An important feature of any dispense system that handles regulated recipes is the use of aseptic materials. The Zaxis eVmP Smart pump heads are made of chemically inert materials such as aluminum oxide, 316SS, or CKC (Ceramic/Kynar®/Ceramic).
Valveless Design
The rotating and reciprocating single piston design of the eVmP does not require any valves which limits the number of moving parts exposed to the fluid being dispensed. This allows the pump to be run for millions of maintenance free cycles and facilitates easy disassembly for cleaning. To remove an eVmP pump head, simply remove the two bolts (four on a VS6-Series) holding the head to its drive.
Other positive displacement pumping technologies that do not both rotate and reciprocate, require valves on the inlet and outlet of the ports. These ports can become clogged and affect performance. For this reason, the valveless design of the eVmP smart pump is a major advantage over traditional pumping technologies.
Electronic Adjustment
For a clean in place or CIP protocol, simply maximize the shot volume or displacement by pressing a single button. The eVmP Smart Pump System is controlled by a TSi (Touchscreen Interface) that can communicate up to 32 pumps at one time. Between batch runs, using the TSi, select all pumps and press the dedicated Max Shot button. The preferred cleaner or solvent is then passed through the pump heads cleaning the entire fluid path with zero disassembly required. Traditional pharmaceutical dispensing technology requires manual adjustment to change the shot volume. This is both imprecise and time consuming. The ability to dynamically adjust the dispense volume electronically is a huge advantage for pharmaceutical manufacturing and should not be overlooked.
When dispensing chemistry that precipitates or crystallizes, with exposure to atmosphere, it is best to a choose pump head with an integrated washport. The washport acts as an isolation gland between the dispense fluid and atmosphere. This gland introduces an inert fluid to the piston between the fill chamber and the head seals that acts as a piston lubricant and atmospheric barrier. This barrier prevents any crystallization of chemistry that can be caused by evaporation.
The FDA has general drug manufacturing guidelines put in place “to assure batch uniformity and integrity of drug products.” 1
These guidelines cover things such as:
To achieve the product consistency required by FDA guidelines, a Softgel dispense system must achieve high accuracy with a low relative standard deviation. Positive displacement pumps are preferred for pharmaceutical metered dispensing due to their high accuracy. Positive displacement pumps do not depend on back pressure for flow, they control flow rates by changing the speed at which the pump is driven.2
Most positive displacement pumps can be classified as rotating, such as a gear or screw pump, or reciprocating, such as a diaphragm or plunger pump. The eVmP uses a unique drive and piston design that both rotates and reciprocates to accomplish both valving and pumping, eliminating valves used in traditional piston pumps. eVmP Smart pumps have 1% or better full-scale accuracy as well as a 0.5 coefficient of variation resulting in accurate and repeatable metered dispensing without the use of valves.
Another feature created by Zaxis for the eVmP smart pump system is micro stepping. Positive displacement pumps are designed to be viscosity independent but in real world applications the viscosity of a fluid can minutely affect the desired dispense volume. Example: you have set your pump to dispense 50 microliters but during production the volume metered is consistently 49.8 microliters. The micro stepping feature makes slight adjustments to the volume metered allowing you to hit your desired target.
Manufacturing pharmaceuticals demands excessively high throughput and constant changeover. eVmP stands for Electronic Variable Metering Pump and the purpose of the systems patented design is the ability to change dose volume without the need to manually adjust the pump. Along with the stepper or a powerful 1500 RPM servo motor that drives the pump head piston, each eVmP contains a second stepper motor that controls the pump drives angle of articulation. This angle affects the travel distance of the pump heads piston thereby changing the dispense volume. This enables the electronic micro-stepping feature referred to above, the clean in place Max Shot feature and most importantly, the ability to easily and quickly change dispense volumes between batches/recipes.
Every eVmP Smart pump contains an onboard processor that can store up to 50 programs. These programs can be batch specific with different volumes, speeds, timing, etc…. A common saved program often set is a clean in place program. For example, at the beginning of a shift an operator can select the programs for every batch that will be run that day, with a clean in place program set to run between each batch. The pumps will automatically change over at the completion of every batch leaving the operator nothing to do but switch out the chemistry.
The eVmP Smart Pump System is ideally suited for softgel dispensing. The aseptic materials that are easy to dismantle for an autoclave, or simply clean in place, combined with integrated washports and an auto-agitation feature make eVmPs optimal for handling pharmaceutical chemistry. The eVmP onboard processors are compatible with Digital I/O, RS485 and EtherNet/IP for easy integration into any manufacturing system. The micro stepping feature helps dial in your target for the perfect shot size. The programmable volume creates a highly accurate and highly versatile tool for any dispensing system. The high accuracy and excellent standard deviation attained by the rotating and reciprocating, positive displacement design will expand your pharmaceutical manufacturing core competencies.
Data communication is a vital component in factory automation. The ability to have real time communication between a sensor-actuator network of devices and the controller/enterprise network is essential for maximizing quality and throughput. Zaxis has implemented EtherNet/IP in both our automated leak testers (Zaxis PD, and iKit) and our Electronic Variable Metering Pump (eVmP).
EtherNet/IP is an industrial network protocol designed for real time communication between all devices, not just those connected to controllers. This is accomplished by utilizing the traditional Ethernet infrastructure including hardware and both of the most commonly used collections of Ethernet standards, the Internet Protocol suite and IEEE 802.3, and integrating the Common Industrial Protocol.
“Data anytime, anywhere” says ODVA1, the global standards development group that manages EtherNet/IP. With the combination of traditional Ethernet and CIP, devices can communicate directly with each other rather than through routers or switches. With EtherNet/IP the automation or sensor-actuator network can be integrated into the enterprise network. No more dressing up for a clean room production floor or pulling on your steel toe boots just to make one minor adjustment, make whatever device adjustments you want from your desk.
The robust hardware, by itself, is optimal for a factory environment. Often on factory floors electronics have to withstand extreme temperatures, vibrations, or particulate matter. The Ethernet cable also saves time and frustration during set up. I/O network configuration can be daunting and time consuming as it requires the individual stripping and configuring of each wire whereas an Ethernet cable is simply plugged in.
I/O networking requires time consuming physical integration.
EtherNet/IP integration involves simply plugging a device into the network.
EtherNet/IP can transfer basic I/O data, or it can upload and download parameters and programs, monitor state-of-change and more. The versatility of EtherNet/IP allows you to set up your facility customized to your needs with a wide range of system designs such as unicast (one-to-one), multicast (one-to-many), and broadcast (one-to-all) communication.
EtherNet/IP is a complete suite of network functionality that implements physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application. Its quick response time provides greater throughput, couple this with its market saturation and continued vendor support, EtherNet/IP is an excellent factory automation solution for years to come.
The manufacturing of diagnostic reagent kits can be challenging and in the face of the 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, quality reagent kits are in high demand. These reagent kits contain all of the major components necessary to perform designated diagnostic tests or procedures. Applications for these kits include in vitro and molecular diagnostics, biomarkers, clinical chemistry, diabetes, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), test strips, and illicit drug testing. They can be used in a laboratory, at the point of care (POC), or for personal use in cases like pregnancy tests, glucose strips, or at home DNA ancestry tests.
The manufacturing of these reagent kits usually calls for the dispensing of very small–very precise amounts of fluid of varying chemical make-up. The eVmP Micro Pump is ideal for integrated, turnkey, or laboratory applications that require metering and dispensing of liquid enzymes, buffers, diluents, standards, calibrators, and controls used in diagnostic test kits.
The chemical make-up of each reagent can have its own unique challenges for pumps. The eVmP relies on ceramic internals, no-valves, and synchronous rotation and reciprocation to keep the pumping motion simple and inert. The lack of valves and synchronous motion allow the eVmP to dispense neatly, and without drips, by creating a dynamic suck back. This can improve precious up time and keep nozzles clean, even with the most demanding isotonic buffers.
The other challenge is the unique amount or volume of each reagent. The eVmP Micro Pump can be set up to deliver nanoliter, microliter and milliliters through our patented variable metering pump system, with better than 1% accuracy and precision. The eVmP’s patented design utilizes two precision stepper motors, integrated controller and drivers, and can dynamically change dispense volume and flow rate.
Each eVmP can store up to 100 programs, and has immediate run controls that include speed, volume, and pumping direction. Advanced controls include suck-back, fine adjustment, acceleration, deceleration and linking of programs. All of the run controls are accessed through the latest in PLC and CPU communication over Ethernet/IP, or RS485. The eVmP can also be controlled from our Touch Screen Interface, up to 32 pumps with one screen.
Using a chemically inert fluid path, high accuracy and precision dispensing technology, the ability to make high resolution adjustments dynamically, and offering the latest in factory automation controls, makes the eVmP ideal for manufacturing diagnostic kits.
Once the diagnostic kit is created, packaging is of the upmost importance. Creating a tight, leak proof seal is especially important when dealing with complex chemicals and precise fluid measurements. A chamber test performed on the reagent kit packaging with the Isaac HD leak tester by Zaxis will ensure quality and repeatability in the manufacturing process. For more information on leak testing for diagnostic reagent kits, CLICK HERE.
For questions please contact a sales rep via email at sales@zaxisinc.com or phone at +1 (801) 264-1000, or CLICK HERE to request a quote.
Electronic ‘sensing’ catheters have become an integral component in both medical procedures and training. They give instantaneous information such as internal temperature, glucose levels, positioning, pressure and contact force between the catheter and tissue. This convenient and continuous information helps to eliminate invasive probing, increasing patient safety. Studies show improved patient outcomes after using contact-force sensing catheters.
Due to the growing number of sensing catheters, consistent and reliable manufacturing is vital. Leak testing both the catheter tubing and sensors needs to be accurate and precise. The Zaxis Isaac HD multi-function leak tester can be configured with multiple test types such as pressure decay, vacuum decay, pressure occlusion, and mass flow with less than 1 cm3 of internal test volume. An internal test volume of less than 1 cm3 increases the magnitude of the pressure decay value and decreases the overall time of the leak test, thereby improving the precision of the leak test.
In addition to the small internal test volume, the Isaac HD is extremely modular. You can add test types when you need them. With a multitude of test types at your disposal, the Zaxis Isaac HD is a perfect candidate for leak testing sensing catheters.