"This is the only vibratory feeder of its kind available to the pharma industry," Dave Heubel, Eriez, told In-PharmaTechnologist.com.
Unlike traditional electromagnetic vibratory feeders, Eriez's new 26C vibratory feeder features a totally enclosed, dust-and-moisture resistant magnetic drive and has no internal moving parts.
"As a result, the feeder is very sanitary and does not need to be disassembled to be cleaned. This reduces the feeder cleaning time by approximately one hour," said Heubel.
"In addition to saving customers time, the new feeder also saves money, as it uses less electrical current to operate and has an extended coil life, as it has no internal wear and tear," he said.
The feeder's unique Hi-Vi Magnetic Drive Circuit incorporates a lifetime permanent magnet whose poles are intermeshed with those of an electromagnet powered directly by an AC line.
The result is that the spring-mounted moving mass is both attracted and repelled by the AC electromagnet equally on each half of the AC cycle, providing stability, control and accuracy of bulk drug mixing.
Model 26C is designed for feeding up to four tons (3.6 MT) per hour and depending on size, sells for $5,000 to $15,000.
"We have already sold two units and we will hopefully sell a few dozen more in the next couple of years," said Heubel.