VDW Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken e.V.

The Pharmadry® horizontal vacuum paddle dryer was developed for the drying of pharmaceutical ingredients and fine chemicals. Besides its low capital investment costs, major advantages of this dryer are its short cycle times, the prevention of contamination by foreign matter, ease of operation and validation as well as excellent access for cleaning and inspection purposes. PHARMADRY® IS AN OPTIMAL SINTHESYS AMONG CYCLE TIMES, QUALITY, CLEANNESS AND PRICE. In compliance with cGMP and FDA guidelines. Also available in aseptic design. Calculation, design and manufacture to Pressure Equipment Directive 97/23/EC and/or ASME U-Stamp.

Cylindrical, horizontal vessel with flat welded rear cover and a hinged flat front door opening up over the entire vessel diameter. With the door open the internals of the machine are fully accessible for cleaning and inspection purposes.

All surfaces in contact with the product such as the vessel, rear cover, front door, agitator and vapour filter are heated, providing very efficient heat exchange.

To provide for good heat exchange and discharge characteristics the cylindrical vessel, the rear cover, the front door and the agitator are machined to assure the smallest possible tolerances between agitator and vessel walls.

The agitator is installed at the rear of the dryer, supported on one side of the vessel only.

The agitator is designed to meet the requirements of this particular dryer type to assure good and even mixing action throughout the dryer volume, also in reverse operation.

The agitator provides very good emptying characteristics, and at the same time reduces friction onto the product to a minimum to prevent local overheating as well as to prevent directional thrust or local product compression.

A double mechanical seal is installed on the rear cover, well accessible for cleaning and maintenance purposes.. A spacer in between the seal and the agitator drive permits removal of the seal without disassembling the drive.

Dry or wet running mechanical seals may be installed.

View into the Pharmadry® interior with heated agitator shaft, arms and blades.

The dryer is equipped with automatically retractable CIP nozzles (shown in active/extended position). 

The nozzles are flush with the rear wall in retracted position. In addition to these automatically retractable CIP nozzles in the area of the mechanical seal, a nozzle is installed in the front door to insert a conventional spray ball for the cleaning of the front section of the vessel.

During drying operations a plug which is flush to the door wall is inserted into the nozzle.

Aseptic design available.

With:

- segmented ball discharge

valve, fiber optic vessel light

installed in front door.  

- separation wall for clean area and

mechanical area, non contacting

(lift-off) double mechanical seal

Control systems are available for the levels of automation desired, with PLC/PC base systems, with recipe management, slaved to DCS systems etc.