Handheld Apparatus for Disengagement of a Dose Unit from Its Packaging

Abstract

The present invention concerns a handheld apparatus for automated and directional disengagement of a dose unit (17), such as a pill from its packaging (16), said apparatus comprising a housing (2) having a first and second end, where the housing is provided with an opening for receiving and supporting a packaging and positioning of a dose unit in this packaging and holding means arranged adjacent to said opening of the second end; and expelling means comprising a plunger (5) which by actuation of drive means (1) can be pushed against the holding means and hereby having a dose unit disengaged. The advantage of this dispenser apparatus is that it automatically causes the pill to be disengaged from the blister pack, reducing the working environment problems by reducing the repetitive one-sided manual work load, and reducing contamination risks by directional placement of the dose unit.

Description

The present invention relates to a handheld apparatus for directional disengagement of a dose unit from its packaging.

A very used packaging technique for dosage units are blister packs. Blister packs are used as packaging technique for e.g. pills, tablets, and capsules. Pills, tablets, or capsules are generic terms for measured amounts of substances, such as e.g. drugs, vitamins, animal foods, or other chemicals, which are brought on or in a form in order to be used for dose dispensing. In the present application, the term pill will be used as a common term for pills, tablets, and capsules. The nature of the different pills varies considerably, e.g. as to how friable they are under pressure, and the shape or size thereof. The pills may be shaped as a disc, oval, cylinder, sphere or combinations thereof. The size varies in diameter from a few mm to over one cm.

Pills produced for e.g. drugs are generally situated separately in each their recess in a sheet of e.g. metal or plastic, which is covered by one or more layers of the same material, a corresponding material or other suitable material. The packaging protects the pills effectively against e.g. contamination or shock, but may cause the users of said pills many disadvantages, for example causing difficulties in forcing the pills through the packaging.

In order for a pill to become disengaged from a blister pack, the pill must be forced through the breakable part of the packaging. Some blister packs have a design, which makes them difficult to open, for example the pill may be relatively small compared to the recess in which it is situated. Others are deliberately made difficult to open, e.g. in order to prevent children from unintentionally disengaging the pill, or due to the effects of the pills and their ascribed effects.

Moreover, blister packs, which are relatively easy to open for the average adult, may be difficult to open for handicapped persons, elderly persons and/or persons e.g. suffering from disorders in the joints, the muscles or the hands.

By continued uniform drug prescription a machine handled dose dispensing is often utilized. Hereby is understood that a pharmacy or a hospital use a machine for packing the pill(s) for each separate patient at each point of time of dosage. When changes occur or new patients arrive, the processing period may last several days before the patient receives his (new) dose packages.

The present way in which the health personnel handle the dose dispensing during emergencies, new arrivals or changes in pill doses is mainly during a period to manually disengage the pill or pills from the blister pack or packages, and subsequently to manually transfer the disengaged pill or pills to the dose dispensing unit or units. This is an expensive and inconvenient process, as it requires more man hours, is slow and time consuming.

Moreover, the process is a problem for health and safety at work, given the fact that the health personnel perform one-sided repetitive strenuous movements to disengage the pills from the blister packs, which may strain e.g. fingers, muscles and joints. Furthermore, during the subsequent transferral from the collection point of the disengagement process to the dose dispenser unit, the health personnel may come into contact with the disengaged pill, and different pills may touch said collection point, which increases the risk of contamination, causing a nuisance and a disadvantage both to the patient and the health personnel, since the effect of the pill(s) may be/become modified.

Techniques commonly applied for dose dispensing of pills from blister packs may be divided into two groups. The techniques, in which advanced, fully automated machines are utilized, and the manual techniques, in which a pressure applied by the palm of the hand or by one or more fingers on a simple tool or directly on the blister pack, are resulting in the desired pill being disengaged from the blister pack.

After the disengagement from the blister pack the pill usually ends up in a collection unit, from where each pill(s) is to be transferred into the dose dispensing unit.

There is known some advanced fully automatic machines, as e.g. described in US2003/0176942, U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,512 or FR 2 838 047. These apparatuses consist of several instruments, which are combined in such a way as to perform a continued filling of dose dispensing units with one or more pills of the same or different types. Several safety functions are attached to the instrument in order to minimize erroneous dispensing and contamination risks. The machines are used for continuous uniform drug prescription, since maintenance and programming in order to ensure an acceptable level of costs and safety is demanding.

For manually assisted dispensing there are known devices as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,886, WO 2004/035459, DE 102 18 997, DE 203 80 218 U, EP 0 915 020, DK 384197 or CA 2,149,474. The manner of operation of these devices can generally be described as follows: A blister pack is inserted between a first and a second element and a pushing element. The pushing element projects from the first element and pushes the pill out of the blister pack, when the first and the second element are closed by hand. Such devices are sold separately for use.

As an alternative to the above, the professional health personnel often use a manual approach, where the blister pack is held between both hands and by combining the pressure and direction of the thumbs, the disengagement of the pill from the blister pack can be performed quickly and efficiently.

Disadvantages when using the above mentioned manual methods are that the physical design of the device and the thumb approach increases the risk of the user performing the same repeated movement pattern every time, whereby the possibility of work related damages caused by repetitive one-sided strenuous motions is increased. Further, by the subsequent transferral process from the collection point of the disengagement process to the dose dispensing unit, the user can come into contact with the disengaged pill and different pills may come into contact with said collection point, respectively, which results in added work stages and demand a high degree of cleaning, if the risk of contamination is to be minimized.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved type of pill dispenser where working environment problems and risk of contamination of the pill(s) and/or person(s) are reduced.

The invention consists of a handheld apparatus for directional disengagement of a dose unit, such as a pill, from its packaging, said apparatus comprising a housing having a first and second end, where the housing is provided with an opening for receiving and supporting a packaging and positioning of a dose unit in this packaging and holding means arranged adjacent to said opening of the second end; and expelling means comprising a plunger which by actuation of drive means can be pushed against the holding means and hereby having a dose unit disengaged.

Hereby the object is achieved and the drawbacks by the known devices are overcome. The advantage of the apparatus according to the invention is that the automatic dose dispensing where contamination risks has been successfully transferred and eliminated the possibility of work-related injuries due to e.g. repetitive one-sided strenuous work. This is achieved by the apparatus components e.g. by pushing a button can be bring about a sufficient pressure on a pill which is then disengaged from the blister pack in a ergonomically suitable housing whereon a blister packaging support device may be attached, and with the holding means which are designed to allow for the possibility of directional/predetermined placement of pills, which have been disengaged from the blister pack. It is found that the weight of the handheld apparatus according to the invention may be below 150 grams.

The automated disengagement of pills from blister packs by a handheld apparatus according to the invention entail that the repetitive one-sided strenuous work in connection with dose dispensing is reduced or even eliminated, as the workload of the process can be reduced to e.g. a push of a button.

The possibility of directional disengagement provided by the new pill dispenser reduces the risks of contamination, as the pill can be disengaged directly to the dose dispensing unit.

A handheld apparatus according to the invention is thus contributory to the reduction of contamination risks and improvement of working environment conditions for persons who work with dose dispensing from blister packs, since focus is transferred from the working environment and contamination problems, to focusing on correct dose dispensing.

A handheld apparatus according to the invention may comprise three main parts, a housing, a pill pushing device and a blister pack support device, whereon the blister pack is placed and the pill is pushed through. Further, a usually exchangeable device providing the option of directional placement of the pill can be placed on the blister pack support device.

By providing a housing with whole or parts of the pill pushing device, the possibility of providing the housing with an exterior design is introduced, and the placement of a possible actuation mechanism for the pill pushing device in order to allow for ergonomic and motional (and thus working environment and physical) considerations to a great extent.

By utilising a pressure and material technology capable of delivering a sufficient and suitable pressure on the surface of the blister pack for the pill to be forced through, disengaged from and leave the blister pack without being destroyed, reduces the possibility of the pill leaving the blister pack in such a shape that the desired effect of the pill is modified.

By providing a control and automatic technology, bringing the pushing device after completed pushing, to a desirable initial position, the possibility of the introduction of new inconvenient hand and/or arm movement patterns is reduced.

By providing an exchangeable and directional device in extension of and in connection with the blister pack support device, the possibility of contamination is reduced, as the pill can be placed directly in the dose dispensing unit.

By providing an exchangeable and directional device the possibility of using materials and designs for the exchangeable and directional device, making allowance for the various state and design of the pills is introduced.

By ensuring that the handheld apparatus has a preferred weight of below 150 grams, the possibility of introducing muscle and/or joint injuries to the person using the apparatus is reduced.

The present invention is described in further detail in the following with reference to preferred embodiments in the related drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of an automatic, handheld apparatus for pushing out pills according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view of an automatic, handheld apparatus according to a preferred embodiment with the packaging support in an inactive position;

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view of an automatic, handheld apparatus according to a preferred embodiment with the packaging support in an active position.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of a release mechanism in an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, and

FIGS. 6 to 9 show three embodiments of the design of an apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the invention in the form of a stationary part 8A, 11 and a handheld apparatus. The apparatus is capable of pushing out a pill 17 from a blister pack 16, and at the same time or subsequently placing the pill in a dose dispensing unit (not illustrated) at the end of the directional unit 14. The illustrated apparatus comprises of a number of individual units. Nevertheless, it is possible to have two or more units integrated to form a single unit.

More precisely, the apparatus preferably comprises a stationary part and a handheld part which can communicate with each other. The stationary part contains an energy supply unit 11 and a control and directional unit 8A. This unit 8A could exchange data with a data communication unit in the handheld apparatus. Such data could be amount of pills to a particular patient, kinds of pills, etc.

The handheld part comprises a housing 2 wherein a pushing unit 1, a plunging unit 5 and a control and directional unit 8 is built in.

An actuation unit 10, a hand support unit 12 and a blister holder unit 6 is provided on the outer surface of the housing. A directional unit 14 is placed on the underside of the blister holder unit.

The specific units will be described in more detail in the following.

The pill pushing unit illustrated in FIG. 1 is suited for delivering the force necessary for the plunger 5 to be capable of forcing the pill free of its packaging, and subsequently moving the plunger back to its initial position or starting point.

Examination of several different blister packs has shown that the packaging currently used by some manufacturers of medicine demand a power when using a 5 mm to 10 mm in diameter plane plunger surface and 10 mm to 15 mm in diameter exit hole of between 15 N and 70 N to push the pill free of the blister pack. It is preferable that the plunger does not hit the pill hard but rather pushes the pill so that the risk of breaking the pill is reduced.

Consumer surveys have shown that an acceptable timeframe for the disengagement should typically be less than 4 seconds and preferably less than 2 seconds.

The total travel length (forth+back) of the plunger will typically be set within the range between 3 mm and 35 mm.

Among the drive units capable of meeting the above and previously mentioned objectives, it is possible to use instruments within e.g. the electric, pneumatic, or mechanically driven motors, actuators, compressors, valves or combinations thereof.

Among e.g. electric motors with or without gearing the following could be mentioned: AC motors, AC synchronous motors, brushless motors, nonferrous motors, DC motors, permanent magnet step motors, variable reluctance step motors and hybrid step motors.

The drive means comprises a motor 1 and threaded shaft 4 around which a nut or a threaded pipe 3 is provided for transferring the rotational movement of the motor to a linear movement for the plunger.

The drive shaft 4 and the accompanying nut or internally threaded pipe 3 can be made of materials of e.g. plastic, metal, composite material, or combinations thereof. The gearing and the dimensions of the gearing is chosen in order to ensure that the plunger impacts the blister pack so that the pill can be released from the blister pack in an efficient and controlled way.

The plunger can be equipped with built-in sensors for e.g. pressure and or distance, which by signalling to the directional and control system can assist in controlling the movement pattern of the plunger.

The pressure surface of the plunger can be connected with the plunger via a spring or some other elastic material in order to achieve a desirable pressure pattern on the pill in the blister pack. The pressure surface may consist of one or more levels, which can be plane, inclined, concave, convex or one or more combinations thereof in relation to each other.

The plunger and the pressure surface, to which the demands and requirements for design, strength, hardness and elasticity may be different, may be made of materials of e.g. metal, plastic, rubber, composite or combinations thereof.

The movement and movement pattern of the drive unit 1 may be controlled by one or more control units 8, 8A. The communication between the various control units—either in a handheld and/or in a stationary unit—can be wireless or cable transmitted communication. In FIG. 1, the two units communicate with each other via cables.

The type and characteristics of the energy supply 11 depend on the chosen drive unit. The energy supply may be capable of delivering the necessary power and energy so that the handheld part by actuation is capable of pushing the desired amount of pills free of one or more blister packs.

The actuation unit 10 will typically be an on/off switch contact with a torque or lock function, depending on the chosen control and directional design. Furthermore, the outer design of the actuation unit will most often take into account the ergonomic design of the apparatus.

The material characteristics and design of the housing are chosen with regard to the fact that the apparatus has to be positioned in a stable and secure way in the hand of the user during application. This means that when designing the apparatus, consideration must be take as to ergonomic conditions such as the weight distribution in the hand and thus the placement of the various units in and on the housing e.g. the hand support 12, the blister holder 6, the actuation button 10 and the control system 8. In FIGS. 6 to 9, some examples of designs of an apparatus according to the invention are shown.

The housing with its various requirements and demands for design, strength hardness and elasticity may be made of materials of e.g. metal, plastic, rubber, composite or combinations thereof.

Since the function of the blister holder 6 is to secure that the blister pack has a stable and safe bed plate in order for the pill to be disengaged from its packing under the operation of the plunger, and to allow for the possibility of the pill subsequently being directed to a placement into a dose dispensing unit, the holder must be built in a way so as to be able to resist the pressure of the plunger on the blister pack, to contain at least one exit hole 7 for the pill, and to provide the possibility of the attachment of a directional unit 14.

The physical size, placement and attachment method of the blister holder on the housing depend on the users wishes and demands as to functionality and flexibility. The blister holder can thus be mounted on the holster both revolving and pivoting, and further, as the blister pack often contain more than one row of pills, the bed plate can preferably handle more rows.

Among applicable materials for the construction of the blister holder metal, plastic, composite or combinations thereof can be mentioned.

As the function of the directional unit 14 is to assist in the pill being placed in the desirable place and that the characteristics of the pill on its way thereto are modified in the slightest possible way, it is important that shape and characteristics (e.g. smoothness and elasticity) of the funnel does not effect the pill in the slightest possible way. The shape can be e.g. wholly or partially cylindrical, wholly or partially funnel-shaped or with straights or curved sides or combinations thereof.

Further, as the apparatus may be used for different types of pills, both as to size and content, it is important that the holder or at least the directional unit 14 including exchange of blanks with specific opening diameters of the hole 7 is easily interchangeable.

Among applicable materials for the construction of directional unit 14, metal, plastic, rubber, composite or combinations thereof can be mentioned.

The handheld automatic pill dispenser illustrated in FIG. 1 is constructed in a way that the electronics for controlling the movement pattern of the motor 1 is placed in the stationary part 8A and the electronics for actuation and control of movements is placed in the handheld part. The step motor is used as drive means 1, where the power supply is placed in the stationary part. A threaded shaft 4 and the nut 3 belonging thereto are used for driving the plunger 5. A plane round plastic disc attached to the nut is used for the plunger 5 and pressure surface. A mechanically made contact with torque function is used as an actuation unit. The blister holder 6 containing an exit hole 7 under which it is possible to attach and replace a directional unit 14 is fixed on the housing 1. The directional unit 14 is partially funnel-shaped with a curved bottom. Such a mounting would be suitable for users, requiring flexibility in the form of pressing out many different or similar pills e.g. in hospital wards.

The handheld automatic apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2 is constructed in a manner where all units of functionality are present in the handheld unit. Further, it differs from the pill dispenser shown in FIG. 1 as the drive unit 1 is of the actuator type. The plunger 5, containing more levels, is mounted on the actuator shaft 4. The energy supply 11 is a battery. The blister holder 6 is mounted 15 both revolving and pivoting in relation to the housing 1. The hand support 12 can be pivoted in relation to the housing. On the blister holder 6 and thus a part of the blister holder 6 a movable device 9 is mounted, which makes it possible for the user to apply various exit hole sizes. Such a mounting would be suitable for users, requiring flexibility in the form of pressing out many different pills and also portability must be present e.g. for home care nursing personnel.

The handheld automatic pill dispenser illustrated in FIG. 3 is mainly constructed as the one illustrated in FIG. 2 with the following differences: A DC motor with gear 13 is used. The driving shaft, nut and plunger are constructed as in the example shown in FIG. 1. The blister holder and hand support are fixed. A cylindrical funnel is used as a directional unit. Such a mounting would be suitable for users, requiring flexibility in the form of a simple operational procedure and where ergonomic and weight design is important e.g. for elderly people.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, there is shown a spring-loading system, where the drive motor 1 compresses a spring 43 which is released when the apparatus is activated and the release of the spring 43 is used to expel the plunger 5 from the housing (not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). Hereby, a uniform plunging action is achieved irrespective of the condition of the motor. The drive motor 1 may be connected via a gearing 44 to a first plunger activation member 41 which is rotatably arranged in the housing (not shown). In this first activation member 41 the head 51 of the plunger 5 is lifted whereby the spring 43 is compressed in the second activation member 42. The release of the spring 43 can be done by rotating the first activation member 41. Other mechanical release mechanisms may of cause be provided without departing from the scope of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention where the plunger is arranged to undergo a linear movement and the hand support 12 is provided around the generally cylindrical housing 1.

In FIG. 7, a second embodiment is shown where the housing 1 is formed with an upper portion 1a and a lower portion 1b and a hand support 12 connecting the two portions 1a and 1b. The plunger (not visible in FIG. 7) is adapted to be expellable out of the distal end of the upper portion 1a and into the exit hole 7 of the blister pack holder 6, which is provided on the distal end of the lower portion 1b, so that a blister pack 16 containing one or more pills 17 can be placed on the holder 6 and the pills be disengaged by the plunger.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, a third embodiment is shown, where the housing 1 is also designed with an upper portion 1a and a lower portion 1b defining a gap 1c there between. The hand support 12 is situated on the main portion of the housing and facilitates a firm grip on the device for both left and right-handed persons. In this embodiment, the plunger 5 may be a rocking or pivotable member arranged in the upper portion 1a and is extendable out of the distal end of this upper portion 1a. The lower portion 1b is formed so that it integrally provides a blister support holder 6 with an exit hole 7 and may be also a directional unit (not visible) for guiding the pill 17 after it is disengaged from the blister pack 16.

In the description of the above embodiment, the terms “upper” and “lower” are used as relative terms for easier explanation. However, it is realised by the invention that the apparatus may be tilted or otherwise turned in any direction just as other variations of the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.

List of reference numbers
1     Drive unit
2     Housing
3     Nut
4     Driving shaft
5     Plunger
6     Blister holder
7     Exit hole
8, 8A Control/directional unit
9     Exit hole holder
10    Activation unit
11    Energy supply unit
12    Hand support
13    Gear
14    Directional unit
15    Mounting unit
16    Blister pack
17    Pill
18    Suspension

Claims

1. A handheld apparatus for directional disengagement of a dose unit from its packaging, said apparatus comprising:

a housing having a first and second end, where the housing is provided with an opening for receiving and supporting a packaging and positioning of a dose unit in this packaging and holding means arranged adjacent to said opening of the second end; and

expelling means comprising a plunger which by actuation of drive means can be pushed against the holding means and hereby having a dose unit disengaged.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plunger is pushed into the opening.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means is activated by an activation button placed in the first end of the housing.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means comprises an electric motor rotating a shaft, which is cooperating with a nut connected to the plunger.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an internal energy supply is provided.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means comprises a pneumatically activated linear actuator.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the housing is ergonomically shaped.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding means is pivotably arranged for movement between an active position and a passive position for storage of the apparatus.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding means is provided with an exit hole through which the dose unit is expelled.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the holding means is provided with a direction means placed beneath the exit hole.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the direction means is removable.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control system, said control system comprising data communication means, wherein said data communication means is adapted to perform a data exchange with a stationary unit.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the control means further include a battery charging system cooperating with corresponding electrical charging means in the stationary unit for recharging a battery pack including one or more battery cells in the apparatus.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plunger is a reciprocating piston.

15. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means includes a DC electric motor and a gearing for transferring the rotational movement of the motor to a linear movement of the plunger.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plunger is a pivoting member.

17. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive means are adapted to compressing an activation spring member, which by its release expels the plunger from the housing.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dose unit is a pill.

19. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the internal energy supply is a rechargeable battery.

20. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the housing comprises a hand support in the first end.