Mecelec Design has designed and built a machine for a pharmaceutical application that precisely stamps out small discs of membrane material, places them accurately on to a clear polystyrene filtration tube, and fuses the two together.
The fusing temperature, duration and pressure are all controlled by PLC and configurable via the HMI.
An operator loads a reel of membrane material onto the machine, and two tubes into each nest of the rotary table. The stamping and fusing operations are carried out automatically as the tubes are indexed around the rotary table. Vacuum generated inside
the tubes holds the membrane onto each tube prior to the fusing operation.
The integrity of the fused assembly is then checked on a 100% non-destructive basis. The vacuum pressure is switched to a test pressure (adjustable) and a check is made that the test pressure is met.
A Pass/Fail result is displayed on the HMI for each assembly.
The membrane is advanced by two PLC-controlled servo indexers which operate in combination with a rising and falling tensioner. An outfeed indexer pulls the membrane through the stamping assembly whilst a second indexer lets out membrane to the
tensioner.
The machine is stand-alone, requiring connections only to 3-phase electrical and compressed air supplies.