Silicone Metal Detectable Bellows and Dust Cups

Introduction

The most common method of drug delivery is oral dosage form of which tablet and capsule are predominant. Tablet is more accepted as compared to capsule due to many reason such as cost, tamper resistance, ease of handling, ease of identification and manufacturing efficiency. Tablet compression process understanding is resulted in development of formulation. Recent advances in the design of tablet compression equipment has conducted resulted in higher efficiency, minimized tablet variation, greater flexibility.

Tablets are compressed by compression machines using punches and dies. Punches are used to apply pressure on powder or granules to form tablets. Two types of punches are used, Upper punch and Lower punch Upper Punches are in direct contact with upper punch guiding cam and due to direct contact, and friction is produced, so lubrication is required at regular time intervals at this contact point. Sometimes excessive use drips downward along with a punch barrel and is mixed in powder or granules and contaminate the product. Due to the poor dust collection system of compression machine, fine powder in the granules is suspended in the turret chamber and settles down over the upper punch holders and guiding cam.This fine powder is mixed with lubricant and due to friction and upward and downward movement of punches in punch holders, this fine powder is converted into black particles. These black particles shredded from punch barrel settle down over the rotating die table and contaminate the product. So back particles are produced on compressed tablets.

To prevent tablet contamination with dripping lubricant and black particles Dust cups or Bellows are used.

Bellows/Dust Cups finds application in wide range of in Packaging, Baking, Cartooning, Robotics, Tablet Compression, and for a variety of automated material handling applications involving metal, glass, food, plastics, paper, and wood.

DUST CUPS

Dust cups may also know as dust holders and act as a reservoir for dripping lubricant. Dust cups are usually made of silicon material. Dust cups are attached to the tips or barrels of the upper punches and collect the black powders or dripping lubricant and safeguard the product from contamination.

Types of the Dust cups:

• Conventional or Standard dust Cup
• Barrel dust cup

Conventional or Standard dust Cups

These dust cups are also known as tip dust cup. These dust cups are attached to the tips of the upper punch. These dust cups are not pre-cut. These dust cups are cut according to the tip size of the upper punch. After cutting tip of upper punch is passed through the hole of the dust cup.

Barrel dust cup

These dust cups are for punch barrel. These are pre-cut according to barrel size. Barrel dust cup is inserted in the barrel and is used for the same purpose as tip dust cup.

BELLOWS

Granulation contamination during the tableting process can cause costly manufacturing problems. Bellows used in punching tablets helps to prevent contamination and black spots on the tablet during the tablet compression process.

About Protecting Tooling and Presses?

AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. stocks tip – mounted, barrel, and below styles of dust cups, each made from silicone. We also offer metal detectable as well as food grade silicone version. Dust cups are a low-cost solution to keep formulation off tools, lubrication off tablets and reduce issues like tool binding & contamination

Advantages of Silicone

Silicone Dust cups/Bellows provide an advantage in certain manufacturing situations as their physical properties are mostly retained at temperatures of up to 250° Celsius. This allows dust cups to run on presses at higher temperatures for an extended period of time increasing potential production times Silicone rubber also resists oils, solvents, and other chemicals at higher temperatures than other plastics.

In AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. Dust Cups and Bellows are made with FDA-approved materials, and are selected to meet specific requirements for stability, wear resistance, cleaning, and flexibility.

Metal detectable Dust cups and Bellows

Dust cups are a low-cost solution helping to keep lubrication off die tables and out of tablets. Bellows provide additional protection for tooling and presses by blocking formulation from collecting on tools, reducing tool wear and binding.
The increasing standards of the safety and quality, has enabled the pharmaceutical, food and beverage industry to build up a true partnership with the dust cups and bellows .The dust cups keeps off the lubrication from the tablets die and bellows provide an addition support and protection to the tools and increasing the life of the tools .Sometimes these dust cups and bellows may undergo excessive wear and tear on a continuous stretch, and usage. This may sometimes lead to the generation of small sized particles, resulting in the contamination of the entire process.
To detect any early detection of contamination, complying with all the rules and regulations of the FDA, we have introduced the feature “Metal Detectable”. As the name suggests, these helps us to detect the presence of any unwanted particles into our lots at a very early stage.

Why Choose Appl Metal Detectable Bellows/Dust Cups?

AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. Provides metal detectable dust cups and bellows are made of silicone and infused with trace amounts of an iron additives which follows all FDA guidelines. It is simple, non-reactive, and effective and improves the quality of tablets. If a dust cup or bellow begins to break down, sensors in metal detectors will reject the contaminated tablets. Currently all metal detectable dust cups are made in Grey and Blue colour and bellows produced are black in grey and brown colour.
Metal detectable dust cups and bellows are available in sizes #1, #2 and #3. In the tip-mounted style dust cups sizes B, D are available and FS12 for barrel style dust cups. For bellows B and D sizes are available. Any customization is also taken into consideration. AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. recommends our customers to enjoy the superior quality and performance of the Metal Detectable features.

• A potential cost saving to the food and beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• These cups/bellows work well and is highly resistant to mechanical and temperature factors.
• They prevent from microbial attacks.
• Nullifying and reducing the Production downtime. Hence increases productivity.
• Easy to use, fit and clean.
• Easily designed and suits your machine specifications.
• Contamination free production.

Metal detectable dust cups and bellows also provide an advantage in certain manufacturing situations as there is almost no change in their physical properties even at temperatures of up to 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit.) This will allow them to run on presses at higher temperatures for an extended period of time – possibly increasing production efficiency.
AMI POLYMER PVT. LTD. recommended and provided Metal detectable Dust cups and Bellows to our prestigious customers like INTAS PHARMACEUTICALS, KTT PHARMA, AUROBINDO PHARMA LTD, MICRO LABS, ERIKS, and MANY MORE.