Dispenser for granules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11662239-B2
Application number	US-202117493926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2021
Priority date	Oct 9, 2020
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

Abstract

A dispenser ( 100, 500, 900 ) for granules is disclosed herein. In a specific embodiment, the dispenser comprises a granular reservoir ( 1 ); a selector disk comprising (a) a feeder disk ( 2, 22, 52 ) comprising at least one protruding member ( 3, 23 ); and (b) a dispensing disk ( 8, 58 ) arranged to rotate in concert with the feeder disk ( 2, 22, 52 ). The dispensing disk further comprises at least one dispensing aperture ( 9 ) and a non-dispensing portion ( 103 ), the at least one dispensing aperture ( 9 ) being in registration with the at least one protruding member ( 3, 23 ). The dispenser ( 100, 500, 900 ) further comprises a holding disk ( 4, 94 ) comprising at least one through-hole ( 5 ) sandwiched between the feeder disk ( 2, 22, 52 ) and the dispensing disk ( 8, 58 ) and fixedly mounted with respect to the granular reservoir ( 1 ), wherein the selector disk is rotatable relative to the holding disk ( 4, 94 ) and the granular reservoir ( 1 ) between a first position in which the at least one protruding member ( 3, 23 ) is offset from the at least one through-hole ( 5 ) to allow a granule to be received from the granular reservoir and held within the at least one through-hole ( 5 ) by the non-dispensing portion ( 103 ) of the dispensing disk ( 8, 58 ) and a second position in which the at least one protruding member ( 3, 23 ) occludes the at least one through-hole ( 5 ) to allow the granule held in the at least one through-hole to dispense through the at least one dispensing aperture ( 9 ). Methods of dispensing granules using the dispenser ( 100, 500, 900 ) are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dispenser for granules, comprising
(i) a granular reservoir;
(ii) a selector disk comprising:
(a) a feeder disk comprising at least one protruding member;
(b) a dispensing disk arranged to rotate in concert with the feeder disk;

the dispensing disk comprising at least one dispensing aperture and a non-dispensing portion, the at least one dispensing aperture being in registration with the at least one protruding member; and
(c) an axis of rotation;

(iii) a holding disk comprising at least one through-hole sandwiched between the feeder disk and the dispensing disk and fixedly mounted with respect to the granular reservoir, wherein the selector disk is rotatable relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir between a first position in which the at least one protruding member is offset from the at least one through-hole to allow a granule to be received from the granular reservoir and held within the at least one through-hole by the non-dispensing portion of the dispensing disk and a second position in which the at least one protruding member occludes the at least one through-hole to allow the granule held in the at least one through-hole to dispense through the at least one dispensing aperture;
(iv) a motor operable to drive rotation of the selector disk relative to the holding disk and granular reservoir; and
(v) a plurality of shafts extending through the selector disk, the plurality of shafts being distributed around the axis of rotation, and wherein the motor is further operable to drive rotation of the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir by cycling the plurality of shafts around the axis of rotation.

2. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the holding disk comprises a surface on to which the at least one through-hole opens and which is at least partially exposed to the granular reservoir, the surface being operable to receive granules from the granular reservoir, and wherein the protruding member is arranged to slide over the surface to push received granules across the surface as the selector disk is rotated relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir between the first position and the second position.

3. The dispenser for granules according to claim 2 , wherein the granular reservoir comprises a wall which cooperates with the feeder disk to form a channel comprising the at least partially exposed surface, the at least one protruding member projecting into the channel, the at least one protruding member being further operable to push the received granules along the channel as the selector disk is rotated relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir between the first position and the second position.

4. The dispenser for granules according to claim 3 , wherein the channel comprises a channel width sufficient for the surface to receive granules in single file only.

5. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one protruding member comprises a bell-shaped radial profile.

6. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the feeder disk comprises a convex surface arranged to receive granules from the granular reservoir.

7. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the holding disk comprises a plurality of through-holes and wherein the at least one protruding member is offset from a corresponding one of the plurality of through-holes in the first position to allow the granule to be received from the granular reservoir and held within the corresponding one of the plurality of through-holes, and wherein the at least one protruding member occludes the corresponding one of the plurality of through-holes in the second position to allow the granule held in the corresponding one of the plurality of through-holes to dispense through the at least one dispensing aperture.

8. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the feeder disk comprises a plurality of protruding members and wherein the dispensing disk comprises a plurality of dispensing apertures, each one of the plurality of dispensing apertures being in registration with a corresponding one of the plurality of protruding members.

9. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , wherein the feeder disk is integrally formed with the selector disk.

10. The dispenser for granules according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of granules received in the granular reservoir.

11. A method of dispensing one or more granules of the plurality of granules received in the granular reservoir of the dispenser for granules according to claim 10 , the method comprising:
rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir to cause the one or more granules to be dispensed from the at least one dispensing aperture.

12. The method of dispensing one or more granules of the plurality of granules received in the granular reservoir of the dispenser for granules according to claim 11 , wherein rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir comprises rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir at a frequency of from 40 revolutions per minute to 80 revolutions per minute.

13. A method of dispensing one of the plurality of granules received in the granular reservoir of the dispenser for granules according to claim 10 , the method comprising: rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir from the first position to the second position.

14. The method of dispensing one of the plurality of granules received in the granular reservoir according to claim 13 , wherein the holding disk comprises t through-holes, and wherein rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir from the first position to the second position comprises rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir by an angle of (360/t)°.

15. A method of fabricating a pharmaceutical formulation, comprising:
providing a packaging for the pharmaceutical formulation;
introducing a plurality of granules each comprising at least one active pharmaceutical ingredient of the pharmaceutical formulation into the dispenser for granules according to claim 1 ; and
dispensing a selected number of the plurality of granules through the at least one dispensing aperture and into the packaging for the pharmaceutical formulation by rotating the selector disk relative to the holding disk and the granular reservoir by a predetermined angle to cause the selected number of the plurality of granules to be dispensed from the at least one dispensing aperture and into the packaging, the selected number of the plurality of granules corresponding to a predetermined dosage of the at least one active ingredient of the pharmaceutical formulation.

16. A tangible computer program comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to control an additive manufacturing apparatus to manufacture the dispenser for granules according to claim 1 .

17. A method of manufacturing the dispenser for granules according to claim 1 via additive manufacturing, the method comprising:
obtaining an electronic file representing a geometry of the dispenser for granules; and
controlling an additive manufacturing apparatus to manufacture, over one or more additive manufacturing steps, the dispenser for granules according to the geometry specified in the electronic file.

18. The dispe

Assignees

• Nat Univ Singapore

Inventors

• Kepler Veit Frederik

Classifications

• B65D83/0409 Primary

  the dispensing means being adapted for delivering one article, or a single dose, upon each actuation (B65D83/0445 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01F11/24 Primary

  for fluent solid material · CPC title

• G01F11/46

  for fluent solid material · CPC title

• A61J3/074

  Filling capsules; Related operations · CPC title

• A61J1/03

  for pills or tablets (containers for pills or tablets with special dispensing means therefor B65D83/04) · CPC title