Control Software for CroNiMo High Shear Mixer Granulators

The Available Control Software Options for Cronimo R&D and Production High Shear Mixer Granulators

 

Available Control System Options:

The control system options for the Granulit High Shear Mixer Granulators range from basic manual controls an advanced CroNiMo’s exclusive True Torque Measurement™ technology. This can be a completely automated, recipe-based, CFR compliant touchscreen computer controlled system with direct measurement of the torque applied to the mixer blade shaft.

The control software used on Cronimo R&D granulators is essentially the same as used on the Cronimo production-scale models making it easier to scale up an experimental process or formulation to a full scale pharmaceutical manufacturing environment.

Manual Controls:

The most basic granulator Controls offered by CroNiMo is a very simple pushbutton hardwired system with virtually no data collection or analysis . The chopper and mixer are both variable speed and there are a number of indicators available as options such as a PT-100. Actual control of the unit is manual using pushbuttons, speed selector switches, on-off switches and an E-Stop. The required interlocks for operator safety are hardwired into the system.

Functions controlled by the manual control system include:

• Impeller blade START/STOP
• Monitoring and setting impeller blade speed
• Cutter blade START/STOP
• Monitoring and setting cutter blade speed
• Binder dosing (peristaltic) pump START/STOP
• Monitoring and setting binder dosing pump speed
• Failure and alarm monitoring
• Printout of basic process parameters to document batch

CroNiMo SoftLogic Automatic Controls

The Cronimo SoftLogic automatic control system is either an Allen-Bradley or Siemens based PLC-PC system with a touchscreen HMI. The system allows the operator to select either the manual or fully automatic mode of operation when beginning a batch. The main screen that the operator sees when turning on the system and is properly logged in is the main screen which has on it a group of six (6) touchscreen buttons named Operation, Recipe, Security, Information, Engineering and End. The information organization behind each of these 6 buttons is the same for all CroNiMo products using the SoftLogic control system. Operators who have been trained on a CroNiMo granulator for example and are then assigned to a CroNiMo fluid bed will notice right away that the control system main screen is identical and the organization behind the buttons has the same look and feel as the granulator did. This design approach promotes intuitive learning of the CroNiMo controls by the operators who use the system and facilitates ease of training new operators as well.

SoftLogic allows the operator to specify what the process will be in a step-by-step fashion configuring along the way a complete process definition which can then be saved as a recipe available in the recipe database for reuse or editing in the future. If the recipe is defined as “non-programmed” then the software allows the operator to execute the batch by manual control.

SoftLogic with TTM^™ True Torque Measurement:

When using the SoftLogic system the operator has access to such information as real time trending of variables including the real torque of the system via the use of CroNiMo’s proprietary TTM^™ True Torque Measurement system which is unique in the industry. This ingenious device actually measures the true torque exerted on the mixer blade by the batch being processed. The TTM literally suspends the mixer blade mixer motor, mixer gear-reducer and mixer main shaft from a multiple plate device under the mixer bowl. It is equipped with horizontal and vertical roller bearings configured in a way that allows free rotation of the drive system. Within this plate system there is a load cell mounted in such a way that when the mixer motor is engaged, the only thing preventing the entire drive assembly from rotating is the structure on which the load cell is mounted. There is a tab mounted on the TTM disc structure that engages the load cell.