How the EZ BLISTER 3-in-1 mobile blisterpacker outperforms a
typical specification for a laboratory or small production blisterpacker?
Objectives:
- To have a small laboratory or pilot scale blisterpacker
- To provide high quality packing representative of commercial
packing
- To be suitable for packaging of clinical trial and stability
trial batches, typically of 2,000 to 100,000 tablets or capsules
- To have the option of sealing under vacuum or inert gas
The EZ BLISTER 3-in-1 (forms-seals-cuts) provides high quality
packing that is fully representative of commercial packing eg quality
of appearance, sealing strength, batch coding, cutting and perforating,
cold forming. It is designed to operate with all current blisterpacking
materials.
The above batch sizes, if packed in 2x5 blisters, would represent
batch sizes of 200 packs to 10,000 packs. The former could be made
in about one hour using 1 or 2 packs per format and the latter in
about 10 days, assuming an effective workday of 6 hours.
|
| Basic
Requirements for a Lab-Scale/ Small Production Blisterpacker |
|
How EZ BLISTER Outperforms these Basic
Requirements
|
|
| Must handle
both tablets and capsules. |
|
The EZ BLISTER can handle all known pharmaceutical
forms including capsules, tablets, caplets, soft gel capsules, suppositories,
ampoules etc. |
| Must seal PVC/foil and
PVC-PVDC/foil. |
|
The EZ BLISTER handles all current materials including
PVC, PVDC, ACLAR, ALU/ALU, polypropylene, paper backed foils, laminates
etc. |
| Ideally also seal foil/foil
platforms. |
|
EZ BLISTER forms and seals ALU/ ALU (cold-form) as well
as foil/foil (Disprin-type pack). |
| Rapid feeding of tablets/capsules
into packs if possible. |
|
The recommended method of feeding is extremely fast
and convenient. |
| Must automatically or
semi-automatically form platforms (blisterpacks), cut them to size
and emboss them with a batch number. |
|
All of these operations take place automatically with
hand feed and with a tool change between. Sealing and coding take
place in a single operation. Once the settings have been made, no
operator skill is required to produce satisfactory results. |
| Perforations and slit
lines on platforms are required. |
|
The EZ BLISTER performs these operations. |
| Must have the capability of sealing under vacuum or inert gas.
|
|
The EZ BLISTER can be supplied with a vacuum flushing chamber to permit sealing under vacuum or inert gas.
|
| Must produce at least
400 platforms per hour. |
|
400 platforms per hour = 7 platforms per minute . Running
at 2 or 3 blisters per format this is achievable on EZ BLISTER. |
| Platform size must be
at least 130mm x 50mm. |
|
EZ BLISTER accommodates platform sizes up to 260 x 150mm. |
| Must have variable control
over forming and sealing temperatures/pressures. |
|
EZ BLISTER offers complete control over all critical
parameters during the blisterpack operation with:
1. Separate electronic control for dwell time on pre-heating, forming,
sealing/cutting.
2. Extremely accurate temperature control.
3. A cut-out device which does not allow the unit to function if the
chosen temperature has not been achieved.
4. Separate pressure control for preheating, forming and sealing/cutting.
Once set for a particular material there is no need to alter the setting
during operation. The operator only has to press the start button
and the machine does the rest itself. |
| Fast changeover times
between different products or platform materials (ideally less than
30 minutes). |
|
Changeover time is 2-3 minutes. All tooling is quick
release. Starting from cold, a warm-up time of 10-15 minutes (depending
on chosen temperature) is required for thermo-forming or sealing.
With cold-form the unit can be used to form immediately after set-up.
The tooling is self-aligning so that no adjustments are required. |
Ideal unit dimensions:
weight=500 kg; height=1.5 metre; length=2.0 metres; width=1.0 metre. |
|
The EZ BLISTER weighs 250kg. Dimensions are: H 1.36
metres x 0.75 metre x 0.83 metre. The unit is mobile and can be wheeled
away for storage when not required. |
Conclusion: The
EZ BLISTER outperforms the requirements of laboratories in quality,
performance and flexibility. It is simple to operate and conveniently mobile. |