Food & Pharma Packaging Technology

There are different types of packaging machines used in the pharmaceutical industry. Implementation of each type depends upon the pharmaceutical product being packaged. The type selection also depends on the regulatory body requirements.

Let’s look at some common packaging machines in Pharmaceutical Industry

3.1: Blister Packing Machines

Blister Packing Machines pack the pharmaceutical product in between two packaging materials. After the product is placed between the two packaging materials, they are sealed together. The sealing helps to protect the product from different hazardous factors such as extreme environmental Conditions and Containment. The sealing action occurs at a high temperature, safe for both product and material. The blister’s sealing must be leak-proof and should not allow the passage of any particle through it.

Blister packing machine forms a blister or cavity in packaging material at machine’s Forming Station, followed by product insertion in the blister. After the product is carefully and precisely inserted into the blister, it is wrapped with other packaging material and is sealed at the machine’s Sealing Station. After sealing, the blister packs are cut according to their standard sizes at the machine’s Cutting Station. The formed blister drops at conveyors then transfer the final blister for collection in a container or bin. In some cases, the final blisters are directly transferred to the carton for packing.
 

The packaging material in which a cavity is formed is called Forming Foil, and the packaging material used to seal the forming material is called Lidding Foil.

Commonly, there are two combinations of packaging material used in Blister Packaging Machine – Aluminum with Aluminum, often called ALU- ALU, and Aluminum with PVC, often called ALU - PVC.

In ALU – ALU formation, both the forming and lidding foils are made up of Aluminum. The cavity is formed by vacuuming Aluminum foil through the die of tablet size and shape. After filling the cavity with the product, another Aluminum foil is sealed to cover the blister.

In ALU – PVC formation, the forming foil is Aluminum, while the product containing material is PVC. PVC is first heated to soften it, and then vacuum sucked through the die of tablet size and shape to give the PVC the desired shape. After the product fills the cavity, Aluminum foil is used to seal the blister.

To make sure that there are no leaks in the blisters. The blisters are subject to a leak test, which checks the blister’s sealing integrity. To perform a leak test, samples of blisters are collected from a production batch. The sample blisters are placed inside a

Vacuum chamber containing colored liquid, and a vacuum is applied. After vacuum time completes, blisters are taken from the chamber and are examined. If traces of color are found inside the blister, indicating poor sealing, and fails the test. The production department immediately stops the machine, and the operator must fix the problem. If no traces of color are found inside a blister, the test is marked pass.

3.2: Liquid and Dry Powder

In liquid filling machines, pumps are used to fill the bottles. For volume control, pumps can be manually adjusted or automatic, such as servo-driven. The dry powder filling Machine uses the auger assembly or vacuum function to control the filling volume and execute the filling operations.

Bottle Filling Machines pack different forms of pharmaceutical products in glass bottles. The glass bottle's chemical composition is specially manufactured for pharmaceutical products and is categorized into Type I, II, and III bottles. Their classification is based on the type of chemical used in glass manufacturing. The Machine fills the bottle with the required volume, which can be changed depending on the different product requirements.

Bottle Filling Machines can fill bottles of any volume size, but commonly their minimum volume is 30 ml and can go up to the maximum level of 1000ml. The fill volume is controlled to avoid under or excessive filling. Before filling the bottle with the product, the bottles are cleaned to remove dirt particles or other contaminants. This is commonly done with the bottle blowing Machine, which uses clean compressed air to blow the bottle inside and remove any foreign particles.

3.3: Bottle Filling Machines

Bottles Filling Machines fill two types of pharmaceutical products – Liquid and Dry powder. 

Types of Bottle Filling Machine

Operation wise, there are two types of Bottle Filling machines used in the industry – Semi-Automatic and Automatic.

In semi-automatic, the operation is partially automatic and requires human assistance to complete the filling process. The bottles are placed manually in the filling station, and the operator initiates a signal to start filling. The bottle's fill volume is set according to the product requirement, and filling automatically stops when the product's required quantity is filled into the bottle. After filling, the bottles are manually removed from the filling machine. The bottles are also manually air blown to remove any foreign particles.

In automatic type, the operation from bottle placement to filling, and finally to bottle removal occurs automatically. The bottles are fed through a conveyor on the filling station, which places the bottles below the filling nozzle. The filling mechanism is such that it automatically detects the bottle's presence and starts the process. If it does not

Detect the bottle, the filling is not started. After the required liquid volume is filled into the bottle, the filled bottles are transported to the next stage. The bottle-blowing action is also automatic. A conveyor automatically transfers the bottles from the blowing Machine to the filing machine.