional path of its gripper arm  28  reaches into the region of the filling and sealing device  35 , so that the handling robot  27 , by means of its gripper arm  28 , is able to remove not only unfilled containers from the receiving element  11 , but also already filled containers, so as to feed these to the weighing device  25 . 
     In order to supply the sealing plugs  42  or feed them to the setting tubes  39 , a sealing plug bin  43 , which is coupled via longitudinal conveying units  44  to the setting tubes  39 , is additionally provided. 
     In the region of the sealing plug bin  43 , a further handling device in the form of a second handling robot  45  is additionally arranged. The handling robot  45  has a gripper arm  47 , by which, according to the nature of a format part mounted on the gripper arm  47 , either the syringe barrels  1  arranged side by side and one behind the other in rows in the receiving element  11  and previously filled in the filling and sealing device  35  can be removed and reinserted in the receptacle  12 , or else, in the handling of vials  2  or cartridges  3 , a specific number of vials  2  or cartridges  3  can be delivered to a downstream feed conveyor  49 . 
     The feed conveyor  49  has a feed wheel  50  having receiving segments  51  arranged movably thereon on its periphery. By means of the receiving segments  51 , which rotate during the take-up of vials  2  or cartridges  3 , the vials  2  or cartridges  3  are fed past beneath a cap extractor  52  forming part of a crimp cap supply device, whereupon the vials  2  or the cartridges  3 , as the vials  2  or the cartridges  3  are fed past, respectively remove or extract a crimp cap  53  from the cap extractor  52 . 
     In one variant (not represented), it is also conceivable, however, that the gripper arm  47  of the handling robot  45  removes an appropriate number of crimp caps  53  from a supply station for the crimp caps  53  and, prior to the removal of the vials  2  or cartridges  3  from the receiving element  11 , places the crimp caps  53  onto the vials  2  or cartridges  3  and crimps these on mutually opposing sides. 
     During the onward movement of the receiving segments  51  on the feed wheel  50 , the vials  2  or cartridges  3  make their way into the region of a crimping station  54 , at which the crimp caps  53  are crimped onto the vials  2  or cartridges  3 . The receiving segment  51  is then moved back to a delivery position corresponding to the take-up position in which the handling robot  45  has transferred the vials  2  or the cartridges  3  into the receiving segments  51 . 
     The device  10  which has so far been described operates as follows: In the processing of syringe barrels  1 , the receiving element  11  is removed from the receptacle  12  by means of the handling robot  27  and deposited onto the transport plate  30 . After this, it can optionally be provided to remove a specific number of syringe barrels  1  from the receiving element  11  and weigh them on the weighing device  25  prior to being filled. Next, the syringe barrels  1  are filled with a defined fill quantity of drugs, on their path of conveyance in the transport device  31 , by means of the filling and sealing device  35 . It can then be provided to return the previously weighed, filled syringe barrels  1  by means of the handling robot  27  to the weighing device  25 , to check whether the correct fill quantity has been fed in. Next, the sealing plugs  42  are introduced into the syringe barrels  1  and the receiving element  11  is moved by means of the second handling robot  45  back into the receptacle  12 . The latter is then discharged from the housing  13  or the device  10  by means of the conveyor  20 . 
     The processing of vials  2  in place of syringe barrels  1  differs from the previously described handling of syringe barrels  1  in that the second handling robot  45  removes the previously filled vials  2 , likewise provided with sealing plugs  42 , after they have been filled and sealed with the sealing plugs  42 , row by row or in batches from the receiving element  11  and delivers them to a receiving segment  51  of the feed wheel  50 . Next, the vials  2  are crimped by means of the crimping station  54 . Then the second handling robot  45  removes the crimped vials  2  again from the receiving segment  51 , in its original position, and inserts the vials  2  into the corresponding receiving fixtures of the receiving element  11 . As soon as all the vials  2  from a receiving element  11  are fully crimped, the receiving element  11  is inserted by means of the handling robot  45  back into the receptacle  12  and then discharged from the device  10  by means of the conveyor  20 . 
     The processing of cartridges  3  in place of vials  2  differs from the previously described treatment of the vials  2  particularly in that, in the case of the cartridges  3 , no sealing plugs are previously put in place. To this extent, it is particularly important that the laminar flow in the device  10 , following the filling of the cartridges  3 , is disturbed as little as possible, or that a shortest possible path of conveyance of the cartridges  3  with crimp caps  53  is provided in order to minimize the risk of the crimp caps  53  falling down, so that either the crimp caps  53  on the cap extractor  52  are only extracted immediately prior to the crimping, or, instead. the second handling robot  45 , as the cartridges  3  are removed from the receiving element  11 , already provides the cartridges  3  with the crimp caps  53 , as previously described. 
     The device  10  which has so far been described can be altered or modified in a variety of ways. For instance, it is conceivable to remove the vials  2  or cartridges  3  by means of the second handling robot  45  directly after filling and to convey them to the receiving segment  51 . It is also conceivable to insert the receiving element  11  back into the receptacle  12  after filling and to remove the receiving element  11  from the receptacle  12  again only in the region of a crimping device. In addition, the transfer of the containers from the second handling robot to the receiving segments  51 , and vice versa, can take place also in a motionless phase of the receiving segments  51 .