Research on control system of electronic dispensing center of traditional Chinese medicine

    Abstract: A traditional Chinese medicine electronic dispensing center control system using a hierarchical system structure. Based on the characteristics of automated prescription preparation of concentrated traditional Chinese medicine granules, it introduces robot control technology, information management technology and distributed computer technology, and combines robotic technology with traditional Chinese medicine dispensing technology to form an automated dispensing system with excellent performance.

    Keywords: automated prescription preparation, traditional Chinese medicine concentrated granules grading system structure, programmable control

Due to the wide variety of traditional Chinese medicines with complex ingredients and different content proportions, traditional Chinese medicine preparation is very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and errors often occur in the ingredients and proportions. With the development of computer technology, automatic control technology and robot technology, the successful development of single-flavor concentrated traditional Chinese medicine granules has made it possible to automate traditional Chinese medicine dispensing.

Based on the characteristics of automated prescription preparation of single-flavor concentrated Chinese medicine granules, the electronic dispensing center of traditional Chinese medicine adopts a hierarchical system structure and combines robot control technology, information management technology, distributed computer technology and traditional Chinese medicine dispensing technology. It can remotely prepare prescriptions prescribed by doctors. On the basis of the system, functions such as monitoring and dispensing of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, as well as transportation, inventory display, and prescription recording of traditional Chinese medicines are completed, which not only reduces manual dispensing errors but also improves the efficiency of dispensing. The development and application of the electronic dispensing center for traditional Chinese medicine will definitely promote the sales and promotion of concentrated traditional Chinese medicine granules, and is of great significance to the development of my country's characteristic pharmaceutical production and management automation technology.

1 Functions of the control system

1.1 Functional design

The electronic dispensing center of traditional Chinese medicine should meet the requirements of complex and changeable prescription preparation, so the control system must have the following functions:

(1) Doctors can enter prescriptions, store and query data on remote workstations.

(2) The computer application in the hospital pharmacy has the functions of prescription identification and data analysis; it should also have the ability to exchange control instructions, monitor status, and communicate; in addition, it should regularly report the drug storage information of the hospital's contained rooms to facilitate production by drug manufacturers. Zero inventory management.

(3) The traditional Chinese medicine electronic dispensing center should have the following functions when dispensing according to dispensing instructions:

·Carry out robot operation planning according to drug type;

·Automatically take out the corresponding amount of medicine;

·Automatic medicine supply, counting and delivery;

·Inspection of the supply system, including tearing of medicine bags, machine jams, lack of medicine, etc.;

·The deployment information is displayed simultaneously during the deployment process of the system city to facilitate monitoring.

1.2 Technical performance indicators

Taking into account the actual operating limitations of the system and the needs of the application, the entire system is required to meet the following technical performance indicators:

(1) Dispensing capacity: Each set generally consists of 2 rows of medicine cabinets, with a dispensing capacity of 306 or 459 medicine cabinets. The number of rows of medicine cabinets can be expanded as needed.

(2) Dispensing speed: 30 to 180 seconds/pay.

(3) Working noise: <60dB; operating environment: temperature 0~40℃, humidity 0~80%RH.

2 Design of control system

2.1 Workflow

The functions of the automatic dispensing system and the structure of the control system determine the workflow of the system, as shown in Figure 1. The doctor writes a prescription on the remote workstation and transmits the prescription information to the hospital pharmacy computer through the Internet. After a series of identification processes, the hospital pharmacy computer uses the industrial control bus as a carrier to issue Chinese medicine configuration commands and direct the underlying hardware to execute the commands to complete the final Traditional Chinese medicine preparation and traditional Chinese medicine delivery.

2.2 Control system solution

The control system of the automatic dispensing system is a hierarchical system based on the Internet and industrial control field bus, as shown in Figure 2. The first level is database management and digital network communication based on the Internet; the second level is computer detection and control; the third level is programmable control of the robot based on the industrial control bus; and the fourth level is the driving unit and execution unit of the robot. This hierarchical structure makes the system functions clear and convenient for function expansion, which is conducive to greatly improving the performance of the control system.

3. Implementation of control system

3.1 Robot programmable logic controller and robot drive unit

The robot system of the electronic dispensing center of traditional Chinese medicine is composed of a Cartesian coordinate mechanical arm, a manipulator, a medicine cabinet, a conveying system, a control system and a dispensing management system. Cartesian coordinate manipulators and manipulators are driven by AC servo motors. An absolute position detection system is formed between the programmable logic controller (PLC) and the servo amplifier to complete the position control of the robot. The medicines are wrapped in aluminum foil according to the minimum dosage, and the medicine bags are made into interconnected forms, and easy-to-break process holes are set between the medicine bags. When taking medicine, the photoelectric switch on the manipulator accumulates the number of bags obtained and feeds it back to the PLC, thus realizing automatic weighing operation. During the preparation process of medicines, the PLC controls the LED display screen through the RS232 interface to ensure timely display of alarm information. As long as the hospital pharmacy computer issues a dispensing command, the PLC completes the configuration, input and delivery, display and alarm functions of traditional Chinese medicine according to the corresponding function module program in the memory. The robot system of the traditional Chinese medicine electronic dispensing center relies on the high efficiency of its control system, the good electrical performance of the servo mechanism, the high precision of the mechanical transmission system, and the three alarm methods to ensure the reliability of the entire medicine dispensing system.

3.2 Computer monitoring and control

Computer Monitoring and Control

The bottom monitoring level uses modular PLC to monitor the operating status of the device or equipment and report status information in real time; it also controls the LED display through the RS232 interface to ensure timely display of alarm information. The intermediate monitoring level uses an industrial control computer to complete the control of the system's mechanical execution unit, realize the identification and processing of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, generate dispensing commands for the underlying monitoring level control equipment (PLC), and monitor the operating status of the system in real time. The two levels and the PLC communicate through the field control bus to exchange control instructions and operating status data. In this way, the basic components of the traditional Chinese medicine prescription automatic configuration system are established through two levels of monitoring.

3.3 Database management and digital network communication

At present, LAN and Internet network application technology are very mature. This technology can be fully utilized to connect doctor clinics, traditional Chinese medicine manufacturers' drug libraries, hospital pharmacy drug charging systems, pharmacy drug supply systems, and drug supply monitoring systems to achieve overall control. System optimization. At the LAN level, the monitoring and control workstation realizes dynamic monitoring and control of the dispensing system. Prescription workstations and prescription entry workstations can also be further established to solve the shortcomings of remote outpatient workstations. At the Internet level, outpatient workstations and Chinese medicine manufacturer workstations have been established, which can realize remote control of the dispensing system and zero inventory management of production by drug manufacturers. The prescription database thus established can provide an expert system-level knowledge base for outpatient workstations, while the traditional Chinese medicine manufacturer database can provide hospital pharmacy drug information and manufacturer inventory information to traditional Chinese medicine manufacturers. In addition, a prescription auxiliary generation system and a joint network prescription preparation system can be further established to meet the increasingly complex requirements for automated prescription preparation. Therefore, this Internet-based database management system grid digital communication system is robust and easy to expand and extend in the future.

Based on the characteristics of automated prescription preparation of single-flavor concentrated Chinese medicine granules, Zhongyue Electronic Dispensing Center proposed a hierarchical system structure of the control system based on functional design, combining programmable control technology, information management technology and robotics technology to create a new The introduction of technology and theory into traditional Chinese medicine dispensing technology promotes the research and application of robotics and automation technology, and expands the scope of application of the product, so that the product can not only prepare bagged "fried-free Chinese medicine" but also dispense western medicine. At present, the production, processing and pre-processing of traditional Chinese medicine, such as proprietary Chinese medicine pills, granules production and pharmaceutical packaging, are still mainly manual labor, and there is still a blind spot in the development and application of automation technology for traditional Chinese medicine pharmaceutical equipment at home and abroad. Therefore, robotics and automation technology are vigorously developed. , not only can improve product performance indicators, reduce labor intensity, and increase productivity, but also has important significance for developing the pharmaceutical market and improving market competitiveness.