Capsules filling machine or encapsulation machine is used in the pharmaceutical industry to fill the capsules. In routine practice hard gelatin capsules shells are used to fill the powder, granules or pellets by using the capsule filling machine where cap and body are first of all separated and then field with powder,granules or pellets then cap are body are locked and filled capsules are ejected.
One of the most important factors relevant to the capsule machine is the calculation of capsule filling machine capacity mean how many capsules are filled by the encapsulation machine at a defined speed in one minute or in one hour.
Majority of the professionals working in pharmaceutical industry are not able to calculate the capacity of capsule filling machine due to which they are not able to find out the productivity of machine.
Why calculate capacity?
We are familiar that productivity or output is very important in pharmaceutical industries and we must be familiar with how many capsules are filled at a specific speed. If we don’t know the capacity calculation we will not be able to calculate the productivity of capsule-filling machines. The calculation of the capsule-filling machine capacity gives us an idea of how much time will be required to fill a specific number of capsules or a specific batch size and when we know about the time required to fill a specific batch size we can easily plan the machine weekly production plan and monthly capsule filling plan. In this article, we will learn the capacity calculation of machine with a practical example.
Formula to calculate capacity
Two types of formulas are used to calculate the capacity of a capsule filling machine and these formulas are based on RPM and SPM.
RPM stands for rounds per minute and SPM is strokes per minute.
RPM Formula
RPM based formula can be used to calculate the capacity of a capsule machine which is used to fill powder or granules in the capsules.
The following formula is used
RPM of main station × Number of segments × Cap & body bush per segment × 60
Formula Terminologies
The rotating turret-like structure is known as the main station & different segments are attached to the main station.
When the main station rotates all the segments attached to it also rotate.
Each segment contains different number of cap and body bushes where the cap and body are held after separation.
SPM Based Formula
For the filling of powders and granules the dosing disc and tamping pin system is used.When tamping pins move up and down it is known as SPM which stands for stroke per minute.
When we are using the capsule filling machine to fill the pellets in hard gelatin capsules then tamping pins are not used so RPM formula is used to calculate.
The filling of power or granules uses tamping pins so for this SPM formula is used.
SPM × Number of cap & body bush per segment × 60
Practical example
By using the above two formulas now we will calculate the capacity of the filling machine by using the practical examples
Case Study 1
Suppose that a capsule-filling machine is used to fill the pellets in hard gelatin capsules and we have the following machine parameters
Main station rpm= 6
Total segments= 10
Number of Cap & body bush per segment= 14
Now we will calculate the capacity of the machine per hour by using the RPM-based formula,
RPM of main station × Number of segments × Cap & body bush per segment × 60
Now put the values in above formula and solve the statement
6×10×14×60 =50400 capsules per hr.
Result
When capsule filling machine is running at 6 rpm containing 10 main segments and 14 holes or cap and body bush then it will produce 50400 capsules in one hr.
Case Study 2
Suppose that a capsule machine is used to fill the powder or granules in hard gelatin capsules and the machine is running at 60 SPM mean strokes per minute are 60.The machine contain 10 main segments and total number of holes for cap and body bush are 14.
Now we will calculate the machine capacity by using the SPM formula which is as follows,
SPM × Number of cap & body bush per segment × 60
Put the values in above formula as
60 × 14 × 60 = 50400 capsules per hr.
Result
When capsule filling machine is running at 60 strokes per minute and it has 10 main segments and 14 cap and body bush then the capsule produced in one hr will be 50400.
Conclusion
The capacity calculation of capsule filling machine is very important and every individual working in pharmaceutical industry must be familiar with how to calculate the capacity of capsules machine.If we are familiar with the capacity of a capsule machine then we can easily calculate the total time required to fill a specific batch size.
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