In-line monitoring of coating thickness of pharmaceutical tablets during production scale film coating by Terahertz imaging

Author

May, Robert K. ; Evans, Michael J. ; Zhong, Shuncong ; Warr, Ian ; Gladden, Lynn F. ; Shen, Yaochun ; Zeitler, J. Axel

Author_Institution

Dept. of Chem. Eng. & Biotechnol., Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

fYear

2010

fDate

5-10 Sept. 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

We present preliminary results from in-line Terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) measurements of coating thickness on pharmaceutical tablets made during production-scale film coating. Results of these real-time TPI measurements are compared to those from off-line TPI measurements, as well as weight-gain measurements made on sample tablets removed at discrete time-intervals during production. The results, and their repeatability, demonstrate that real-time monitoring of pharmaceutical tablet coating is not only possible but provides substantially more information than the standard quality control method.

Keywords

coating techniques; condition monitoring; pharmaceutical technology; quality control; terahertz wave imaging; thickness measurement; TPI measurements; Terahertz pulsed imaging measurement; coating thickness measurement; discrete time-intervals; inline monitoring; pharmaceutical tablet coating; production scale film coating; quality control method; weight-gain measurements; Coatings; Films; Imaging; Pharmaceuticals; Surface treatment; Thickness measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Infrared Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz), 2010 35th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Rome

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-6655-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIMW.2010.5612661

Filename

5612661