access icon free Steps towards numerical verification of the terahertz in-line measurement of tablet mixing by means of discrete element modelling

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Received 08/02/2018, Accepted 23/07/2018, Revised 16/07/2018, Published 01/08/2018

In recent years, terahertz in-line sensing has been used to monitor the film coating thickness of individual pharmaceutical tablets during the coating process. In the previous work, the in-line measurements were verified against off-line measurements of samples from the same population. Here, we report on our recent progress to further verify the validity of the terahertz in-line measurement modality using discrete element modelling for an artificial lab-scale tablet mixing process inside a tablet pan coater. By coupling discrete modelling with a ray-tracing method, it is then possible to estimate the cumulative measurements taken, which in turn can guide towards the fine-tuning of the selection criteria as part of measurement analysis.

Inspec keywords: mixing; coatings; discrete element method; pharmaceutical industry; pharmaceuticals; ray tracing

Other keywords: numerical verification; tablet mixing; terahertz in-line measurement modality; cumulative measurements; measurement analysis; off-line measurements; discrete modelling; film coating thickness; tablet pan coater; artificial lab-scale tablet; discrete element modelling; in-line measurements; coating process; individual pharmaceutical tablets; terahertz in-line sensing

Subjects: Surface treatment and coating techniques; Industrial processes; Pharmaceutical industry; Numerical analysis; Products and commodities

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