Analysis of Development Trend of Blister Packaging Machine

According to the development trend of automation of drug packaging equipment, packaging automation not only is confined to the scope of motion and logistic but also refers to the development trend of integration of packaging and processing lines. As a result, all drug packaging plants around the world expect the packaging equipment to develop toward the direction of automatic system, integrated control and programmable automatic control.
In fact, the automatic packaging equipment has been developed from generation 1 to generation 4.Generation 1 is characterized by mechanical automation with the equipment mainly consists of one main motor, gear case, chain, etc., which are designed to transmit power and torque. Generation 2 is characterized by the integration of basic mechanical automation technology and key movement servo control. Generation 3 is characterized by full-electronic servo control, which is outstanding in flexibility, high in accuracy, and wide in application, and may maintain accurate multiple spindle synchronized movement and allow speed changing operation.

The development trend of Generation 4 packaging equipment includes
(1) Provided with standard software and hardware, and expandable. For example, the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), which is commonly used in production site as an execution part of ERP resource planning system and may feedback data of production site to ERP system for integrated operation:
(2) On-line integration, simplified operation and diagnosis, and integration of processing and packaging processes;
(3) Application of distributed intellectual technology, improvement of productivity, reliability and stability, and enhancement of communication capacity.
It can be said that most of the countries attach great importance to the development of packaging equipment (system).Take Germany as an example. Packaging machinery manufacturers implement 5 measures to adapt to the need of customers:
(1) Strive to improve technological process automation degree;
(2) Increase productivity and reduce process cost;
(3) Adapt to change and designed to be excellent in flexibility;
(4) Provide complete equipment and one package service;
(5) Widely adopt computer simulation design technology.
On the other hand, the American packaging machinery manufactures advocate:
(1) Automation of packaging machinery;
(2) High efficiency and energy saving of packaging machinery;
(3) Diversified in package and multi-purpose in development;
(4) Provision of more convenient and safer package;
(5) Application of new technology.
As a result, the drug packaging machinery (equipment) which is covered by packaging equipment is heading toward automation, high efficiency, diversification and intellectualization. Among the packaging machines, aluminum plastic Blister Packaging Machine is a typical one which is commonly used. We will introduce the development of aluminum plastic blister packaging machine with specific cases from the perspective of automation, high-speed, diversification and intellectualization.

1. Development of automation
   Given the demand of further improvement in terms of speed and accuracy put forward by drug production on Blister Packaging Machine, the equipment realizes technical improvement in flexibility, stability and reliability through intellectual control and addition of software such as the application of packaging robot.
   Through the analysis of structural cost of packaging equipment, Klaus Bender, a professor from Technical University of Munich, once predicted that the 60% of structural cost of equipment will be used for the software while only 20% for the mechanical and electronic components by 2010. As a matter of fact, currently, 40% of the structural cost of the equipment is used for software, 20% of the electronic components and 40% for the mechanical components. As a result, the development of software is key to the realization of equipment automation. The industry has to change and simplify the mechanical and transmission structure through software.
   1.1 Intellectual servo
   As for traditional Blister Packaging Machine, accumulative error may be generated during plastic film conveying due to the transmission structure of cam, which may cause inaccurate positioning of plastic film, thus affecting the quality of drug packaging. The new Blister Packaging Machine generally use the servo system, which is, comparing to the transmission structure of cam, faster, more flexible and more accurate in positioning.
2. Compete ligature which may improve the efficiency
   The focus of R&D of various large manufacturers has been placed on how to achieve optimal blister packaging and packing efficiency through integration of Blister Packaging Machine and Cartoner.
   The increase of profit and reduction of cost are inseparable with the improvement of production efficiency and the high-speed operation, fast production transformation and cleaning are the guarantee of improved production efficiency. To increase production speed as much as possible and shorten auxiliary time, the part replacement time should be shortened during the blister packaging process and it would be desirable to complete replacement of various molds without using any tool (Plug and Play).
   In addition, the need for blister package and cartoning of injector, ampoule, injection, etc. will increase continuously, which imposes higher requirement on molding depth of Blister Packaging Machine. Take Jornen DPP260L as an example, the blister depth of it may reach 40 mm and the output 160 piece/min.
3. Diversified development
   To adapt to the diversified development of the product, the Blister Packaging Machine should be outstanding in flexibility so as to realize flexible and fast switch between various types of packages, increase profit, reduce maintenance cost and improve efficiency. To be more specific: flexibility in quantity – switch between single package and packages of products from different batches; and flexibility in structure – the whole equipment is made of units, which allows it to adapt to different types of product through replacement of one or several units. Jornen’s DPP260-ZH120 is made up by one plate type Blister Packaging Machine and one batch-type boxing machine. The equipment is about 9 m in length and may adapt to different production modes of multi-varieties and small batch.
4. Development of intellectualization
   Given the fierce competition of drug industry, the profit has been squeezed and the manufactures cannot accept high rejection rate due to defective product. However, the internationally-recognized good manufacturing practice (GMP) of drug production requires that each link of drug production should be subject to qualification test. In addition, along with the development of science and technology, the packaging machine can not only provide larger output and greater equipment flexibility, but also add many new features such as remote maintenance and diagnosis, integration with ERP system, review of production data, automatic fault diagnosis and recovery, communication between automatic technology (AT) and information technology (IT), which are closely related to the application of online detection and control technology.
5. Photoelectric detection
   Light projector and light receptor are installed in opposite direction in the sensing element of missing tablet detector. The detector is equipped with 2 types of sensing elements. One is transmissive sensor which may transmit through the aluminum foil. During detection, the tablet may prevent the light from getting through the foil. This type of sensor is applicable to detection prior to sealing of aluminum film. Another type of detector is reflective sensor. During detection, a certain angle should be maintained between the light projector and light receptor so that the light may be reflected on the light receptor through aluminum foil. The reflective sensor is applicable to the detection after sealing.
   4.1 Machine vision detection
   Machine vision system means that the target will be transformed into image signal through machine vision production and transmitted to exclusive image processing system. The image will then be transformed into digitized signal according to the pixel distribution, luminance, and color. The image system will then carry out various calculations for the signal and extract the target’s features and further control the movement of on-site equipment as per the judgment. The characteristic of machine vision system is to improve the flexibility and automation degree of production. In the field of automatic production, flexible and accurate machine vision system may be used in product detection and production monitoring. During the blister packaging process, after the package of pill enters into the blister, the drug within all blisters should be ensured to be intact. The machine vision system is widely used at each key stage of blister packaging process such as material molding, feeding, sealing, box packing, labeling and even wrapping so as to ensure the quality control of whole aluminum plastic blister packaging process.
   Apart from the development trends mentioned above, major development will also be carried out in the field of safety, energy saving, and environment protection to protect operators and consumers, minimize energy consumption and the adverse effect on environment exerted by production.
6. Conclusion
   To sum up, along with the transformation from the mode of complex large-volume production to the one of small-lot multiple product production, the blister package has more and more forms and types. The shorten replacement time and simple cleaning procedure of Blister Packaging Machine have become a great attraction to the equipment purchaser. And the abovementioned developments without a doubt will be taken into consideration when the manufacturers are producing desirable products for their customers. Jornen Machinery Co., Ltd. 26/7/2013