Cross-scale modeling of the different mechanisms involved in die filling in rotary tablet presses

• Applicant: Dr. Jan Henrik Finke
• Subject Area: Mechanical Process Engineering ; Pharmacy
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 525028949

The production of tablets and the associated die filling plays an important role in the manufacture of the final product in many industries, such as the pharmaceutical, chemical, food, feed and fertilizer industries. Complete and consistent filling is of utmost importance for the quality of the manufactured compacts. This is in conflict with the highest possible production speeds. In order to identify and predetermine the best possible combination of process parameters for given material properties of the bulk material, a profound understanding of the process is required. The aim of the project is to investigate die filling on rotary tablet presses with different filling mechanisms and at different scales and to explore models to describe them. For this purpose, representative model materials will be selected and characterized in detail, on the basis of which systematic and comprehensive sets of experiments at different scales will be carried out and evaluated. The resulting model will be successively built up from simple to complex filling scenarios and will initially be developed for gravity filling. The model will be based on measurable powder properties, thus ensuring a general applicability. In order to be able to describe the frequently used filling mechanism with negative pressure (suction filling), the model is to be extended by a term which enables the additional force to be taken into account. Here, it is of particular interest to accurately characterize the interaction between air and the particle bulk in order to incorporate physically meaningful metrics such as permeability into the model. Finally, an extension to a double-wheel feed frame will be implemented. This structured approach is intended to ensure that transferability between scales and mechanisms can be guaranteed, thus ensuring the most generalized applicability possible.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants