Telstar has integrated new automated product handling systems for automatic loading and unloading processes into high-capacity pharmaceutical sterilisation systems. The new robotised solution will be incorporated in the SteriDelta autoclave which has a capacity of above 50m3, and has been designed for sterilising large parenteral products.
The sterilisation system integrates robotised processing prior to loading products from the filling equipment and begins to classify and place the packaged material (bags, bottles, etc.) on trays and, subsequently, places them on the transport conveyors which, in turn, are placed on the automatic loading system to be fed into the autoclave chamber.
Once the sterilisation process has been completed, the unloading system extracts the product from the autoclave at a maximum temperature of up to 80ºC and the load is placed automatically on the packaging line.
Unlike the manual loading and unloading process, which requires putting the product through a cooling phase until reaching a temperature of 40ºC so that it can be unloaded from the chamber, the automated process integrated into the SteriDelta range enables unloading at a higher temperature. This provides greater efficiency with an average reduction of 15% of the duration of the sterilisation cycle and a energy consumption saving of up to 20%.
Telstar says demand for sterilisation systems has grown 40% in the past two years, particularly sterilisation equipment designed for larger size pharmaceutical products within the SteriDelta range.
The larger superheated water autoclaves have been developed for conducting faster sterilisation cycles with greater energy efficiency.
Designed to sterilise large batches of parenteral solutions, the equipment includes control systems that allow it to balance the pressure between the inside of the container and the autoclave chamber during the heating and cooling stages. This ensures that the process is developed under a uniform temperature and that the packaging remains physically intact when the cycle finishes.
