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The Problem: An International Pharmaceutical Manufacturer located in Brooklyn, New York had a problem: They wanted to install a high speed tablet press able of producing 3000 tablets per minute, but did not want to have an operator in attendance for 100% of the time swapping out and labeling collection buckets.
The equipment was to be installed at an existing facility, and the project included the installation of a new tableting operation. The new tablet press was a double-sided unit with de-dusters and metal detection on both sides. The desired collection method was in small plastic containers. However, the client wanted multiple plastic containers at each outlet. To make it more interesting, there was restricted access to each side of the tablet press so multi-staging the containers for a hand operation change out was not an option.
Their original operation concept was a labor-intensive, manual operation that not only required precision handling of the containers, but also required an operator to stand at each outlet waiting inactive while the containers were being filled.
The Solution: IEDCO suggested the use of two fully portable, automated 6-position carousels. These units would each allow a container to be filled to a weight tolerance of +/-3 grams before indexing to the next container. The Carousels were no more than 48 inches Dia with an inlet height of 32 inches from the floor. The system handled two sizes of tablets and multiple finished bucket weights. All contact surfaces were to be mirror finished 316 L stainless steel with all welds ground and polished accordingly
The staging position of each bucket had a locator chock to assure positioning and a set of proximity switches and position tabs to confirm its unique position. Each position had access through the deck permitting the scale and lift cylinder system to lift the bucket, transferring its weight directly to the High Precision scale while in the fill position.
Vibratory feeders were used to transfer the tablets from tablet press, to the filling position. A pneumatically operated dual gate system was used to block or slow the flow of tablets during top up mode and bucket indexing. At the completion of the batch, tablet flow is restricted while the bucket was lowered and a new bucket indexed into place. The entire cycle is repeated until all buckets are full.
After filling a predetermined number of buckets, an alarm is activated to warn an operator. At this time the operator would remove the full buckets replacing them with empty buckets. Labels were automatically printed identifying each bucket and its weight.
Advantages: The advantages of the IEDCO Tablet Carousel System are simple:
Minimal Space Required - the design of the carousel is such that it can easliy fit into a confined space without hassle. What was once a tight squeeze for an operator has become a simple task.
Man-Power Savings - rather than having an operator (or two) standing around waiting for containers to be filled, this system allows operators to occupy themselves with other tasks while the containers are automatically filled to accurate weights. An operator is only required to replace empty buckets for filled ones when the alarm is activated. Even the labeling has become easier as the preprinted labels are waiting at the system for the operator to apply them to their appropriate container.
Conclusion: This equipment was originally supplied in 2004 and continues to work successfully today. The savings in manpower have been realized and the automated weighing system has negated the use of manual intervention, with its danger of product damage. Thanks to the success of the 6 bucket carousel unit there are currently plans to supply additional units as well as a new compact 4 bucket unit.
Source: http://www.iedco.com/
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