MU 2017 November December

54 MACHINERY UPDATE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Feature: Pharmaceuticals
Machinery Update
looks at the latest
tablet reject units
At interpack earlier this
year, Cremer and Deckert
both showcased Cremer
counters with camera
inspection systems
and automatic reject of individual
capsules that offered many benefits
to pharmaceutical manufacturers.
It is true that camera detection
of broken, rogue or discoloured
tablets or capsules is nothing new,
however previously the reject
process was either manual, or
involved an entire container being
taken from the line. And, to ensure
the ‘bad’ tablet or capsule was
rejected, it often involved more
than one container being taken
out – for safety.
“Not rejecting the whole bottle
of tablets or capsules offers savings
to pharmaceutical companies,”
says Gregor Rauch, managing
director of UK distributor Raupack.
“This is especially true with large
tablet counts, as savings can be
significant.”
The new automatic broken
tablet rejection options involve
pneumatic suction systems to
automatically remove defective
tablets or capsules from the infeed
tracks. “This new approach not
only maximises yield, but also
minimises downtime,” says Rauch.
On a standalone counter like
the CFS 622 model, once a defect
is identified, a pneumatic arm
moves across the 36 channels
to remove the defective tablet or
capsule. After this, the machine
restarts without having to reject
a container.
If a quicker response is required,
the automatic tablet reject on a
The camera identifies broken capsules
Rejecting a
slow method
Broken tablets
or capsules can
be easily removed
via a pneumatic
arm on both of
the counters
that were
demonstrated
Cremer counter integrated into
a Deckert TVM monoblock is the
way forward. On the TVM, for
instance, a single CF622 module
with six channels counts the
tablets into bottles. Here, the
reject mechanism consists of six
pneumatically actuated reject
arms, one for each channel.
This arm moves quickly to
remove the broken or otherwise
rejected tablet.
The automatic tablet reject
system rejects for the following
causes:
• Broken pieces by pixel count
• Broken pieces by length or width
• Colour defects
• Spots
• Rogue tablets
• Open capsules.
In operation, the camera looks
from above and is restricted to
what it can see above. To improve
the viewing angle and therefore
narrow the tolerances, flat camera
plates can be fitted to the Cremer.
These plates improve the aspect
ratio visible to the camera and also
optimises the contrast to the tablet.
As well as saving pharmaceutical
companies with large tablet counts
costs, the system also minimises
rework, as ‘good’ tablets or
capsules are not falsely rejected.
And obviously, these systems have
more to offer for fragile or sensitive
products, where broken products
are a problem. Also, cost savings are
greater for high value products, too.
“Since interpack, we have had
several large pharmaceutical
companies interested in these
products as they recognise the
savings that can be made in
manufacturing costs,” Rauch
tells Machinery Update.
“The best returns are offered
on high value or fragile products,
but the reject mechanisms can
be used by any size of company,”
he says.
T 0115 875 9846
W www.raupack.co.uk