Innovation at Interphex

Ongoing innovation is critical for meeting the changing demands of the pharmaceutical industry for equipment, machinery, and related services. We asked the participants in Pharmaceutical Technology's Product Innovation roundtable for their input on their respective companies' product enhancements. Participating in the roundtable were: Richard Denk, director of the pharmaceutical department for Hecht Anlagenbau (Pfaffenhofen/Ilm, Germany); Dieter Forthuber, division president of KMPT USA (Florence, KY); Craig Martin, product manager at Dwyer Instruments; (Michigan City, IN); Bruce Smith, regional manager at SPX Process Equipment (Delavan, WI); Christopher Fournier, vice-president of Mar Cor Purification (Lowell, MA); and Grant Rowe, product manager for respiratory protection, Bullard (Cynthiana, KY).

Bulk-solids handling

Q: Can you outline any key product or service introductions that your company will be making in line with Interphex and/or planned for launch in 2008?

Denk: Product sampling with flexible disposable liner technology—the liner technology is connected to the drum after the lid is removed. With that type of technology, even highly hazardous products can be taken out of the drum without contaminating the operator or the environment. Cleaning for this technology is no longer required through the use of disposable technology.

Small bulk compounds charging into a reactor—this technology allows for bulk-solid charging into a pressurized vessel or via gravity flow into a vessel with a hazardous solvent atmosphere. The reactor is never open to the atmosphere during the charging procedure, thus maintaining the closed system in the reactor.

Process equipment for multipurpose active pharmaceutical ingredient and pharmaceutical production for those facilities that previously were dedicated to one product.

Solid-liquids separation

Q: Can you outline any key product or service introductions that your company will be making in line with Interphex and/or planned for launch in 2008?

Forthuber: Helical vacuum dryer—we will introduce our 40-L size pilot unit at Interphex 2008 in Philadelphia.

Controls and measurement

Q: Can you outline any key product or service introductions that your company will be making in line with Interphex and/or planned for launch in 2008?

Martin: The "Series 610" low differential pressure transmitters are capable of measuring the pressure and flow of air or nonconducting gases at greater resolution in cleanrooms, isolation rooms, and other critical environments. This unit uses an improved all stainless steel micro-tig welded sensor to detect differential pressures down to 0.1-in. water column (wc) at 0.25% full-scale accuracy. Easy access pressure ports and electrical connections, removable heads, and detachable terminal blocks make for fast and easy installation.

The Series 610 transmitter can be ordered with either a base mount or a din rail mount and the option of a digital read-out display. In addition, a calibration key can be ordered that allows the user to set zero and span. One key will work on multiple transmitters.

The "Series RH-R" humidity/temperature transmitter can be used for those applications where space is limited. The compact sensor is protected by a replaceable filter. It can be mounted up to 16 ft away from the weatherproof base. The Series RH-R is ideal for environmental chambers, cleanrooms. and air-handler applications.

The "Series TTE" is used for hazardous temperature measurement applications. This transmitter has seven preprogrammed temperature ranges that are selectable via an internal dip switch. For those applications that need a custom range, the transmitter can easily be field configured for any range between -20 to 250 °F with a minimum span of 40 °F. The span and zero can be quickly adjusted with the simple push button design. The optional two-line liquid crystal display (LCD) informs both the temperature and the output. The compact housing allows for the transmitter to be mounted in virtually any application.

The "Series DH3" differential pressure controller provides a 4–20 mA process output, two single-pole double-throw relays with adjustable dead bands, and a large, bright backlit LCD display. The DH3 offers simplified programming via a menu key that enables the user to select: security level; set point or set point and alarm operation; auto or manual alarm reset; English or metric engineering units; pressure, velocity or flow operation, K-factor for use with various Pitot tubes and flow sensors, circular or rectangular duct size for volumetric flow operation plus many more. The sensing element can detect low differential pressures down to 0.1 in. w.c. Ranges up to 100-in. w.c. as well as bidirectional ranges are also available. These features make the DH3 "Digihelic" differential pressure controller the ideal instrument for monitoring pressures in various rooms, zones, and ducts in factories, laboratories or buildings.

Smith: We will be introducing a new positive pump specifically for the pharmaceutical industry. Our "Johnson Top Wing" pump uses innovative materials, an extremely simple, clean internal design and several gearbox innovations to address industry concerns about efficiency, reliability, and the ability to clean-in-place and steam-in-place.

Water purification and disinfection

Fournier: For pharmaceutical water, we are introducing a single-skid design for producing USP-purified water. This design will be available in several configurations that would meet the needs of most applications.

For filtration, we are introducing a tangential-flow hollow-fiber filter that can be used in processing various solutions in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most common use would be to filter fermentation broths in biotech processing. The advantage is faster processing times with higher yields.

For disinfectants, we are introducing a "Mini Fog" device for dry fogging small enclosures such as hoods in laboratories. This will replace a very labor-intensive and inefficient process of manually cleaning these areas with a process that is fast and very effective.

Personal protection equipment

Rowe: In 2008, Bullard will be launching and promoting our sterilized respirators that are FDA-validated to 10^-6 sterility-assurance levels.

For a related story, see "Innovation in Equipment and Machinery" from the March 2008 issue.