When a UK based, pharmaceutical manufacturer wanted to increase capacity at their tablet manufacturing and packaging centre they asked Hosokawa to develop a GMP design, multifunctional, dispensary booth.

It needed to support dispensing, weighing, delumping and material handling of Level 111 active pharmaceutical compounds with containment systems to provide consistent operator protection at OELs <10?m/m3 TWA/8 hr.

The resulting design offers the capability to handle a variety of drum sizes, manual and semi-automated handling operations and is equipped with an operator protection screen. The design brings together equipment from several leading OEMs, into one user friendly facility.

Located on a mezzanine floor the Downflow Booth incorporates two drum tipping stations, drum lifting equipment, gravity feed chutes to lower level IBC stations as well as equipment for product de-lumping and drum charging. With space at a premium, the Downflow Booth has been designed to fit into an existing building footprint, meeting unique design and integration challenges and throughput demand.

Material filled drums enter the open front design Downflow Booth, where a vertical downflow of air alleviates the rise of dust in the operator’s breathing zone which may be created during drum opening or drum tip and sampling activities.

The Downflow Booth is equipped with two separate drum tipping stations. Drums are loaded into the drum tippers using a pneumatic hoist. Once the lids were removed the drum tippers elevate the drums to 180° and can either dispense product into a receiving drum or operators can manually dispense from the drum in the 90° rotated position. When dispensing from the Downflow Booth to an IBC on the ground floor of the facility, the drum is inverted and docked prior to gravity discharge down a vertical transfer chute. This passes through the floor and is fitted with a Stott hygienic, inflatable, downward sealing head that seals against the top opening of the IBC minimizing dust exposure to the operator during the filling process. The downward sealing head is fitted with integrated LEV extraction collar for removal of dust when the seal is deflated.

A 5D containment screen provides a secondary level of barrier containment. Its articulated movement and positioning in the booth allows operators to use this additional method of protection at either tipping station and for access to all areas of the Downflow Booth.

A milling station is incorporated within the Downflow Booth to achieve product delumping prior to further sampling, subdivision or IBC loading. The drum tippers totally invert the drums to dock onto the mill to create a dust free seal that minimises airborne dust.

Full operation of all automated equipment and operations is achieved from a single console. The Downflow Booth is equipped with a cooling package which maintains the temperature in the booth at 21°C +/- 2°C to create a user friendly working environment.

If you would like to learn more about our downflow booths  or isolation systems please visit our containment resource center  or contact us  for an individual review of your requirements.