Ideas for a pill dispenser mechanism that drops only one pill out of a compartment full of pills

[aljosamarkovic]

We are building a smart pill dispenser that would have many plastic compartments, which would have to be filled with 10,20,30 pills - each compartment is intended for a different kind of pill. The pill dispenser should drop the right pill (1 or 2, depending on the prescription) at the right time. We need ideas for a mechanism that would make reliable one-by-one pill dropping from a compartment full of pills possible.

 

[KMoffett]

You might want to consider pre-aligning pill "magazines"(tubes) rather than the "bin" concept that I assume you're envisioning.

Ken

 

[Anon_LG]

You could use a tube filled with the pills (the magazine idea from above) the have a solenoid, or a motor connected to a pushing arm, To push the pills out into a dish/holder. However the motor option would require slightly more circuitry, you would have to use an LDR or photodiode to "read" whether the arm from the motor was in position, this method would require the circuitry to know whether the arm was in or out however you did it pretty much. The reason the position of the arm will need to be known for the motor is that the motor can set the arm to many lengths, whereas with the solenoid, if it is properly powered, the arm will be in or out. I have not had any experience with solenoids and so can not design the circuit to give the correct amplification.

 

[OLIVE2222]

You can maybe pick the pills with a suction system. mounted on a X,Y CNC alike machine.
A camera based recognition system can be added to the setup.

 

[Anon_LG]

A camera based recognition system may be overkill, sending the price from £15 to £50. If a solenoid was used no recognition system would be required, keeping complexity, size and cost at a minimum. However the amount of pills would have to be checked by eye before packaging, its best to have medicines checked by humans before consumption, humans never run out of power and can always count!

 

[aljosamarkovic]

You might want to consider pre-aligning pill "magazines"(tubes) rather than the "bin" concept that I assume you're envisioning.

Ken

We want to keep it as simple as possible for the user. Arranging pill magazines into the dispenser requires too much work from the user. The compartments in the dispenser we have in mind should be filled very easily - by pouring different pills into different compartments, thus having enough supply to last for more than a month. Also, this way there is no need to organize dosages and magazines in any particular way - the user just fills the compartments and sets the time of the alarm as well as the according compartment from which the pill has to drop.

 

[aljosamarkovic]

You could use a tube filled with the pills (the magazine idea from above) the have a solenoid, or a motor connected to a pushing arm, To push the pills out into a dish/holder. However the motor option would require slightly more circuitry, you would have to use an LDR or photodiode to "read" whether the arm from the motor was in position, this method would require the circuitry to know whether the arm was in or out however you did it pretty much. The reason the position of the arm will need to be known for the motor is that the motor can set the arm to many lengths, whereas with the solenoid, if it is properly powered, the arm will be in or out. I have not had any experience with solenoids and so can not design the circuit to give the correct amplification.
View attachment 14480

This is an interesting idea. However, pills come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, which makes it very difficult to make a reliable arm mechanism. Still, we are currently doing some research on pill shapes/sizes and if we find up to let's say 8 pill shape/size ranges that would cover all or almost all pills, this mechanism might work.

 

[aljosamarkovic]

You can maybe pick the pills with a suction system. mounted on a X,Y CNC alike machine.
A camera based recognition system can be added to the setup.

I don't know what kind of CNC you had in mind, but here is a photo of my CNC, which is clearly too big to be part of a compartment of a pill dispenser.

 

[(*steve*)]

I've moved this to homework because it clearly is.

If you search the forums you'll find another student asking about the same thing.

 

[aljosamarkovic]

I've moved this to homework because it clearly is.

If you search the forums you'll find another student asking about the same thing.

I apologize for not placing the thread correctly.

Would you post the link of the thread discussing the same thing, It seems I have a trouble finding it.

 

[(*steve*)]

Unfortunately it looks like the previous poster of this question disguised it enough that I can't find it.

Sorry.

 

[Laplace]

The other discussion for a medicine dispenser started June 20, 2014.

https://www.electronicspoint.com/threads/guys-i-need-help.269080/

 

[(*steve*)]

Thanks Laplace.

Unfortunately there's nothing much useful in that thread. But it was the one I was thinking about. (I'm not going crazy)