FR2543851A1 - STERILIZABLE HAMMER CRUSHER - Google Patents

Abstract

STERILIZABLE HAMMER CRUSHER INCLUDING A HAMMER CRUSHER 10 DRIVEN BY A HYDRAULIC MOTOR 32; A HYDRAULIC MOTOR GROUP INCLUDING A MOTOR 36 AND A HYDRAULIC PUMP 34, THIS HYDRAULIC MOTOR GROUP BEING DESIGNED TO BE MOUNTED REMOTE FROM THE HAMMER CRUSHER AND BEING CONNECTED TO THE LATTER BY HYDRAULIC LINES 38, 40; AND A VALVE SYSTEM 44, 46 FOR ADJUSTING THE PRESSURE OF THE HYDRAULIC FLUID BETWEEN THE ENGINE UNIT AND THE HYDRAULIC MOTOR, SO THAT THE SPEED OF THE HYDRAULIC MOTOR CAN BE ADJUSTED. APPLICATION TO THE SIZE REDUCTION OF SOLID PHARMACEUTICAL PARTICLES TO BE ABLE TO PUT THEM IN THE FORM OF STERILE POWDERS.

Description

STERILIZABLE HAMMER CRUSHER

  The present invention relates to a grinder for reducing the particle size.

  invention relates to a sterilizable hammer mill comprising

  - (a) a hammer mill which is driven by a hydraulic motor; (b) a hydraulic power unit comprising a motor and a hydraulic pump, said hydraulic power unit being adapted to be remotely mounted to said hammer mill and connected thereto by hydraulic lines; and (c) a valve system having valves for adjusting the pressure of the hydraulic fluid between said engine unit and said hydraulic motor, such that the speed

  said hydraulic motor can be adjusted.

  The mill according to the present invention is particularly suitable

  to reduce the size of pharmaceutical products

  to ensure that they can be put in the form of

sterile.

  In terms of the trade, "Fitz mill" refers to a hammer mill of the type manufactured by The Fitzpatrick Company in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States of America. In a Fitz mill, rotating hammers, striking the solid material, force the material

  to pass through a sieve or screen, reducing the

  of its particles Fitz mills are used in

  the pharmaceutical industry for at least 40 years.

  therefore, those skilled in the art are generally familiar with

hammer mills of this model.

  Fitz mills which have been used up to now have the disadvantage that when used in

  sterile environments, they are usually trained by cour-

  roies In operation, the belts that are used to

  train the mechanism of rotating hammers, break and form

  particles that compromise the sterility of the medium in

  which the crusher is used In addition, the particles of the

  roies also compromise the quality of the powders that are

produced by the grinders.

  In addition to the problems of belt rupture, the v

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  Fitz mills of the prior art also have bearings that allow high speed rotation of the hammer mechanism. Bearings of the type used so far can not be sterilized in a water vapor environment because of the way they are built. Yet another problem with prior art Fitz mills is that their shaft seals include a number of sealing components which are

  assembled and bolted together as with any

  ble of seals, a certain amount of powder passes

  in the joint itself Given the design of the joints of

  shaft sealing that are used in Fitz mills according to

  the prior art, a very tedious operation is neces-

  to dismantle the shaft seals in order to

clean.

  Given the previous design elements of Fitz mills that have been known to date, infertility and

  cleanliness of such grinders is compromised during their operation.

  and then the grinders are difficult to clean.

  Another general problem with motor-driven mechanisms, including the Fitz Mills in the prior art, is that it is very difficult to obtain a sterilizable motor because of factors such as the presence of scales. In addition, the engines are generally constructed in a manner that makes them more efficient.

  very refractory to cleaning with bactericidal solutions.

  In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a fully sterilizable hammer mill. The hammer mill according to the present invention utilizes a hydraulic power unit which comprises a motor and a hydraulic pump which can be

  both mounted away from the hammer mill and

  connected by hydraulic lines On the hammer mill itself, there is a valve system which includes a reversing lever, so that the hydraulic liquid can be pumped in either direction, thus allowing the crusher to rotate in either direction This feature is useful for easy cleaning of the mill screen or sieve without interrupting the operation of the mill. The valves, which are formed by micrometric head stop valves, are

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  also used to continuously adjust the speed of the mill.

  This particular mechanism also allows a continuous variation of mill speed, in a range of about 600 to

  about 6000 rpm, while-the crusher works.

  This feature facilitates the experimental determination of

the quality of the product.

  In addition to the foregoing features of the present invention, the sealing mechanism has been considerably simplified. In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a grinding process E of the type used in the pharmaceutical industry, in which the present invention is shown; and

  Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the

  invention, showing the valve system that is used

  to control the hydraulic motor.

  We will now give a detailed description of a

  exemplary embodiment of the invention.

  With general reference to FIG.

  According to the present invention, it is shown schematically. As can be seen, a series of containers 12, 14, containing a sterile pharmaceutical product are connected by a V-shaped mixer 16 in which the material coming from the containers 12 is mixed to give a mixture in premix 18 containers The material exiting the premix 18 containers

  passes into a feed hopper 20 on the sterilized mill.

  The material leaving the feed hopper 20 is

  milled and delivered into a crushed mixture container 22

  In a stirred mixture, the mixture is passed through a V-blender for final mixing and dispensing into containers.

26 to final mix.

  Still with reference to FIG. 1, the grinder 10 comprises

  carries a shaft 28 which is connected by a coupling 30 to a hydraulic motor 32 The hydraulic motor 32 is part of a

  hydraulic circuit which comprises a hydraulic pump 34 driving

  The hydraulic pump 34 provides a

  high pressure oil in a first pipe 38,

  the low pressure oil being returned to the pump by a cannula

  By means of a valve mechanism 42 of version in which the 38,40 high pressure and low pressure lines are connected, the direction of circulation of the oil in the

  hydraulic motor 32 can be adjusted to ensure a possible

  The valves 44, 46 which are mounted in the pipes on either side of the hydraulic motor 32 offer the possibility of adjusting the flow rate of high pressure oil into the engine 32. the motor 32 rotates, one or the other of the valves 44, 46 will be on the high pressure side The other valve, 46, 44, which is located

  low pressure side, is generally maintained in full position-

  However, for fine adjustments, the

  Low pressure can also be used.

  In accordance with the present invention, the pump 34 and the motor 36 are part of a hydraulic power unit which comprises

  also an oil reservoir 48, which, in the form of

  preferred embodiment of the invention contains about 285 liters of

  The entire hydraulic motor unit is preferably mounted outside the sterile zone in which the mill 10 operates. This is an extremely important part of the present invention in that the motor 36

  motor group may not be sterile without

  promise the sterility of the grinder-10 or the product that is milled there. An additional feature of the hammer mill 10 of the present invention is the use of a seal

  divided into two parts, the upper half of the

  sealing being bolted in the lower half As a result

  This makes it easy to unbolt the top half of the seal, remove it from the shaft to garnish and clean the bearing, and clean the area where the seal is located.

sealing.

  In order to prolong the sterility of the grinder 10 and of

  put an easy cleaning thereof, the whole body of the mill 10 and the frame of the mill 10 are made of a material

  easily sterilizable with steam, for example stainless steel

  dable, which is used in the preferred embodiment of

  invention A unique characteristic of the form of reality

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention is that it comprises a sealed bearing made entirely of metal with high-grade grease.

  Until now, such levels have not been used

  in high-speed hammer mills.

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Claims (6)

  A sterilizable hammer mill comprising:   (a) A hammer mill driven by a hydraulic motor   than; (b) a hydraulic motor unit comprising a motor and a hydraulic pump, said hydraulic motor unit being designed to be remotely mounted to said hammer mill and being connected thereto by hydraulic lines; and (c) a valve system having valves for adjusting the pressure of the hydraulic fluid between said motel group and said hydraulic motor, such that the speed of said   hydraulic motor can be set.   2 hammer mill sterilizable according to claim   characterized in that said valve system comprises   inverting popes for said hydraulic fluid, such that the hydraulic liquid can be pumped in either direction through said hydraulic motor, thereby enabling said mill, to turn in either direction A sterilizable hammer mill according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it consists of a material which is easily sterilizable.   4. Hammer mill sterilizable according to claim   3, characterized in that it consists of stainless steel.   A sterilizable hammer mill according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, characterized in that it further comprises a seal   shaft sealing divided into two parts.   6 Hammer mill sterilizable in any E   Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises a watertight bearing.   Sterilizable hammer mill according to claim 6, characterized in that said sealed bearing comprises oily for high temperatures.   Sterilizable hammer mill according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that said sealed bearing is designed to be sterilized with steam.