Apparatus for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles and related methods of operation

An apparatus for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the apparatus comprising:

• a dispensing channel;
• a drive mechanism to force an article through the dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles;
• a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel and generate a detection signal responsive thereto;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• receive the detection signal from the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor;
• and
• determine whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles.

A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the method comprising:

• forcing an article through a dispensing channel and past a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles;
• generating a detection signal using the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor;
• and
• determining whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of an average travel time based on previous detection signals.