Pharmaceutical tablet counting and bottling machine

01

Set the feed and counting method

US patent 3,958,687 (High-speed multi-channel feeder for tablets, 1976) explains that counters pass each tablet across a light beam aimed at a sensor, and each interruption triggers a count. At higher flow rates tablets falling freely through a counting channel (5 to 10 units per second) come together without separation, so a unique pulse may not be produced for each one; the patent puts the resulting probability of erroneous signatures at about 0.002, against new pharmaceutical accountability standards requiring a counting error below 1 part in 10⁴. Its feeder is an inclined vibrating tray with a spreading region and a multi-channel sorting region, each channel ending in an exit port above its own sensing channel, with wedge-shaped directing surfaces to put tablets into single file. [1]

US patent 10,524,985 B2 (Discrete object singulation, 2020) describes optical counters with a light source facing a sensor array and an image processor, and explains that accurate counts need singulated flow: two touching tablets risk a miscount and three together are almost impossible to resolve. Bunching can be vertical (stacked) or horizontal (side by side); its vibratory feeder uses a wiper above the pathway to push stacked tablets back to the reservoir and a chamfered edge to guide side-by-side tablets away from the exit. [2]

Editorial calculation: an error probability of 0.002 means about 20 miscounted events per 10,000 tablets, against no more than 1 per 10,000 at the 1-in-10⁴ target the patent cites, a twentyfold gap. [1]

Give the supplier the products (tablet and capsule shapes, sizes, coatings, friability), counts per bottle and bottle sizes, required bottles per minute, number of lanes, feed and singulation design, counting sensor type, reject and recount handling for miscounts, dust extraction, changeover and cleaning time between products, line integration (unscrambler, capper), data and audit trail requirements, and calibration and validation support.

02

Prove accuracy and keep it calibrated

US current good manufacturing practice rules for finished drugs (21 CFR 211.68) allow automatic, mechanical or electronic equipment, including computers, to be used in manufacturing, processing, packing and holding drug products, provided it is “routinely calibrated, inspected, or checked according to a written program designed to assure proper performance”, with written records kept. Changes to computerised master production and control records must be made only by authorised personnel, and inputs and outputs must be checked for accuracy. [3]

Editorial note: ask the supplier for the count accuracy it guarantees for each product and speed, the challenge test it proposes to prove it (for example counted reference lots), how the sensors are checked between runs, and what documentation it provides for your calibration and validation programme.

03

Choose line speed and in-line inspection

Countec, a maker of tablet counting and bottle packaging machines, lists complete automatic tablet and capsule bottle filling and packaging lines at 15, 30, 60, 120, 200 and 300 bottles per minute, and states that actual speeds vary with bottle neck diameter and the shape and size of the product. Its line includes tablet counters (it names the DMC60S and DMC120 models and its first counter, the DW-6), bottle unscramblers and cleaners, bottle printing and servo-driven rotary cappers with torque set from the touch screen. Its COVISS vision system inspects tablets and capsules on the counter's vibratory trays for broken or chipped tablets, black spots, wrong colour, size or shape, and removes the bottle containing a defective product from the line. [4]

Set this against the optical counting principle, singulation and GMP calibration requirements above. [1] [2] [3]

Editorial calculation: at 120 bottles per minute a line fills 7,200 bottles an hour; with 100 tablets per bottle that is 12,000 tablets counted per minute across the counter's channels.

Give the supplier your bottle sizes, neck diameter, tablet or capsule dimensions and count per bottle, and ask for the guaranteed bottles per minute for each format and the defect types the vision system rejects.

04

Hopper, vibratory channel tray, wipers and guides, optical sensors, bottle indexing and controls

The tray, wipers and guides exist to stop bunching: US 3,958,687 puts the miscount probability near 0.002 when tablets fall freely at high rates, and US 10,524,985 counts on singulated flow for an accurate optical count. [1] [2]

05

Counting speed, accuracy target, bottle and tablet range and line speed for a counter quotation

Speed and accuracy have to be quoted as a pair: the 1-in-10⁴ accuracy target the 1976 patent cites only means something at the counting rate and product it is proven on. [1]

06

Send the product, count and compliance data together

Paste it into your enquiry below or into an email to a maker, then replace every bracket.

Products: [shapes; sizes; coatings]
Counts: [per bottle; bottle sizes]
Output: [bottles per minute; lanes]
Accuracy: [target; challenge test]
Feed: [singulation; wipers; change parts]
Rejects: [miscount handling]
Compliance: [calibration; records; audit trail]
Line: [unscrambler; capper; dust extraction]

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