Online magazine for design and development

Here you will find everything that the designer needs for his design and the development engineer for his new development, from the draft to quality assurance in production, such as new products, their applications, new technologies or research results. Company reports as well as topics on technological and megatrends in all industrial sectors complete our range of industry news. Let's start with the news.

Company News

Jumo's new Sensilo plant construction is progressing
Jumo is building a factory in the technology park for the production of temperature and pressure sensors with a production area of ​​around 13 m². At around 000 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history.
3DExperience Word 2024 in Dallas
At 3DExperience World 2024 in February in Dallas, Texas, Dassault Systèmes celebrated the event's 25th anniversary. The annual user meeting supports the global community in the development of future-proof products and processes.
Michael Koch GmbH moves into a new workshop
There is now more space available in Michael Koch's “Factory” for the assembly of customer- and machine-specific safe braking resistors. The new, modern hall was recently “taken by storm” by the employees.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for profit-making
Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of breach of contract because the company, which was originally designed as a nonprofit, is now operating for profit.
Murat Simsir strengthens strategic corporate management at Montech
Murat Simsir took over the position of CSO at Montech on January 1, 2024. The former head of sales and project management is now strengthening the company's strategic management as part of the management team.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Industry news for your design and development from the specialist areas

switch cabinet

switch cabinet

On to the intelligent drive train for predictive maintenance

The Roba-brake-checker module or the torque-measuring shaft coupling from Mayr ensure intelligent safety in smart production.

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plastics

plastics

The first 100 Igus bikes hit the streets

The first 100 Igus Urban Bikes hit the streets and an in-house production facility with a capacity of 10.000 bicycles is set up in Cologne.

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Couplings

Couplings

Torque measuring shaft coupling

The smart steel multi-plate coupling Roba-drive-checker from Mayr can do more than just transmit torque and compensate for shaft misalignment.

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Robotic

Robotic

Programming robots for cable handling

As an exhibitor in the Application Park at the Hannover Messe, Artiminds Robotics is presenting a cable handling application for precise cable harness assembly.

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INDUSTRY SPECIALS

Industry news for your design and development from the branches

food technology

food technology

Lubrication and sealing-optimized linear guide

Schaeffler presents linear guides for food technology with optimized seals, wipers and long-term lubrication units.

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Mobile Machinery

Mobile Machinery

Flexible, customizable gateway for agricultural technology

IFM Electronic is presenting the Isobus Gateway at the Hannover Messe, which is designed for agricultural equipment and can be specifically adapted.

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Energy Technology

Energy Technology

All Electric Society – vision of the future of connectivity

At the Hannover Messe Preview, Harting gives an outlook on the Hannover Messe and draws the future picture of an “All Electric Society”.

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Inverter

Inverter

Certified servo controller with Profisafe interface

At Logimat, Wittenstein is presenting a safety-certified servo controller with a Profisafe interface and integrated safety card for AGVs.

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EXHIBITION SPECIALS

Industry fair news

Hannover Messe promotes energy for sustainable industry
As a networked industrial ecosystem, the exhibitors demonstrate how climate neutrality can be achieved through the use of electrification, digitalization and automation under the guiding theme of Energizing a sustainable Industry.
Control Fair 2024 | The industry is already looking forward to Stuttgart
Control 2024, the important international trade fair for quality assurance, will take place from April 23rd to 26th in Stuttgart. The trade fair places a particular focus on automation and digitalization.
SPS Nuremberg: Now in 16 halls!
The SPS – Smart Production Solutions from November 14th to 16.11th. 2023 will see significant growth in the trade fair compared to the previous year and is on the way to pre-Corona levels.

viscotec10418

Manufacturers of pharmaceutical products have to fill suspensions independent of viscosity, gentle on the product, homogeneously and with a high degree of accuracy. Viscotec specializes in moving, processing and dosing such viscous, structure-sensitive and solids-laden liquids and offers precise pump solutions for this.

Suspensions are dispersions of solid particles in a liquid. The solids correspond to the disperse phase and the liquids to the dispersant. The preparation of suspensions allows the conversion of poorly soluble drugs in a liquid dosage form. Therefore, suspensions are used in different pharmaceutical applications - both internally and on the skin. Examples of use are suspensions of acid-binding inorganic active ingredients and antibiotic juices. Since undissolved substances are not perceived in terms of taste, it is thus also possible to administer unpleasant-tasting active substances orally. This plays an important role, especially in paediatrics.

Stabilizers prevent sedimentation

viscotec40418The particles of a pharmaceutical suspension in many cases have a diameter of 100 μm and more. Thus, these are usually coarsely dispersed systems. Depending on the application, the solids content of a suspension is between 0,5 and 50%. This may result in instability due to interfacial energy stored in the system and the density difference between the disperse phase and the dispersant. However, pharmaceutical applications with suspensions require a homogeneous product, since a uniform solids content must be present.

The disadvantage associated with suspensions is the tendency for sedimentation on prolonged storage. In practice, however, it is difficult to realize to limit or avoid such properties. In order to avoid or at least slow down the instability problem and sedimentation, flotation or flocculation, stabilizers can be used. These increase the viscosity of the preparation.   

Mucosal substances increase viscosity

viscotec20418For this purpose, there are various mucilages in the pharmaceutical industry, which are used to increase the viscosity. These include tragacanth, pectin, methylcellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose, carmellose sodium, hydroxyalkylated starch derivatives, sodium alginate, polymers of acrylic acid and dextrans. The type and dose of the stabilizer are determined empirically for each individual case. In general, sedimentation is allowed for pharmaceutical suspensions. However, a prerequisite for a dosage is easy Aufschüttelbarkeit to completely redisperse the sediment. The pharmaceutical manufacturers are thus faced with the challenge of filling suspensions independent of viscosity, gentle on the product, homogeneous and with a high degree of accuracy. In addition, it should be possible to dose even abrasive fillers.

Viscotec specializes in moving, processing and dosing viscous, structure-sensitive and solid-laden liquids and offers precise solutions for this. Due to the abrasive or shear-sensitive properties of the fillers, pump types such as peristaltic or rotary lobe pumps are only conditionally suitable for metering suspensions. The manufacturer's dosing devices have proven themselves in this area. As an eccentric screw pump, they are among the rotating displacement pumps. The stainless steel rotor moves eccentrically in an elastomer stator. The interaction of rotor and stator creates chambers. The size of the alternately opening chambers is also constant during rotation, so that there is no compression of the conveyed product. Due to this metering geometry, a constant volume is always conveyed proportionally to the angle of rotation per revolution - regardless of the viscosity of the medium and with a pulsation-free product flow.

This fact guarantees a dosing accuracy at the pump outlet of 99% (depending on the medium), which is often exceeded in practice. Due to the compression-free conveying also highly viscous and shear-sensitive media can be promoted or filled. The pump technology of the endless piston principle has additional advantages over other metering mechanisms. For example, in over 95% of all applications, filling and dosing valves can be completely dispensed with. A retraction (reversal of the direction of rotation of the dispenser) leads to a controlled thread break and dripping is prevented. This advantage allows, among other things, the exact dosage of thread-pulling gels or resins.

Bypass keeps material moving

viscotec30418Another advantage over hose and piston pumps is the possibility to integrate a bypass in the pump. In this bypass, the material can be kept in motion during the dosing process and when the system is at a standstill. In critical applications, this prevents sedimentation in the pump feed. The volume flow shown in the figure also offers the option of venting the pump.

A typical application of suspensions is the dosing of pharmaceutical products in blister forms. The manufacturer's products are already being successfully used for this purpose in various production plants. In a specific application, the sedimentation could be reduced by using this dosing technique and the longevity of the dosing pump could be improved. The dosing pumps used here comply with the requirements of the GMP and FDA guidelines. Thus, the cleaning and documentation is given due attention. The dispenser can be disassembled without tools after use in less than a minute and cleaned in cleaning baths or in automated rinsers and sterilized in an autoclave.

Picture above: instability of a suspension


Another contribution of the manufacturer