The new tablet press

The technology for pressing tablets has remained the same for many years. However, Industria Macchine Automatiche (IMA) has developed a new system

Throughout most of the 20th century, the basic technology for pressing tablets remained the same, although, naturally, there were refinements over the years and machines were available to suit a vast range of outputs. However, basically they all operated on the well proven Stokes principle. Then in the mid 1990s, IMA introduced a machine that revolutionised tablet pressing, the Comprima. The entire system was new but the main features that made it stand out from existing machinery were the centifugal feeding of the powder into the dies and the complete isolation of the mechanical components from the tablet pressing area. These features not only led to material savings but also made the machine easy to clean and reduced the time taken to change from one product to another.

IMA continued to develop the Comprima and offered the machine in several sizes, but in the meantime the company also acquired an established manufacturer of traditional tablet presses, the German company Kilian. Kilian equipment is widely used in the pharmaceutical and confectionery markets and is renowned for its reliability and the advanced ViCon control system.

Pooling the expertise available within both sides of the business, the Solid Dose Division of IMA has now introduced a machine that incorporates features from both the Kilian and Comprima designs. The result is the new Synthesis series of tableting machines. It combines a century of experience in powder feeding and compression with the latest techniques, to respond to the cleaning and isolation challenge. The new KILIAN Synthesis 500 is a mid-size tablet press machine, reaching a production speed of 360,000 tablets/hour, and designed for easy operation and cleaning.

independently adjusted

Powder is fed to the dies with a force-feed fill shoe and depending on the product, different types of rotary distributors can be supplied. Furthermore, they can be independently adjusted (rotation direction and speed), to ensure optimum filling performance with the most diverse products.

Through the use of special seals and silicon bellows, the mechanical and the compression areas are completely separated and sealed off, thus preventing product penetration into the lower compartment of the machine, and the possibility of tablets being contaminated with lubricating oils. This means 100% 'black spot' free tablets, no risks of cross contamination between different batches and fewer maintenance operations. Furthermore, this means fewer surfaces to be cleaned, in comparison to other feed frame tablet presses, and therefore shorter cleaning times.

In addition, every component has been designed with a smooth surface and can be easily cleaned.

The exit chute and the compression rollers have been fixed to a pivotal bearing, so they can be rotated, to facilitate maintenance and cleaning operations. This guarantees excellent accessibility to the machine processing area as well as for changing the turret. After cleaning, they can be swung back into position quickly and easily, without the need for readjustment.

The turret can be removed for cleaning or for changing tooling types, guaranteeing at the same time minimisation of non-productive times and a higher flexibility.

The die table removal/assembling can be carried out without removing the punches and the entire operation requires only two keys, although most of the parts are removed/fixed without the need of any tools through the use of simple manual screws.

The turret removal phases can be achieved as follows: