WO2003024615A1

WO2003024615A1 - Automatic coating machine

Info

Publication number: WO2003024615A1
Application number: PCT/KR2002/001735
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tae-Soo Bae; Dong-Sin Lee
Original assignee: Regen Biotech, Inc.
Priority date: 2001-09-17
Filing date: 2002-09-17
Publication date: 2003-03-27
Also published as: KR100448209B1; KR20030024098A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic coating machine, and more particularly, to an automatic coating machine for coating a surgical implant with polymer material, which can ensure a uniform coating in thickness and degree. The automatic coating machine includes a box-shaped body (1), an elevating member (2) elevatingly mounted above the body (1) within a predetermined stroke and having a plurality of containers (3) formed at the peripheral portion thereof to receive polymer material, elevation driving means (4) adapted to vertically move the elevating member (2), an upper member (5) mounted above the elevating member in such a manner as to be fixed to the body (1) by means of guide rods (6) and having a plurality of rotating bodies (7) formed at the peripheral portion thereof to be opposite to the plurality of containers (3), actuating means (8) adapted to rotate the plurality of rotating bodies (7) of the upper member(5) in the positive and negative directions, and a controller (9) adapted to control the overall operation of the automatic coating machine.

Description

AUTOMATIC COATING MACHINE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an automatic coating machine, and more particularly, to a coating machine for coating a surgical implant with polymer material.

Background Art

In general, an implant is embedded in a living body to perform a specific function. The implant is buried in a nasal bone, a dental root or other bones.

A conventional implanting method is to embed an implant alone into a living body. Once the implant is embedded into the body, there is generated a gap between the surface of the implant and the body, and the body may be damaged due to the generated gap.

To prevent the body from being damaged due to the gap between the implant surface and the living body, the implant is coated with polymer material, such as chitosan, natural polymer material, synthetic polymer material, or the like (see Patent Registration No. 0237738).

After the implant coated with the polymer material is implanted into the body, the body absorbs humidity into the interior thereof so that the polymer material becomes swelled. At the same time, a dispersion effect of stress with respect to an external force applied to the implant is produced. Because of the swelled polymer material, the interfaces between the implant and the bone are in a closer contact with each other, thereby increasing an initial stability. As time goes by after the implanting, cohesion between the implant and the bone in the body is further enhanced. The aforesaid process of coating the implant is manually carried out by an operator. Since the operator executes the coating process by himself, the coating is not uniform in thickness and degree due to difference in dipping and in drying time.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an automatic coating machine that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic coating machine capable of achieving a uniform coating in thickness and degree when an implant is coated.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an automatic coating machine comprising: a body, an elevating member elevatingly mounted above the body and having a plurality of containers formed at the peripheral portion thereof, elevation driving means adapted to vertically moving the elevating member, an upper member mounted above the elevating member in such a manner as to be fixed to the body by means of guide rods and having a plurality of rotating bodies formed at the peripheral portion thereof to be opposite to the plurality of containers, actuating means adapted to actuate the plurality of rotating members of the upper member, and a controller adapted to control the overall operation of the automatic coating machine. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic coating machine according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic coating machine according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a side view of the automatic coating machine in use according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view illustrating essential parts of the automatic coating machine according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of the automatic coating machine according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

The present invention will now be described in detail in connection with preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. For reference, like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout several views.

As shown in FIGs. 1 to 7, an automatic coating machine includes a box- shaped body 1, an elevating member 2 elevatingly mounted above the body 1 within a predetermined stroke and having a plurality of containers 3 formed at the peripheral portion thereof to receive polymer material, elevation driving means 4 adapted to vertically move the elevating member 2, an upper member 5 mounted above the elevating member 2 in such a manner as to be fixed to the body 1 by means of guide rods 6 and having a plurality of rotating bodies 7 formed at the peripheral portion thereof to be opposite to the plurality of containers 3, actuating means 8 adapted to rotate the rotating bodies 7 of the upper member 5 in the positive and negative directions, and a controller 9 adapted to control the overall operation of the automatic coating machine.

The body 1 has the controller 9 formed on the inside thereof and a control panel 10 formed on the outside thereof. The controller 9 and the control panel 10 are electrically connected to each other, and the controller 9 selectively controls each component according to the operation of the control panel 10.

The elevation driving means 4 includes a rod-shaped threaded body 11 which is engaged with the inner wall of a through-hole formed at the central portion of the elevating member 2, and an elevation actuator 12 which is coupled to the lower portion of the threaded body 11 and disposed on the upper portion within the body 1 for rotating the threaded body 11 in the positive and negative directions. The elevation actuator 12 is electrically connected to the controller 9 so as to determine the vertical movement of the elevating member 2.

The actuating means 8 includes a gear 13 which is engaged with the rotating bodies 7 which are mounted at the peripheral portion of the upper member to rotate in the positive and negative directions, and a rotation actuator 14 which is mounted on the upper surface of the upper member 5 to determine rotation speed and rotational frequency of the rotating bodies 7 by rotating the gear 13 in the positive and negative directions.

Further, implant fixtures 15 are removably mounted beneath the rotating bodies 7 and implants 16 are provided on the implant fixtures 15. Magnets 17 are inserted into the implant fixtures 15 such that the implant fixtures 15 are attached to the rotating bodies 7 by a magnetic force, and the implants 16 are engagedly coupled to the implant fixtures 15.

According to the present invention constructed as above, to achieve a uniform coating in thickness and degree when the implants are coated, the implants 16 are engagedly coupled to the implant fixtures 15 and then the implant fixtures 15 are mounted beneath the rotating bodies 7. Herein, since the implant fixtures 15 permit the magnets 17 to be inserted into the inside thereof, the implant fixtures 15 can be easily attached to the rotating bodies 7. After the implant fixtures 15 are mounted, switches formed on the control panel 10 are operated such that the implants 16 engagedly coupled to the implant fixtures 15 are coated with such polymer material as chitosan, natural polymer material, or synthetic polymer material.

The control panel 10 is electrically connected to the controller 9 such that respective components are operated step by step according to an automatic operation or a semiautomatic operation of the control panel 10 performed by a worker. If an on/off switch formed on the control panel 10 is turned on, the elevating member 2 is upwardly moved due to the operation of the elevation actuator 12. If the elevating member 2 is moved to a predetermined height, the controller 9 stops the operation of the elevation actuator 12. When the elevating member 2 is upwardly moved to the predetermined height and the implants 16 are dipped in the polymer material contained in the containers 3 for a predetermined time period, the outer circumferential surface of the implants 16 is coated with the polymer material by a suitable thickness. If the rotation actuator 14 is operated in a state in which the implants 16 are dipped into the containers 3, the rotating bodies 7 are rotated at a predetermined speed due to the rotation of the gear 13. In the above explanation, the rotating bodies 7 are rotated in the state in which the implants 16 are dipped into the containers 13. It is appreciated, however, that after the implants are dipped into the containers 3 and the elevating member 2 is downwardly moved' to separate the implants 16 from the containers 3, the rotating bodies 7 can be rotated.

A first coating process is performed in such a manner that the implants 16 are rotated for the predetermined time period in the state in which they are dipped into the containers 3, or the implants 16 are rotated for a predetermined time period in a state that they are located in a space after being dipped into the containers 3. When the implants 16 are rotated, a thermohydrostat 18 formed inside the body 1 is operated to smoothly coat the polymer material on the implants 16. After the first coating is dried to an appropriate extent, a second coating process is performed in such a manner that the elevating member 2 is raised again so that the implants 16 can be dipped into the containers 3 and coated with the polymer material, and thereafter the elevating member 2 is downwardly moved while the rotating bodies 7 are rotated. When the rotating bodies 7 are rotated, the thermohydrostat 18 is operated to dry the second coating to an appropriate extent. To avoid causing a heat loss to the outside when the thermohydrostat 18 adjusts temperature and humidity, a cover (not drawn) is disposed at the exterior of the elevating member 2 and the upper member 5 to cover them. By repeatedly coating the implants with the polymer material as noted above, there can be achieved a uniform coating in thickness and degree. If the outer circumferential surface of the implants 16 is coated by a suitable thickness, the process of coating the implants 16 is not performed any longer. When the coating process is completed, the elevating member 2 is returned to its original position, and then the implant fixtures 15 which are mounted beneath the rotating bodies 7 of the upper member 5 are separated from the rotating bodies 7. After that, the implants 16 are separated from the implant fixtures 15, and new implants 16 are engagedly coupled to the implant fixtures 15 so as to be coupled to the rotating bodies 7. Next, the implants 16 are coated with polymer material in the same manner as described above.

Industrial Applicability

As described above, when the implants are coated, the coating process is performed by means of an automatic coating machine, not by an operator, whereby there can be achieved a uniform coating in thickness and degree, resulting in enhancement in productivity and marketability.

The threaded body connected to the elevation actuator is engaged with the inner wall of the through-hole formed at the central portion of the elevating member, whereby a suitable vertical movement of the elevating member can be conducted. The gear connected to the rotation actuator is engaged with the plurality of rotating bodies, whereby a stable rotation of the rotating bodies and the implants can be carried out.

The magnets are integrally formed with the implant fixtures to which the implants are engagedly coupled, whereby the implant fixtures can be conveniently mounted beneath the rotating bodies.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. An automatic coating machine comprising: a body(l); an elevating member(2) elevatingly mounted above the body(l) and having a plurality of containers(3) formed at the peripheral portion thereof; elevation driving means(4) adapted to vertically move the elevating member(2); an upper member(5) mounted above the elevating member(2) in such a manner as to be fixed to the body(l) by means of guide rods(6) and having a plurality of rotating bodies(7) formed at the peripheral portion thereof to be opposite to the plurality of containers(3); actuating means(8) adapted to actuate the plurality of rotating bodies(7) of the upper member(5); and a controller(9) adapted to control the overall operation of the automatic coating machine.

2. The automatic coating machine of claim 1, wherein the elevation driving means(4) includes a threaded body(l l) which is engaged with the inner wall of a through-hole formed at the central portion of the elevating member(2), and an elevation actuator(12) which is coupled to the lower portion of the threaded body(l 1) and disposed on the upper portion within the body(l).

3. The automatic coating machine of claim 1, wherein the actuating means(8) includes a gear(13) which is engaged with the rotating bodies(7), and a rotation actuator(14) which is mounted on the upper surface of the upper member(5) and adapted to rotate the gear(13) in the positive and negative directions.

4. The automatic coating machine of claim 1, wherein implant fixtures(15) are mounted beneath the rotating bodies 7 and implants(16) are engagedly coupled to the implant fixtures(l 5).

5. The automatic coating machine of claim 1, wherein magnets(17) are inserted into the implant fixtures(15) such that the implant fϊxtures(15) are attached to the rotating bodies(7) by magnetic force.