Computer Interfaced Instrumentation of a Rotary Tablet Press
D'stefan D.A.; Leesman, G.D.; Patel, M.R.; Morehead, W.T.
Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy 11(1): 83-100
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0363-9045 Accession: 005027508
A 25 Station Manesty X-Press rotary tablet press was interfaced to a Hewlett-Packard 9825/T desktop computer. The tablet press was instrumented with 3 pairs of strain gauges to monitor pre-compression, compression and ejection forces. The ejection cam is of a special design and calibrated under static conditions such that the analog output signals can be converted into force or pressure units. The interface to the computer can simultaneously monitor all 3 pairs of strain gauges so that any selected station can be monitored for all 3 forces. The interfacing permits storage of data which can be analyzed later. The rate of data acquisition can be varied continuously up to 1 signal every 30 .mu.s. The system was validated for sensitivity and reproducibility. Compression and ejection curves generated were of high quality with a low signal to noise ratio.