Fluid Bed Coatings An alternative approach to pan coatings that provides the mixing and drying characteristics required

by the film coating process is to use fluid bed technology. Fluid bed technology helps in achieving fast and uniform coating using air to mix, coat and dry the substrate at the same time. This technology originated from fluid bed dryers used for wet powder material drying operation. Fluid bed equipment was modified to coat tablets as an alternative innovation. However, this modification did not become popular for film coating tablets. The major concern during tablet coating using fluid bed equipment was high friability and compromise in core tablet appearance due to physical stress imparted during the fluidization process, compared to the much gentler pan coating process Compression Coating Although less popular, it gained increased interest in the recent years for creating modified-release products. It involves the compaction of granular materials around a preformed tablet core using specially designed tableting equipment. Compression coating is a dry process. Processing problems in tablet manufacture 1. Capping is a complete or partial separation of the upper or lower surface of the tablet horizontally, when the tablet comes out of the die. When the air is entrapped in between the tablet material in a die, and when the material gets compressed between the two punches, the air entrapped also gets compressed, but when the pressure is released on the tablet I.e. when the two punched move apart and the tablet ejects out of the die, the compressed sir expands and leads to capping. 2. Binding is sticking of the tablet to the die and does not eject properly out of the die. It may be mainly due to lack of proper lubricant or less quantity of lubricant, or may be due to excess moisture in the tablet. 3. Picking is of particular concern when the punch tips have engraving. Small enclosed areas such as those found in the letters B, A, O are difficult to manufacture cleanly. Tablet materials that stick to the punches can accumulate to the point of obliterating the tip design. Low melting point substances, either active ingredients or additives such as stearic acid or polyethylene glycol, may soften sufficiently from the heat of compression to cause sticking. Excessive moisture may be required for sticking, and further drying of the granulation is than required. Technical problems during tabletting: A number of technical problems can arise during the tabletting procedure, among which the most important are: high weight & dose variation of the tablets low mechanical strength of the tablets capping & lamination of the tablets adhesion or sticking of powder material to punch tips high friction during tablet ejection. Such problems are related to the properties of the powder intended to be formed into tablets, and also to the design & conditions of the press. They should therefore be avoided by ensuring that the powder processes adequate technical properties and also that a suitable, well conditioned tablet press is used, e.g., in terms of the use of forced-feed devices and polished & smooth dies and punches.

Important technical properties of a powder which must be controlled to ensure the success of a tabletting operation are: homogeneity & segregation tendency flowability compression properties & compactibilty friction & adhesion properties. Quality control

Internal Quality Control

Internal quality control occurs when a company institutes protocol to check their system.(Photo: Fuse/Fuse/Getty Images)

When a company institutes protocol to check their system, this is called internal quality control. This can range from routine checking of equipment, having a co-worker go over another employee's data analysis, or running standards and controls on a regular basis. It is generally up to management to decide if internal quality control measures are reliable and performed as needed.

External Quality Control

When products or data is sent to an outside business, this is external control.(Photo: pressureUA/iStock/Getty Images)

When products or data is sent to an outside business not affiliated with the company, this is external control. One example of external control is in food production. A food company may routinely analyze the nutritional value or shelf-life of a food item it produces in its own lab, but to verify its results, the food item will also be sent to an outside lab. This verification by an outside lab is important to obtain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling and to prove to the FDA that the food company's production methods are sound.

Tablet deduster
Removes excess dust from pressed pharmaceutical tablets. Tablet cleaning is achieved through vibratory effect. Tablet press machine A tablet press is a mechanical device that compresses powder into tablets of uniform size and weight Tablet dissolution tester simulates the availability of active substance and allows the prediction of the time for complete release of the material from the dosage form.

Pill-splitters
It is sometimes necessary to split tablets into halves or quarters. Tablets are easier to break accurately if scored, but there are devices called pill-splitters which cut unscored and scored tablets. Tablets with special coatings (for example enteric coatings or controlled-release coatings) should not be broken before use, as this will expose the tablet core to the digestive juices, circumventing the intended delayed-release effect.

Tablet compaction simulator[edit]

Tablet formulations are designed and tested using a laboratory machine called a Tablet Compaction Simulator or Powder Compaction Simulator. This is a computer controlled device that can measure the punch positions, punch pressures, friction forces, die wall pressures, and sometimes the tablet internal temperature during the compaction event. Numerous experiments with small quantities of different

mixtures can be performed to optimise a formulation. Mathematically corrected punch motions can be programmed to simulate any type and model of production tablet press. Initial quantities of active pharmaceutical ingredients are very expensive to produce, and using a Compaction Simulator reduces the amount of powder required for product development.