Vial Powder Filling Bunging Machine

A Vial Powder Filling Bunging Machine (also known as an Injectable Powder Filling Machine or Vial Dry Powder Filling and Stoppering Machine) is a specialized piece of pharmaceutical packaging equipment designed to automate the precise filling of sterile powder into glass vials, followed by the insertion of rubber stoppers (bungs). This monoblock system performs both filling and bunging operations on a single platform, ensuring sterility, accuracy, and efficiency in high-volume production. It is commonly used for injectable powders, such as antibiotics or lyophilized products, in compliance with cGMP standards.

Vial Powder Filling Bunging Machine Video

Key Features

• Filling Mechanism: Utilizes a vacuum-driven powder wheel with servo motors for precise dosing. Powder is stored in a hopper with mechanical agitators to maintain uniform bulk density. Compressed air or nitrogen flushes the powder into vials through nozzles, achieving filling accuracy of ±2% (depending on powder characteristics).

• Bunging/Stoppering System: Integrated rubber stopper delivery via a vibrating bowl and chute. Supports full or half bunging for lyophilized products, with pneumatic pressing for secure placement in a sterile environment.

• Production Capacity: Outputs range from 30 to 250 vials per minute (VPM), scalable with models featuring single or double powder wheels.

• Safety and Controls: Includes no-vial/no-stopper detection to halt operations, clutch systems for vial breakage prevention, and PLC-based HMI for speed adjustment and digital counting. Optional laminar airflow for Class 100 sterile filling, IQ/OQ validation, and rejection systems.

• Construction: Contact parts made from SS 316L for corrosion resistance; framework in SS 304. Tool-less adjustments for blades and easy changeovers.

How It Works

1. Vial Infeed: Empty, sterilized vials are loaded onto an infeed turntable or slat conveyor and transported to the filling station, where proximity sensors detect and position them under nozzles.

2. Powder Filling: Agitated powder from the hopper is metered into the powder wheel. Sequential air pulses dispense pre-set volumes into each vial.

3. Vial Separation and Transfer: Filled vials are separated on the conveyor and moved to the bunging station.

4. Bunging/Stoppering: Rubber bungs are fed from a vibratory bowl through a chute and pressed into the vial necks using pneumatic cylinders.

5. Outfeed: Completed vials exit via an outfeed turntable for downstream processes like capping, sealing, or labeling.

Applications and Benefits

Primarily used in pharmaceutical manufacturing for sterile injectables, this machine minimizes contamination risks, reduces manual handling, and supports integration into full vial filling lines (e.g., with washers, sterilizers, cappers, and labelers). It enhances productivity while maintaining precision for small to large batches, making it ideal for dry syrups, vaccines, or API powders.

Salient Features of Vial Powder Filling Bunging Machine

• Compact cGMP model.

• “No Vial, No Filling” system eliminates wastage of costly powder.

• Multiple Dosing System.

• High Volumetric Filling Accuracy of ±2% of uniform density Injectable powder can be ensured by setting the depth of piston in the port of powder wheel.

• Built-in Rubber Stoppering Unit saves lot of space in the Sterile Area & reduces the length of Laminar Flow.

• Individual drive for the filling & sealing to match the speed of filling & sealing.

• All motors are provided with appropriate contractors and relays for the protection against any overload or jamming.

• Safety clutch system to avoid Vial breakage.

• Variable AC Frequency Drive for speed adjustment.

• All contact parts are easily removable for mandatory Autoclaving/ Sterilization.

• Digital counter for counting production output.

Working Principle of Vial Powder Filler

The sterilized powder is stored in powder hopper is agitated by pair of mechanical agitators for maintaining consistency and uniform bulk density. The powder wheel having eight ports rotates at the pre determined speed below the powder hopper with practically no clearance. Powder wheel consist of Piston in each port and behind the powder wheel vacuum plate is provided there is no clearance between powder wheel and vacuum plate due to back spring pressure. Precise volume of powder is sucked in to the port of powder wheel during vacuum according to the piston length different fill size can be achieved. The excess powder is doctored off by a doctor blade. Doctor blades can be adjusted from outside also without removing powder hopper. When powder wheel indexes further and remain in the port due to the vacuum till it reaches just vertically above the container. The time dose of Compressed air (Nitrogen Gas), sterilized low pressure air sequentially flushes out powder from the port of powder wheel in to the container one by one. The filled containers are immediately separated on the conveyor by vial separator and moves further for stoppering operation. (Different grooves separator can be used which depends on the container diameter or multiple dosing systems). The sterilized, siliconised, rubber stoppers stored in the vibrator bowl moves to vibratory bowl and stacked vertically in the rubber stopper chute. The container is hold firmly between pair or timing belt to pickup rubber stopper from exit end of the chute. Further the container is passed between two pressing roller for tight fit fixing of rubber stopper.

Technical Specification of Vial Powder Filling Machine

* Power voltage can be adjusted as per customer’s domestic power voltage requirements.
* Rights of technical improvements & modification reserved.
* Illustrations & dimensions are shown for information purpose only.