So, Let us Get an Insight on How a Tablet Blister Packing Machine Work? Crafted with precision, these machines are designed to manufacture sealed blisters that shield tablets from environmental elements such as moisture, light, and air, helping to increase the shelf life of the product to between a year and three years, which lessens under proper storage conditions.
It starts with the forming station, where a film of plastic or aluminum is fed into the machine. The material used for forming (specifically PVC or PVDC of 200-400 microns) is fed under heating at 120 – 150°C so that the film becomes pliable enough to be molded around the forming molds to create cavities that correspond with the tablet sizes. Such cavities usually are within a tolerance of ±0.05 mm, thus ensuring all is uniform to create consistency.
At the tablet specific filling station, high-speed mechanisms feed the tablets into the pre-formed cavities. More advanced models utilize vision systems and sensors to identify misplaced or damaged tablets, helping to eliminate up to 10% waste. From the known high feeding speed and data quality, these systems guarantee an accuracy of over 99% and zero mistakes in high-speed production.
After tablets are placed into the blisters, a sealing station seals aluminum foil across the blisters. At this stage, heat-sealing units will bond the foil to the formed cavities at 150°C to 200°C, creating a secure closure. This step uses roller or platen sealing mechanisms depending on which model of machine you have. Roller sealing is suitable for continuous operations, for example, and platen sealing provides even pressure for accurate seals. These are very high capacity machines capable of sealing up to 500 blisters per minute and are used for mass production.
The blister strips are sealed and then moved to the coding and perforation station where they receive batch numbers, expiration dates and perforation lines. Laser or inkjet printers guarantee readability of at least 300 DPI resolution according to FDA and EU pharmaceutical standards. Perforation systems produce score lines that are easy to tear, enabling consumers to remove dose from the packaging.
Machine at this station cuts off the excess material and cuts the blister into required dimension. In more sophisticated variants, a servo system is employed to cut to exact dimensions (standard packs are around 70mm x 100mm). Such cutting ensures that the dough will fit a secondary packaging — for instance, cartons or boxes — accordingly.
In one example, a pharmaceutical firm made an investment and purchased a high-end tablet blister packing machine that achieved an efficiency rate of 98%, cutting production downtime and generating an additional 30 million blister packs annually. Depending on production scale and customization features, the ROI (Return on Investment) for these machines can vary from 18 to 24 months.
As Thomas Edison is so famously quoted, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” the breakthrough of blister packing machines is a testament to the fine details in the engineering of solutions that ensure precision and reliability.
If you want to know about these blister packing machines in detail including their benefits in the pharmaceutical industry.
