Elscint Vibratory Bowl Feeder for feeding Camphor Tablets

The 16 x 16 mm tablet was fed in a total of 7 rows (the clockwise bowl feeder was having 4 outlets while the anti-clockwise one had 3 outlets). The 12 x 12 mm tablet was fed in 6 rows (3 each from each of the bowl feeders). The requirement was to feed and converge the tablets into a block of 6 or 7, as required. This block then went onto a conveyor for further packing.

The speed or feed rate required was 120 tablets per minute for the 16 x 16 mm tablets and 250 tablets per row per minute for the 12 x 12 mm tablets. Elscint achieved a speed of 200 tablets per row per minute for the 16 x 16 mm tablets and 400 tablets per minute per row for the 12 x 12 mm tablets, which was much above the required speed. The linear track wasmade of stainless steel and machined on a CNC machine as the accuracy required was very high.

The reason being that any mistake in the same would result in the tablets jamming (in case of less width) and toppling (in case of excess width). There being no cut-off, the bowl feeders and linear vibrator had to work continuously, thus requiring proper overflow for all the tracks. Another problem was that along with the tablets, bits and pieces of broken tablets were present. Elscint provided small holes and cut-outs in the track to ensure that all such broken or half tablets would fall down and separate bins were provided to collect the same.

For easy cleaning of the complete equipment, the bowls were fabricated from stainless steel and even the mounting table was provided with stainless steel cladding. A single control unit with poka-yoke was provided to ensure that the customer’s operators do not make any mistake while connecting the same.