Reducing the risk of particles on the outside of vials
A PNR Italia system ensures the complete decontamination
on the outside of vials
Reducing the risk of particles on the outside of vials
A PNR Italia system ensures the complete decontamination
on the outside of vials
INDUSTRY
Pharmaceutical
APPLICATION
Washing + drying
PROBLEM
Washing and drying vials of various sizes
SOLUTION
Manifold system and flat jet nozzles
SCENARIO FOR THE SECTOR
Production cycle of the pharmaceutical industry
The production cycle in the pharmaceutical industry can be summarized in the following stages:
1 | Arrival of raw materials and storage;
2 | Cleaning and sterilization of work environments;
3 | Weighing of raw materials;
4 | Preparation of the granulate;
5 | Production of different pharmaceutical forms (solid, semi-solid and liquid);
6 | Packaging;
7 | Storage and shipping.
The pharmaceutical industry and safety regulators are putting more emphasis on using external washers to remove product particles from the outside of vials.
Decontamination of the outside of vials
The pharmaceutical industry and safety regulators are putting more emphasis on using external washers to remove product particles from the outside of vials.
The reasons are two:
HEALTH
The first is of a health nature, that is to minimize the exposure of packaging operators and medical personnel who frequently handle these medicines;
ECONOMIC
The second reason is economic: as the costs of manufacturing medicines and automation of quality inspection increase, some external agents on the vials may lead to non-compliance of the product, resulting in significant economic losses.
THE PROBLEM
The customer who contacted us is a pharmaceutical industry equipment manufacturer. The need was to equip with nozzles for washing and drying a system for the decontamination of the outside of the vials.
A conveyor arm conveys the vials along a path that first washes and then dries them. U-shaped manifolds first wash and then dry the moving ampoules that pass through them.
The vials are held in position by grippers placed at their top.
This precaution has two advantages: it minimizes the risk of contamination of the inside of the bottle with the sanitizing liquid and exposes the base of the vial to sanitation.
Il sistema può lavare e asciugare flaconi che contengono dai 4ml ai 123ml di farmaco, alti dai 35mm ai 100mm.
One of the difficulties to face was then sizing and placing the nozzles so that it was possible to reach the same levels of decontamination for vials of all sizes.
SOLUTION
The Technical Office of PNR Italia has studied solutions that guarantee high levels of sanitization for vials of all sizes.
7 AISI 316L steel flat jet nozzles -custom made starting from flat fan nozzle J- are installed on the manifolds that first wash and then dry the vials with sterile compressed air.
One of the 7 nozzles washes and dries the base of the bottles while the manifold sides are equipped with 6 nozzles, 3 per side.
MANIFOLD AND VIAL
FRONTAL VIEW
1 | VIAL
2 | NOZZLES
3 | MANIFOLD
GIRPPER, VIAL AND MANIFOLD
1 | VIAL
2 | GRIPPER
3 | MANIFOLD
