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Servos bring gentle handling

On this four-axis tray loader, an integrated controller teams up with intelligent servo drives on all four servo motors.

A single controller andles complete machine control on the pharmaceutical tray-loading system .
A single controller andles complete machine control on the pharmaceutical tray-loading system .

In its previous design, this tray loader was also a four-axis machine, but it was all mechanically driven. We redesigned it and incorporated servos and an integrated motion system to reduce cost and maintenance and to improve reliability.”

That’s how product manager Jeff Jackson of Bosch Packaging Technology sums up the main rationale behind the firm’s controls package now used on its tray loading system for loading liquid-filled pharmaceutical vials into trays. Running at speeds to 400/min—up 25% from the previous, non-servo design—the machine now relies on four MKD digital servo motors from Bosch Rexroth for all four axes of motion. Infeed of a row of trays is one axis, the vertical and horizontal motions of the vial pick-and-place device are the second and third axes, and the indexing of the vial tray is axis number four.

It’s crucial that all these motions be handled with the utmost delicacy, too. If the liquid contents of a vial splashes up the sides, the Quality Control department at most pharma companies will deem that vial a reject. The gentleness of the acceleration and deceleration provided by the servo-driven system helps greatly in this regard, says Jackson.

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