Ampoule labelling in the pharmaceutical industry
Customised Autocol labels 60,000 cylindrical ampoules an hour
01-Mar-2002
The Krones Autocol labels and monitors closed glass containers with nominal volumes of 1.7 ml and 3 ml.
For the German pharmaceutical corporation Aventis Pharma Deutschland, Krones AG, Neutraubling, has developed a labeller based on its Autocol design, which not only incorporates all the requisite monitoring units, but also operates at the impressively high speed of 60,000 cylindrical ampoules per hour. The closed glass containers being labelled have nominal volumes of 1.7 ml and 3 ml. Since these small containers are not very stable, the labeller’s infeed situation had to be redesigned accordingly. The filled containers arrive at the labeller in magazines each containing about 800 pieces, whereupon an operator feeds them into the machine via two infeed tables.
Maximised safety assured
To achieve the extremely high labelling output involved, Krones uses two APS 2 self-adhesive label applicators on this machine, each affixing reel-fed wrap-around labels at a speed of 30,000 containers an hour. The two labelling stations are arranged one behind the other, each of them labelling every second cylindrical ampoule. The ampoules are then passed through two discharge starwheels onto two feed tracks taking them to the packer.
To assure the requisite product safety, the line is equipped with devices for identifying the product code on the glass container, for detecting the colour of the flanged cap, plus a label presence monitor. The latter checks whether there is actually a label on the cylindrical ampoule. The machine discharge zones are again fitted with what are called counter-check monitors which verify whether faulty ampoules have in fact been ejected.
If this is not the case, the entire machine is halted, and the line is checked. Of course, in conformity with the pharmaceutical industry’s stringent stipulations, complete records are kept. All monitoring units have been approved under pharmaceutical standards.
Other news from the department research and development
Get the chemical industry in your inbox
From now on, don't miss a thing: Our newsletter for the chemical industry, analytics, lab technology and process engineering brings you up to date every Tuesday and Thursday. The latest industry news, product highlights and innovations - compact and easy to understand in your inbox. Researched by us so you don't have to.
