FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
PROVISIONAL
Specification
(See section 10 and rule 13)
DETECTION SYSTEMS FOR BLISTER PACKAGING SYSTEMS
PANGAONKAR SUDHIR RAJENDRA,
an Indian National
of 1028, Shiroli, Rajgurunagar (Taluka Khed), Pune 411 505,
Maharashtra, India
THE FOLLOWING SPEC IFICATION DESCRIBES THE INVENTION.

This invention relates to detection systems for blister packaging systems.
The production of pharmaceutical products, and especially their automatic packaging, requires the highest standard of safety to safeguard against errors, mix ups with products or packing material and So according to present guidelines, packaging is to be treated in the same way as manufacturing.
With both automatic and manual packaging procedures, only state-of-the art technology can be used which is rapid, flexible and which can communicate with other systems.
In the regular pharmaceutical product packing requirement, the main hectic job is to handle a vast variety of products every day& to pack all these with lot of precautions. This carries lot of risk This is because many packaging operations are still manual
On machines such as Blister pack, NFD ( no fill detection ) systems are incorporated. These electronic systems detect the error ( faulty blister ) correctly & subsequently activate control mechanism to separate the faulty pack (blister )from packaging line.
After separating the faulty packs from the line, the main task is to recollect the actual product packed in it & repack them safely. This process is completely manual where an individual packed blister needs to be reopened & subsequently the product gets collected manually. This activity is called de-foiling. This is a very lengthy operation & consumes lot of time everyday & requires lot of manpower to do so.


De-foiling also has other major disadvantages: The pharmaceutical products which are manually handles at the de-foiling stage are also subjected to contamination by the handler and the environment. Also in the foiling stage the product is subjected to heat albeit momentarily. This causes degradation in the product to a certain extent. During the process of defoiling and subsequent repackaging, the product is again subjects to heat which further degrades the product.
Therefore there is a need for having a system which will remove the product from the blister pack without defoiling and without contamination
This invention envisages an apparatus in which the products are removed from the blister pack without defiling and without contamination of the product.
In order to avoid defoiling operation, we have developed a new system which does this job online on the packing machine itself. This system will be actuated by a No Fill Detection (NFD) device put online for product inspection. Inspection is typically done by an infra red sensor. A partly filled blister generates an error signal from these controllers, which further triggers the Online defoiling system. The system in accordance with this invention involves the use of a suction device placed between the non fill detection sensor and the foiling station. The suction device is activated by a signal from the non fill detection station. The suction device or suction mouth then activates suction pressure at predetermined substation determined by the location of the blister cavities in the blister pack. The suction pressure evacuates the blister cavities and the product such as tablets


or capsules are led along a conduit to a containment chamber from where they are automatically or manually transferred to the product hopper for refilling the blister packs. Thus the suction mouth is only intermittently activated on receiving a signal from the non filled detection unit.
A venturi is used for generating negative pressure for product suction from the blister which was earlier declared as unfilled by NFD system. So the complete pack becomes empty which further gets separated from the line automatically This greatly improves the speed of packing operation as manual de-foiling is totally avoided.
Principal of operation:
Venturi is used for negative pressure (vacuum) generation. Typically 6 bar pressure is applied. A venturi is a device which converts positive pressure at one port to negative pressure at other port This phenomena is commonly used in different machines for material transfer operations. Here an error signal from NFD device, connects compressed air to the venturi, which generates the required negative pressure for tablet/capsule suction from the cavity of a faulty blister. The lifted tablets/capsules are further collected in a container box, which can be repacked online immediately.
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which Figure 1 is a schematic drawing showing different Parts
of the system in accordance with this invention :
This system is divided into following parts / stages.
1 Universal type of 'No Fill Detection' (NFD) system


2. Machine interfacing device
3. Suction block with required mountings
4. Venturi with tablet storage chamber
5. Control ling PLC with electrical panel
6. Compressed air buffer storage if required.
NFD system [1] This is the first part of the system which detect the absence of the product in a blister This system is of universal type i.e. the design of the system is such that it can operate for any product on any blister packing machine. This system continuously checks the presence of product in every cavity of a blister being packed. The status of every blister is stored in a controller's memory for further action. So this is the main sensing device. Further operation depends on the feedback sent.
Interfacing Device : Complete NFD as well as Suction is linked to a machine with specified timing device. The main purpose of this is to interface both NFD & Suction correctly to a blister packing machine. Here an incremental Encoder is used as a timing device This device generates specified pulses per revolution. These are further connected to Programmable logic controller (PLC ) for proper interfacing.
Suction Block [5] This is a mechanical block designed for proper suction of product from the cavity of a blister. The suction block 5 is located on line between the NFD apparatus and the sealing station. The suction block has a suction mouth [2] This is a dedicated type of mouth used as a path for product suction. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention the design of the mouth differs for different products with different layout of packing. So we call it as a suction mouth. It needs to be replaced every time you go for new product packing. However, it is envisaged that the device


can have a universal suction mouth that can be applied to different forms of blister packs.
Electrical control panel . The total system is controlled by control panel where a PLC device is lilted. A software program is written in it for specified operation. All the sensors as well as pneumatic solenoids are connected to control panel i.e. to PLC. For online data editing a digital screen is provided called as MML Here different parameters can be set online Also status of NFD as well as suction can be displayed. A password protection also can be provided for data editing.
The above are the basic components required m the system The basic set up of it is shown in figure. The tablets/capsules picked up by the suction mouth are transferred to a compartment 6. The blisters filled and unfilled are led by tracks [3] to the foiling station 4.
Figure 2 shows a blister arrangement where, a typical blister is shown. The arrows show the direction of travel. S stands for the start of the suction operation and therefore the first row of blisters are emptied. The blister is indexed to the end F and the next row of the blister is emptied. If the two rows have different tablets/capsules as in the case of a kit, then the two rows are independently collected in different compartments in the container.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the particular features of the preferred embodiment and the improvisation with regards to it, it will be appreciated the various modifications can be made in the


preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and the other modifications in the nature of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in art from disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.