The tablet press is mainly used for tablet technology research in the pharmaceutical industry. Also called tablet compression machine, tablet punching machine. The tablet press is an automatic continuous production equipment that presses granular objects into round, special-shaped, and text, symbols, and graphics tablets. Some pharmaceutical tablet presses have burrs and dust during tablet compression and should be equipped with a elevating tablet deduster to remove dust at the same time (more than twice), and must meet GMP specifications.
What’s Tablet Press?
According to the terminology standard, there are the following definitions of tablet press:
Single Punch Tablet Press: Utilizes one pair of punches moving vertically to compress tablets. Suitable for small batch production and research.
Rotary Tablet Press: Equipped with multiple molds arranged on a rotating turret, allowing high-speed, continuous tablet production.
High-Speed Rotary Tablet Press: A variant of the rotary press with mold turret speeds exceeding 60 meters per minute, featuring advanced automation such as PLC control, automatic pressure adjustment, and quality control mechanisms.
Structure and Working Principle of Tablet Press Machines
The earliest tablet press consisted of a pair of punches that compressed granular materials into tablets through vertical movement. This machine was known as the single-punch tablet press. With technological advancements, the electric basket-type tablet press emerged. Both types of tablet presses retained the working principle of manual unidirectional compression from the mold—during compression, the lower punch remained stationary while only the upper punch moved to apply pressure. This unidirectional compression method often resulted in inconsistent internal density within tablets due to uneven upper and lower forces, leading to issues such as cracking.
To address the limitations of unidirectional tablet presses, the rotary multi-station bidirectional tablet press was developed. This machine applies pressure simultaneously and uniformly from both the upper and lower punches, allowing sufficient time for air within the drug granules to escape from the die cavity. This improves the uniformity of tablet density and reduces cracking. Additionally, rotary tablet presses offer advantages such as minimal machine vibration, low noise, reduced energy consumption, high efficiency, and precise tablet weight control.
The rotary tablet press operates by utilizing multiple sets of dies evenly distributed on a turntable, which follow a specific circular trajectory. The granular material is compressed into tablets through pressure rollers. When the linear speed of the punches rotating with the turntable reaches ≥60 m/min, the machine is classified as a high-speed rotary tablet press. This high-speed variant incorporates a forced feeding mechanism and is controlled by a PLC system. It features automatic pressure adjustment and control, along with functions such as real-time tablet weight monitoring, defective tablet rejection, data printing, fault display, and automatic shutdown. Beyond maintaining tablet weight within strict tolerances, it can also automatically detect and reject tablets with quality defects like chipped edges or loose structure.
Applications of Tablet Press Machines
The tablets produced by early tablet presses were predominantly flat and round. Later, their shapes evolved to feature shallowly curved or deeply convex surfaces on both sides to meet the requirements of coating processes. With the development of shaped tablet presses, tablets in forms such as oval, triangular, egg-shaped, square, diamond, and ring-shaped emerged. Additionally, advancements in pharmaceutical formulations—driven by the demands of compound preparations, sustained-release formulations, and others—have necessitated specialized tablet presses to produce tablets with unique structures, including double-layer, triple-layer, and core-shell designs.
With the development of market demands, the application scope of tablet presses has significantly expanded. They are no longer confined to the production of traditional Chinese and Western pharmaceutical tablets, but have also been extended to various fields including:
- Health supplements and veterinary drug tablets
- Industrial chemical tablets: such as camphor balls/mothballs, detergent blocks, Lanjingling blocks, cosmetic pressed powder, and pesticide tablets
- Food-grade tablets: including chicken bouillon cubes, Banlangen (Isatis root) blocks, Shenqu fermented tea blocks, and compressed biscuits
This versatility makes tablet press machines indispensable equipment in modern manufacturing processes.
At SED Pharma, we specialize in providing advanced pharmaceutical packaging machinery, including high-quality tablet presses tailored to your production needs. Our solutions ensure compliance with global standards, maximize efficiency and maintain product quality. For expert advice and high-performance tablet press solutions, contact us today!
