Ultrasonic Cleaning for the Pharmaceutical Industry

In this article, we will be specifically discussing the role of ultrasonic cleaning in the pharmaceutical industry.

Why does Pharmaceutical Equipment need cleaning?

• Cross-Contamination: In pharmaceutical production lines, cross–contamination between different substances processed on the same line may result in the production of harmful substances. Removal of residual ingredients from the surface of the equipment is very important to prevent cross-contamination.
• Complex Equipment: Pharmaceutical equipment are complex in shape and made up of intricate components making removal of residual contamination difficult. This contamination can ruin an entire batch of drugs. Furthermore, to avoid malfunctioning of equipment, periodic cleaning and maintenance is necessary.
• Quality: Products like creams, ointments and tablets leave traces on various components of the equipment. To remove all such difficult traces, high quality cleaning is required.
• Standards: Pharmaceutical production units have to adhere to stringent cleaning requirements as per international standards. Ultrasonic cleaning helps meet these standards.

Major reasons to upgrade to Ultrasonic Cleaning

• Efficiency: In the Pharmaceutical Industry, the production machines involve complex, intricate shapes like hoses, valves, filters that are particularly difficult to clean manually. It is crucial to remove all dirt, scrap, and abrasive contaminants, as well as bacteria and toxic chemicals from equipment surfaces.
• Labour Costs: To clean intricate machines and components, traditionally a separate cleaning department would be required or the cleaning would be outsourced. Ultrasonic cleaning offers automated cleaning which eliminates the need for manual intervention. This provides significant savings of unskilled labor cost or outsourcing cost.
• Down-Time: Manual cleaning increases downtime between batches. Also, there are chances of batch-to-batch contamination. With ultrasonic cleaning, downtime can be minimized.
• Cleaning Chemicals: To get thorough cleaning, traditional cleaning methods require harsh chemicals. The main concern is whether the cleaning agents themselves will harm the equipment. Ultrasonic cleaning requires mild harmless chemicals which are benign to the equipment as well as the personnel handling them.

Ultrasonic Cleaners with Chillers

• In the Pharmaceutical Industry, specific products and their treatment require low temperatures. An ultrasonic transducer generates heat in the system. To maintain the desired temperature, chillers are used specifically in pharmaceutical ultrasonic cleaning or processing applications.
• Ralsonics manufactures ultrasonic cleaners with chillers. These ultrasonic cleaners maintain the liquid temperature up to 5° This ensures there are very little evaporation losses of expensive solvents in the atmosphere.

Benefits of Ultrasonic Cleaning in the Pharmaceutical Industry

For many years, Pharmaceutical manufacturers have successfully used ultrasonic cleaning as a cleaning medium for cleaning tools, such as medicinal pill punches, molds, and other equipment, such as bottle filling-machine valves and nozzles. There are a number of reasons for this.

• Faster Cleaning: An ultrasonic cleaner can clean parts in a fraction of the time required for traditional cleaning techniques.
• Precision: Although, it is a faster process, it is also a precise process that does not damage highly finished surfaces.
• Reliable: In Pharma equipment, the contaminants and traces of substances may settle into small cracks and crevices that can only be cleaned efficiently using ultrasonic cleaning. The cleaning of sub-micron level impurities can be achieved by adjusting ultrasonic frequency.
• Savings of Resources: You can keep the entire cleaning process unattended utilizing your labour for other important work. The process allows a hands-free approach and automated rinsing ensures removal of traces of cleaning agents remaining on the equipment minimizing exposure to chemicals.

Ralsonics Ultrasonic cleaners for Pharmaceutical applications:

Since 1973, Ralsonics is the leading manufacturer of application oriented ultrasonic cleaning equipment. Ralsonics provides fast and reliable cleaning solutions for all pharmaceutical tools and equipment. You can add automated cleaning to your existing line or set up a new automated cleaning platform. Ralsonics has a large range of products that include standard ultrasonic cleaning equipment, special ultrasonic cleaning equipment according to users’ requirement, multi-stage cleaners for all types of  components used in pharmaceutical applications.

Applications of Ralsonics Ultrasonic cleaners in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Ralsonics ultrasonic cleaning machines are used for cleaning of different components in pharmaceutical production and maintenance

• Filling Valves
• Vitamin Moulds
• Solid Dosage Tooling
• Tablet Punches & Dies
• Steel Tubes
• Nozzles
• Filters
• Rubber Stoppers
• Oral Liquid Bottles
• Cleaning of Vials
• Large Infusion Bottles