LUBRICATION UNIT AND METHOD OF LUBRICATING ENCAPSULATED SOFT GELATIN CAPSULE

Abstract

The present invention discloses a lubricating unit/apparatus/system and to the method of lubricating encapsulated soft gelatine capsules and, more particularly, to soft gelatin and non-gelatin capsules to overcome the problem of clumping and nesting of the soft gelatin capsules.

Claims

1. An automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules which comprises; i. passing the printed encapsulated capsules between moving media, the moving media including an upper layer and a lower layer; and ii. dripping a required quantity of a food grade lubricant/oil on a desired area of the moving media and smearing the printed encapsulated capsules with said lubricant/oil passing through the moving media.

2. An automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 1 comprising; i. providing the food approved lubricant/oil from an oil tank to manifold nozzles on a flexible pipe connected to a pump of the oil tank; ii. adjusting an oil flow of each nozzle by flow control valves mounted on each nozzle; iii. loading the printed encapsulated capsules in a hopper; iv. passing the printed encapsulated capsules in between the upper layer and the lower layer of the moving media through a controlled gate of the hopper, wherein the moving media are cloth or paper; v. lubricating the printed encapsulated capsules by controlled dripping of the said lubricant/oil from the nozzles on to the desired area of the moving media and smearing the printed encapsulated capsules with a thin film of said lubricant/oil passing through the moving media; and vi. inspecting each oil smeared printed encapsulated capsule.

3. The automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 2, wherein the food approved lubricant/oil is selected from the group consisting of hydrophilic vehicles and Lipophilic vehicles.

4. The automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 2, wherein the automated lubrication of the printed encapsulated capsules is performed in one step without manual intervention.

5. An automated lubricant apparatus for lubricating printed encapsulated capsules which comprises; an oil tank with a dosing pump integrated with the automated lubricant apparatus for providing food approved lubricant/oil on starting the automated lubricant apparatus; flexible pipes connected to the pump for receiving lubricant/oil from the pump; a manifold with nozzles for receiving lubricant/oil from the flexible pipes; flow control valves with knobs mounted on the nozzles to adjust a flow of lubricant/oil; a hopper attached to the automated lubricant apparatus for loading printed encapsulated capsules, media comprising cloth or paper of size ranging from 300-400 mm in width for smearing the printed encapsulated capsules with a thin film of lubricant/oil dripped on to the said media from the nozzles to produce lubricated capsules; a controlled gate attached to the hopper for passing the printed encapsulated capsules between the media; and a camera inspection system for inspecting each lubricated capsule and an integrated bulk packing line to pack the lubricated capsules in bottles.

6. (canceled)

7. Printed encapsulated capsules which are free from clumping or nesting during storage, wherein the printed encapsulated capsules are obtained by the process as claimed in claim 1.

8. Printed encapsulated capsules which are free from clumping or nesting during storage, wherein the printed encapsulated capsules are obtained by the process as claimed in claim 2.

9. The printed encapsulated capsules of claim 7, wherein the printed encapsulated capsules are gelatin capsules.

10. The printed encapsulated capsules of claim 7, wherein the printed encapsulated capsules are non-gelatin capsules.

11. The automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 2, wherein the food approved lubricant/oil is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycols, ethoxypolyethylene glycols, propylene glycol, glycerine, free fatty acids, fatty acid esters of hydroxyl compounds, and polyethoxylated fatty acid esters.

12. The automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 2, wherein the food approved lubricant/oil is selected from the group consisting of PEG400; PEG600; and fatty acid esters of hydroxy compounds selected from the group consisting of ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, glycerin, sorbitol, sucrose, and polyethylene glycols.

13. The automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules as claimed in claim 2, further comprising packing the oil smeared printed encapsulated capsules in bottles in an integrated bulk packing line.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0037] FIG. 1 depicts the lubricant apparatus with flexible pipes, manifold nozzles, flow control valves and media.

[0038] FIG. 2 depicts the oil tank/vessel, dosing pump mounted on said oil tank/vessel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0039] The invention will now be described with reference to certain preferred and optional embodiments, so that the various aspects therein will be more clearly understood and appreciated.

[0040] In an embodiment, the present invention discloses automated method of evenly lubricating printed encapsulated capsules which comprises; [0041] i. passing the printed encapsulated capsules between the moving media having upper and lower layer; [0042] ii. dripping the required quantity of food grade lubricant/oil on the desired area of moving media and smearing the printed gelatin capsules with said lubricant/oil passing through the media.

[0043] In another embodiment, the process steps of lubricating the printed encapsulated capsules for even distribution of food approved lubricant/oil on to the capsule comprising; [0044] i. providing food approved lubricant/oil from the oil tank to the manifold nozzles on the flexible pipe connected to the pump of the oil tank; [0045] ii. adjusting the oil flow of each nozzle by flow control valves mounted on each nozzle; [0046] iii. loading the printed encapsulated soft gelatine capsules in the hopper of the machine; [0047] iv. passing the capsules in between the moving media cloth/paper having upper and lower layer through controlled gate of the hopper; [0048] v. lubricating the soft gelatin capsules by control dripping of the said lubricant/oil from the nozzle on to the desired area of the moving media cloth/paper and smearing the gelatin capsules with thin film of said lubricant/oil passing through the media. [0049] vi. inspecting each oil smeared capsule followed by packing in the bottle in the integrated bulk packing line.

[0050] In yet another embodiment, the present invention discloses automated lubricant apparatus for lubricating the printed encapsulated soft gelatin capsules which comprises; [0051] i. Oil tank with a dosing pump integrated with the machine for providing food approved lubricant/oil to the flexible pipes attached to the pump, on starting the machine; [0052] ii. Flexible pipes connected to the pump for providing lubricant/oil to the nozzles assembled manifold on to the said flexible pipes; [0053] iii. Flow control valves with knobs mounted on the said nozzle to adjust the flow of lubricant/oil on to the media; [0054] iv. Hopper attached to the machine for loading printed encapsulated soft gelatine capsules, [0055] v. Controlled gate attached to the said hopper for passing the capsules between the media; [0056] vi. Media comprising cloth or paper of size ranging from 300-400 mm in width for smearing the passing gelatin capsules with a thin film of lubricant/oil dripped on to the said media; [0057] vii. Camera inspection system for inspecting each oil smeared capsule and integrated bulk packing line to pack the lubricated capsules in the bottle.

[0058] The automated lubricating apparatus and method of lubricating printed encapsulated soft gelatin capsules before packing are described herein with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Accordingly, the lubrication apparatus consists of oil tank of approx. 5-7 litre capacity filled with food approved lubricant/oil. Mounted on the oil tank is a dosing pump with knob integrated with the machine which sucks the oil from the oil tank to supply the oil to the manifold nozzles fixed on to the flexible pipes. The flexible pipes are attached to the dosing pump that supplies the oil to the manifold nozzles fixed on to the flexible pipes. The nozzles are fixed with control valves to control the said lubricant/oil flow from each nozzle on to the moving media which is fixed below the nozzles. Hopper with controlled gate is attached to the machine for loading printed encapsulated soft gelatine capsules with hardness of 5-7 newton.

[0059] On starting the machine about 0.6-6 litres of food approved lubricant/oil at pressure of 3-4 kg/cm.sup.2, preferably of 3.5 kg/cm.sup.2 is pumped from the pump of the oil tank to the nozzles through flexible tubes attached to the said pump. The required quantity of the lubricant/oil is dripped on to the moving media at desired area from the nozzle using control valves. The printed encapsulated soft gelatin capsules fed in the hopper are passed through the media cloth through the controlled gate of the hopper. The thin film of lubricant/oil on the media smears each of the passing capsules with said lubricant/oil through the media. Each oil smeared capsules are inspected by the camera inspection system and then packed in the bottles of the integrated bulk passing line.

[0060] The food approved lubricant/oil in the present invention is selected from hydrophilic vehicles such as polyethylene glycols (e.g., PEG400, PEG600), ethoxypolyethylene glycols, propylene glycol and glycerine, Lipophilic vehicles such as free fatty acids, fatty acid esters of hydroxyl compounds such as ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, glycerin, sorbitol, sucrose, polyethylene glycols, and polyethoxylated fatty acid esters. The fatty acid composition of these esters may vary from short chain (SC, <C8) to medium chain (MC, C8-C10) to long chain (LC, _C12) suited to smear the capsules which will prevent the capsules from clumping, nesting, leaking and such undesirable side effects during storage at a temperature range of 15-30° C. and a relative humidity of not more than 50%.

[0061] In an embodiment, the present invention provides said lubricant system in conjunction with conventional soft gelatin encapsulation machine or alternately the soft gelatin encapsulated machine comprising said lubricant system.

[0062] In another embodiment, the present invention provides automated lubricant apparatus/system for lubricating encapsulated soft gelatin capsules with food approved lubricant/oil to prevent the capsules from clumping, nesting during storage.

[0063] In an embodiment, the automated lubrication of the printed encapsulated soft-gelatin capsules is performed in one-step without manual intervention, the process is auto-controlled, manual operations are avoided allowing a reduction in total process time.