Robotic Filling and Freeze Drying System

Chemical Manufacturing (NAICS 325)

The Challenge

The Reference Standards Filling System incorporates a filling platform and freeze dryer with centralized operator interface. Initially, the vials were filled by hand and then placed into a freeze dryer operating under the control of a PLC with pushbutton interface.  The customer turned to Frakes Engineering to provide an automated solution to this slow and labor intensive process.

The Solution

The system provided by Frakes consists of the filling apparatus built on a frame constructed of aluminum extrusions and enclosed by polycarbonate panels.  This frame houses four SciLog Lab Tec Pump and Mettler Balance Systems.  Positioning of filler tubes at the vials is accomplished with a Yamaha Cartesian Robot.  The system automatically fills the vials based on operator inputted parameters for number of vials and fill volume and then automatically places caps on each vial.  The filled trays are placed into the freeze dryer under the control of an Allen Bradley SLC-500 PLC with operation parameters entered via the RSView Workstation.  The system collects data concerning vial fill, freeze drying and other parameters and creates a Packaging Record. This record is copied to a network server for backup and a user-specified reports associated with the completed packaging operation is printed on the system printer.

This is just one of many solutions that Frakes Engineering has provided over the years.  If you have questions about this or other services that we provide, please feel free to contact us.

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