Rotatable Blister Support for Accurate Medicament Weight Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current checkweighers are inefficient in accurately weighing powdered medicaments in pharmaceutical blisters due to high production speeds and the difficulty in isolating individual blister weights, leading to inconsistent dosing and potential waste, especially in blister strips where packaging weights overshadow the medicament content.
Innovation Solution
A checkweigher with a rotatable blister support element and evacuation assembly that indexes and weighs blisters in a static position, allowing for sequential evacuation and weighing of each blister to determine accurate medicament weights, reducing operator intervention and improving reproducibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If in-line checkweighing is used to weigh individual blisters at high production speed, then productivity is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to inability to accurately weigh individual blisters
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the weighing process into discrete steps: individual blisters are removed from the strip, placed on the weighing pan, weighed individually, then the pan is emptied and the next blister is weighed. This segmentation allows accurate individual weighing without requiring continuous high-speed operation, resolving the contradiction between productivity and measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs preliminary actions by removing blisters from the strip and placing them on the weighing pan before actual weighing occurs. This preliminary handling allows the system to prepare and position each blister individually, enabling accurate measurement while maintaining the ability to process multiple blisters sequentially without sacrificing precision for speed.
2Measurement precision
If manual weighing of each blister in a batch is performed, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time increases due to time-consuming manual operations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements self-service automation where the system automatically removes blisters from the strip, places them on the weighing pan, performs the weighing, and empties the pan without requiring manual intervention. This automation maintains measurement precision while dramatically reducing the time required compared to manual operations, as the system performs all weighing tasks autonomously and sequentially.
3Measurement precision
If evacuation of blister contents is performed to weigh packaging, then measurement precision is improved for individual blisters, but device complexity increases due to additional evacuation equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the weighing function from the complex evacuation-based systems. Instead of evacuating blister contents to separate packaging weight (which requires complex vacuum equipment), the system simply places the intact blister on the pan and weighs it directly. This extraction of the weighing function to a simple pan balance eliminates the need for evacuation equipment while maintaining measurement precision for individual blisters.
4Ease of operation
If mean packaging weight determination is used for blister strips, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates because packaging weight far exceeds powder content weight
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the weighing approach by weighing individual blisters separately rather than determining mean packaging weight for entire strips. This segmentation allows the system to isolate and measure each blister's total weight (packaging plus contents), then calculate the powder content by subtraction. This maintains ease of operation through simple individual weighings while achieving the measurement precision needed to accurately determine powder content weight.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables fast and reliable offline weighing of medicament-filled blisters and blister strips, allowing for swift identification of filling process issues and reducing waste by automating the weighing process, thus ensuring accurate dosing and maintaining production efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a load sensor for weighing the blister support element and the plurality of blisters
Implementation Method 2
an evacuation assembly for sequentially accessing and removing the contents of the plurality of blisters
Data Source
AI summary
A checkweigher (10) for measuring the weight of a pre-metered dose of medicament in a pharmaceutical blister (12) is provided. The checkweigher comprises a rotatable blister support element (14) for supporting a plurality of blisters (12), an evacuation assembly (16) for sequentially accessing and removing the contents of the plurality of blisters (12) as the blister support element rotates, a load sensor (18) for weighing the blister support element (14) and the plurality of blisters (12), drive means (20) for moving the blister support element (14) to and from the load sensor (18), and a controller (22) for controlling the drive means (20). The plurality of blisters (12) may be provided as single blister units or as part of a blister pack.