Automatic Tableting Machine: Designing, Construction and Starting Up

A Mexican manufacturing plant, whose main product is deodorant tablets for domestic and commercial use, requested the design, construction, and start up of an automatic machine to make 3 600 deodorant tablets per hour of Paradichlorobenzene (PDB). The tablets should have a density no less than 1 400 [kg/m3] with a weight variation of 4.5% maximum. To design the machine, it was necessary to measure energies and exerted forces during compaction of granulated PDB. The experimental data allow to determine the power needed to reach the target density in PDB tablets. Movements and compaction force in the tableting machine are performed by means of electro-pneumatic and electro-hydraulic technologies. The specification of the logic controller of the machine was realized by means of Grafcet to allow efficiency and accuracy. The result of the work generated a versatile, efficient machine with a robust control system.