FIELD

[1] The present disclosure relates to capsule filling machines. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to tamping pistons used in capsule filling machines.

BACKGROUND

[2] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the present invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

[3] Manufacturing of solid oral dosage forms such as capsules involves various pharmaceutical ingredients/powders brought together through a step-by-step process. A series of steps are carried out in various types of equipment for feeding different ingredients such as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients, etc. in different feeders, mixing the ingredients in a blender, and filling capsules with the mixture of the APIs and excipients in a capsule filling machine to produce capsules containing dosage of a desired quantity.

[4] Most capsule filling machines typically comprise an assembly of different components for feeding empty capsules, automatically orienting the empty capsules in a predetermined orientation and separating a cap and a body of each capsule, filling one or more pharmaceutical ingredients/powders in each capsule body, closing the cap and the body of each capsule to form filled capsules, ejecting the filled capsules, and optionally checking the filled capsules for compliance with predefined quality parameters and rejecting the capsules not complying with the predefined quality parameters.

[5] Filling the body of the capsules with pharmaceutical ingredients is carried out by a tamping process where the pharmaceutical ingredient is compressed a number of times before being filled in the body of each capsule. The tamping process is typically involves progressively compressing small quantities of the pharmaceutical ingredient, that lead to a slug being formed which is then filled in the body of each capsule.

[6] The tamping process is carried out by a tamping mechanism that includes a plurality of tamping pistons which compress the pharmaceutical ingredients. The tamping pistons are typically organized in a set, and multiple sets of tamping pistons are used for progressively compressing the pharmaceutical ingredient. Small quantities of pharmaceutical ingredients are compressed by each set of tamping pistons, such that after multiple progressive compressions the slug is formed which is then filled in the body of each capsule.

[7] The tamping mechanism typically includes a cam drive that provides linear/vertical motion to each set of tamping pistons. The rotary motion of the cam drive produces a corresponding vertical motion in each set of tamping pistons at the same time. Accordingly, all the tamping pistons of all the sets are vertically displaced together at a time. As a result, all the pistons generate the same amount of tamping force for compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient. The cam drive based motion thus restricts the full scale utilization of the tamping pistons, as the amount of tamping force that can be generated is restricted to the rotary motion produced by the cam drive. A particular set of tamping pistons cannot be used to generate a higher amount of tamping force to achieve a higher compression level of the pharmaceutical ingredient. Furthermore, in case one or more tamping pistons need to be replaced or require maintenance, the entire tamping mechanism has to be dismantled for the same.

[8] There is therefore felt a need for a tamping mechanism wherein varied amount of tamping force can be generated for different sets of temping pistons as per the compression level required, and which can be easily maintained.

OBJECTS

[9] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies are as listed herein below.

[10] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a tamping assembly capable of generating varied force levels for different tamping pistons.

[11] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a tamping assembly capable of generating tamping force as per a desired level of compression of a pharmaceutical ingredient.

[12] Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a tamping assembly which is easy to maintain.

SUMMARY

[13] A tamping assembly for a capsule filling machine, the tamping assembly comprising: a plurality of tamping pistons arranged in at least one set of tamping pistons, the at least one set having one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons; at least one servo motor operatively coupled with the at least one set of tamping pistons, the at least one servo motor being configured to actuate each of the one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons, wherein the actuation by the at least one servo motor linearly displaces the one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons of the respective at least one set of tamping pistons.

[14] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: at least one tamping piston holder detachably attached to the at least one set of tamping pistons; at least one ball screw coupled at a first end thereof to a shaft of the at least one servo motor, and further coupled at a second end thereof to the at least one tamping piston holder; wherein operation of the at least one servo motor rotates the shaft thereof about its axis to linearly displace the at least one ball screw coupled thereto, causing linear displacement of the at least one tamping piston holder coupled to the at least one ball screw, thereby linearly displacing each tamping piston of the at least one set of tamping pistons attached to the at least one tamping piston holder.

[15] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a tamping head holding plate, the at least one servo motor being securely mounted on the tamping head holding plate and the at least one ball screw having the first end thereof passing through the tamping head holding plate to be coupled the shaft of the at least one servo motor; two guide rods, one on either side of the at least one ball screw, passing through the tamping head holding plate and attached to the at least one tamping piston holder to prevent wobbling during linear displacement thereof.

[16] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a rotary dosing disc; a tub containing a pharmaceutical ingredient positioned above the dosing disc; a support plate positioned immediately below the dosing disc and abutting to a bottom surface of the dosing disc; and a cover plate covering the tub, the cover plate comprising a plurality of through- holes each having a tamping piston passing there through into the pharmaceutical ingredient in the tub.

[17] In an aspect, the dosing disc comprises a plurality of elongated holes therein equivalent to the plurality of tamping pistons, the holes being arranged in at least one set corresponding to the at least one set of tamping pistons.

[18] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises an indexing motor having a shaft thereof coupled to the dosing disc to rotate the dosing disc in a step-wise manner to align the at least one set of holes of the dosing disc below the at least one set of tamping pistons, wherein the linear displacement of the tamping pistons progressively compresses the pharmaceutical ingredient in the holes of the dosing disc as the dosing disc rotates. [19] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a base plate; at least two side pillars mounted on the base plate, each side pillar having a lifting rod passing there through, the tamping head holding plate mounted on the side pillars and coupled to the lifting rods; a ball screw coupled to each lifting rod in each side pillar, and passing through the base plate; at least two driven pulleys, each ball screw further rotatably coupled to a driven pulley; at least two driving pulleys each operatively coupled to each of the at least two driven pulleys, and each driving pulley mounted to a motor, wherein the operation of each motor generates rotational motion in the driving pulley and the driven pulley, to vertically displace each ball screw and thereby push each lifting rod in each side pillar upwards to lift the tamping head holding plate.

[20] In an aspect, the at least one servo motor is connected to a control system adapted to control the operation of the servo motor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[21] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure.

[22] The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure, and wherein:

[23] FIG. 1A shows a top view of an embodiment of a tamping assembly for capsule filling machine in accordance with of the present disclosure.

[24] FIG. IB shows a sectional view along line X-X in FIG. 1A, illustrating the tamping assembly for capsule filling machine in accordance with the present disclosure.

[25] FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the dismantling of the tamping assembly of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[26] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the invention disclosed herein. The embodiments are in such details as to clearly communicate the invention. However, the amount of details offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention. [27] Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification which follow, the word“comprise” and variations thereof, such as,“includes” and“comprising” are to be construed in an open, inclusive sense that is as“including, but not limited to.”

[28] Reference throughout this specification to“an exemplary embodiment”,“one embodiment” or“an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases“in exemplary embodiment”,“in one embodiment” or“in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[29] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of“a,”“an,” and“the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of“in” includes“in” and“on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[30] Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

[31] The following discussion provides many example embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a single combination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus if one embodiment includes elements A, B, and C, and a second embodiment includes elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.

[32] A capsule filling machine typically comprises a turret in the form of a turn-table which rotates through a plurality of stations each with an assembly of different components for loading empty capsules; automatically orienting the empty capsules in a predetermined orientation where a cap of each capsule is on top and a body of each capsule is below the cap, and separating the cap and the body of each capsule; checking and confirming the presence of the cap of each capsule; filling one or more pharmaceutical ingredients in each capsule body; closing the cap and the body of each capsule to form filled capsules, ejecting the filled capsules, and optionally checking the filled capsules for compliance with predefined quality parameters and rejecting the capsules not complying with the predefined quality parameters. [33] Filling of one or more pharmaceutical ingredients is carried out at a filling station comprising a tamping mechanism. Conventionally, the tamping mechanism includes a cam drive that provides linear/vertical motion to a plurality of tamping pistons. The rotary motion of the cam drive produces a corresponding vertical motion in a plurality of tamping pistons at the same time, in a fixed stroke of the cam drive. As a result all the tamping pistons generate the same amount of tamping force for compression the pharmaceutical ingredients. The cam drive based motion thus restricts the full scale utilization of the tamping pistons, as the amount of tamping force that can be generated is restricted to the rotary motion produced by the fixed stroke of the cam drive. The tamping pistons cannot be used to generate a higher level of tamping force to achieve a higher compression level of the pharmaceutical ingredients.

[34] To overcome the aforementioned problems of conventional tamping mechanisms with cam drive, the present disclosure provides a tamping assembly for a capsule filling machine, wherein tamping pistons can be displaced in individual sets. The tamping assembly comprises: a plurality of tamping pistons arranged in at least one set of tamping pistons, the at least one set having one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons; at least one servo motor operatively coupled with the at least one set of tamping pistons, the at least one servo motor being configured to actuate each of the one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons, wherein the actuation by the at least one servo motor linearly displaces the one or more of the plurality of tamping pistons of the respective at least one set of tamping pistons.

[35] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: at least one tamping piston holder detachably attached to the at least one set of tamping pistons; at least one ball screw coupled at a first end thereof to a shaft of the at least one servo motor, and further coupled at a second end thereof to the at least one tamping piston holder; wherein operation of the at least one servo motor rotates the shaft thereof about its axis to linearly displace the at least one ball screw coupled thereto, causing linear displacement of the at least one tamping piston holder coupled to the at least one ball screw, thereby linearly displacing each tamping piston of the at least one set of tamping pistons attached to the at least one tamping piston holder.

[36] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a tamping head holding plate, the at least one servo motor being securely mounted on the tamping head holding plate and the at least one ball screw having the first end thereof passing through the tamping head holding plate to be coupled the shaft of the at least one servo motor; two guide rods, one on either side of the at least one ball screw, passing through the tamping head holding plate and attached to the at least one tamping piston holder to prevent wobbling during linear displacement thereof.

[37] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a rotary dosing disc; a tub containing a pharmaceutical ingredient positioned above the dosing disc; a support plate positioned immediately below the dosing disc and abutting to a bottom surface of the dosing disc; and a cover plate covering the tub, the cover plate comprising a plurality of through- holes each having a tamping piston passing there through into the pharmaceutical ingredient in the tub.

[38] In an aspect, the dosing disc comprises a plurality of elongated holes therein equivalent to the plurality of tamping pistons, the holes being arranged in at least one set corresponding to the at least one set of tamping pistons.

[39] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises an indexing motor having a shaft thereof coupled to the dosing disc to rotate the dosing disc in a step-wise manner to align the at least one set of holes of the dosing disc below the at least one set of tamping pistons, wherein the linear displacement of the tamping pistons progressively compresses the pharmaceutical ingredient in the holes of the dosing disc as the dosing disc rotates.

[40] In an aspect, the tamping assembly comprises: a base plate; at least two side pillars mounted on the base plate, each side pillar having a lifting rod passing there through, the tamping head holding plate mounted on the side pillars and coupled to the lifting rods; a ball screw coupled to each lifting rod in each side pillar, and passing through the base plate; at least two driven pulleys, each ball screw further rotatably coupled to a driven pulley; at least two driving pulleys each operatively coupled to each of the at least two driven pulleys, and each driving pulley mounted to a motor, wherein the operation of each motor generates rotational motion in the driving pulley and the driven pulley, to vertically displace each ball screw and thereby push each lifting rod in each side pillar upwards to lift the tamping head holding plate.

[41] In an aspect, the at least one servo motor is connected to a control system adapted to control the operation of the servo motor.

[42] Referring now to FIG’s. 1A and IB, a tamping assembly (1) for capsule filling machine in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, is illustrated. The tamping assembly (1) comprises a plurality of tamping pistons (5)arranged in a set, and actuated by a plurality of servo motors (10), at least one servo motor (10) belonging to each set of tamping pistons (5). Thus the number of servo motors (10) corresponds to the number of sets of the tamping pistons (5). Each servo motor (10) independently and individually actuates and displaces an entire set of tamping pistons (5). The servo motors (10) are securely mounted on a tamping head holding plate (15). A shaft of each servo motor (10) is placed in a housing (20) mounted on the tamping head holding plate (15), and a ball screw(25) is operatively coupled to each shaft of each servo motor (10). The tamping head holding plate (15) comprises a plurality of through-holes having the ball screws(25) passing there through and coupled to tamping piston holders (35)each having a set of tamping pistons (5) detachably but securely affixed thereto. Each ball screw (25) at a top or a first end thereof is operatively coupled to each shaft of each servo motor (10), and is further is coupled at a bottom or a second end thereof to each tamping piston holder (35) typically by means of a ball screw nut (30). To prevent wobbling of the tamping piston holders (35), two guide rods (35a, 35b), one on either side of each ball screw (25), are attached to each tamping piston holder (35). The guide rods (35a, 35b) are mounted in bearings (35c) passed through the through-holes of the tamping head holding plate (15).

[43] The tamping assembly in accordance with the present disclosure further comprises a rotary dosing disc (50), a support plate (55) positioned below the dosing disc, and a tub (45) containing a pharmaceutical ingredient/powder (45a) positioned above the dosing disc (50) and covered by a cover plate (40). The tub (45) is in the form of a ring with the diameter thereof corresponding to the diameter of the dosing disc (50), such that, when placed above the dosing disc (50), the outer circumferential surface of the tub/ring (45) is flush with the circumferential surface of the dosing disc (50). The support plate (55) abuts to a bottom surface of the dosing disc (50) and rests on two support plate holders (55a). The support plate (55), rotary dosing disc (50), tub (45) and cover plate (40) are positioned immediately below the tamping piston holders (35). The cover plate (40) comprises a plurality of through-holes each having a tamping piston (5) passing there through into the pharmaceutical ingredient in the tub (45). Typically, all the tamping pistons (5) pass through the through-holes in the cover plate (40). The rotary dosing disc (50) is typically rotated by means of an indexing motor (65). A driving shaft (70) of the indexing motor (65) is coupled to the dosing disc (50) by nuts and bolts such that the rotation of the shaft (70) causes the rotation of the dosing disc (50).

[44] The dosing disc (50) comprises an equivalent number of elongated holes therein corresponding to the number of tamping pistons (5), wherein the holes are arranged in sets corresponding to the sets of tamping pistons (5) affixed in the tamping piston holders (35). The size and diameter of each hole in the dosing disc (50) corresponds to at least a portion of the length and the diameter of each tamping piston (5). The dosing disc (50) is rotated in a step-wise manner by the indexing motor (65) to bring and align each set of holes below each set of tamping pistons (5) affixed in the tamping piston holder (35). In an exemplary embodiment, for six sets of thirteen tamping pistons each in six tamping piston holders (35) hexagonally arranged in the tamping assembly (1), the dosing disc comprises six sets of thirteen elongated holes hexagonally oriented about the dosing disc (50), and the dosing disc (50) is rotated in a step-wise manner to bring and align each of the six set of holes below each of the six set of tamping pistons (5) in six tamping piston holders (35). Accordingly, the tamping assembly would have six servo motors (10) mounted and hexagonally arranged on the tamping head holding plate (15) [refer FIG. 1A - T1-T6].

[45] It may be appreciated that the tamping assembly as disclosed and claimed in this disclosure/specification is not intended to be limited to six sets of tamping pistons and/or thirteen tamping pistons in each set and/or six tamping piston holders and/or hexagonal arrangement of the tamping piston holders and/or six sets of holes in the dosing disc and/or thirteen holes in the dosing disc and/or hexagonal orientation of the holes about the dosing disc and/or six servo motors. These numbers and arrangement of tamping pistons, tamping piston holders, holes in the dosing disc including the orientation thereof, servo motors, etc., are stated only as an example for the sake of brevity and understanding of the invention. The tamping assembly as disclosed and claimed in this disclosure/specification can comprise any number and arrangement of tamping pistons, tamping piston holders, holes in the dosing disc including the orientation thereof, servo motors, etc., all falling within the scope of the presently disclosed and claimed tamping assembly.

[46] An entire set of tamping pistons (5) affixed in each tamping piston holder (35) is displaced by means of the servo motor (10) belonging to that set of tamping pistons (5). As the servo motor (10) operates, the shaft thereof rotates about its axis and causes the ball screw operatively coupled to the shaft to be vertically displaced. The rotational and vertical motion of the ball screw (25) vertically displaces the tamping piston holder (35) coupled thereto which in turn vertically displaces the entire set of tamping pistons (5). In this manner each servo motor (10) individually displaces a set of tamping pistons (5) affixed in a tamping piston holder (35) to which the servo motor belongs.

[47] The individual displacement of each set of tamping pistons (5) by each servo motor (10) progressively compresses the pharmaceutical ingredient/powder (45a) in the holes of said dosing disc (50) as the dosing disc rotates. At each step of rotation of the dosing disc (50), when a set of holes thereof get aligned below a set of tamping pistons (5), the operation of the servo motor (10) belonging to that set of tamping pistons (5) causes the tamping pistons (5)to push the pharmaceutical ingredient located in the tub (45) above the dosing disc (50) into the holes aligned there below in the dosing disc, whereby the ingredient accumulates in the holes in the dosing disc (50). This operation is carried out at each step of rotation of the dosing disc (50). Each servo motor can be operated to vertically displace each set of tamping pistons (5) as per a desired level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient. Thus, to achieve a higher level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient in a particular set of holes in the dosing disc (50), the servo motor (10) belonging to a set of tamping pistons (5) that align above that particular set of holes, can be operated at higher power to vertically displace that set of tamping piston (5) with a higher amount of force to a greater depth inside that particular set of holes to achieve the desired level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient. For example, to achieve a higher level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient in a third set of holes in the dosing disc (50), the servo motor (10) belonging to a third set of tamping pistons (5) that align above the third set of holes, can be operated at higher power to vertically displace the third set of tamping pistons (5) with a higher amount of force to a greater depth inside the third set of holes to achieve the desired level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient.

[48] Referring further to FIG. IB, the support plate (55) positioned below and abutting to the bottom surface of the dosing disc (50) prevents the compressed accumulated pharmaceutical ingredient from being pushed out of the holes of the dosing disc (50) as each tamping piston (5) compresses the ingredient in each hole. While the support plate (55) below the dosing disc (50) is generally circular, a portion equivalent to a last set of tamping pistons, for example a sixth set of thirteen tamping pistons, is sliced out from the support plate (55), and an empty capsule body holder (not particularly shown) in the turret is aligned adjacent to the sliced out portion as the turret rotates and stops at the filling station. Generally, the size and geometry of the tub/ring (45) is just sufficient to cover five sets of holes of the dosing disc (50) leaving the space above the sixth set of holes of the dosing disc (50) vacant. Thus, when the dosing disc (50) rotates to bring the sixth set of holes below the sixth set of thirteen tamping pistons (5), the tamping pistons push through the sixth set of holes containing the accumulated compressed pharmaceutical ingredient in the form a slug to fill up the body of each capsule in the empty capsule body holder aligned below the dosing disc (50) and adjacent to the sliced out portion of the support plate (55). Thereafter the turret rotates towards a capsule closing station where the cap is closed over the body of each capsule to form filled capsules, and further towards an ejecting station where filled capsules are ejected. The number of capsules that can be filled with the pharmaceutical ingredient/slug at a time is based on the number of tamping pistons in a set. Thus, the set of thirteen tamping pistons facilitates thirteen capsules being filled with the pharmaceutical ingredient at a time.

[49] The tamping assembly in accordance with the present disclosure also facilitates easy maintenance of the tamping pistons. For the same purpose, referring further to FIG. IB, the tamping assembly further comprises two side pillars (75a, 75b) each having a lifting rod (80a, 80b) passing there through. The tamping head holding plate (15) is mounted on the side pillars (75a, 75b) and is securely coupled to the lifting rods (80a, 80b) by means of nuts and bolts [refer FIG. 1A]. The cover plate (40) is affixed to the side pillars (75a, 75b) by means of nuts and bolts to a lower half body of the side pillars which is enlarged to facilitate the affixing of the cover plate thereto. Both the side pillars (75a, 75b) are mounted on a base plate (100). A ball screw (85a, 85b) is further fixedly coupled to each lifting rod (80a, 80b) in each side pillar. Further, the two support plate holders (55a) are also mounted on the base plate (100), one on either side of the driving shaft (70), to facilitate resting of the support plate (55) thereon. The base plate (100) typically comprises through holes at ends thereof that facilitate the ball screws (85a, 85b) coupled to the lifting rods (80a 80b)and at least a bottom portion of the pillars (75a, 75b), to pass there through, and a central through-hole to facilitate the driving shaft (70) of the indexing motor (65) to pass there through and couple to the dosing disc (50). Each ball screw (85a, 85b) is also operatively coupled via a ball screw nut (90a, 90b) to a first pulley (95a, 95b). Each first pulley (95a, 95b) which is a driven pulley is coupled by a motion transfer belt (115a, 115b) to a second pulley (105a, 105b) which is a driving pulley. Each second pulley (105a, 105b) is further mounted to a motor (110a, 110b).

[50] Referring to FIG. 2, in order to remove or replace a tamping piston (5), the motors (110a, 110b) are operated whereby rotational motion from each driving pulley (105a, 105b) is transferred through the belt (115a, 115b) to each driven pulley (95a, 95b). The rotation of both the driven pulleys (95a, 95b) rotates both the ball screw nuts (90a, 90b) which in turn causes vertical upward displacement of both the ball screws (85a, 85b). The vertical upward displacement of the ball screws (85a, 85b) results in the lifting rods (80a, 80b) coupled to the ball screws being pushed upwards resulting in the lifting of the tamping head holding plate (15) which can thereafter can be taken out of the assembly to repair or replace a damaged tamping piston or clean a tamping piston. Thus, the tamping assembly in accordance with the present disclosure facilitates easy maintenance of the tamping pistons.

[51] Additionally, a control system may be provided for controlling the entire process of filling the capsule with the pharmaceutical ingredients. The control system may particularly enable a user to control the operation of each servo motor (10) to displace a set of tamping pistons (5) with a tamping force as per a desired level of compression of a pharmaceutical ingredient. In an exemplary embodiment, the control system may be PLC based.

[52] In an exemplary embodiment, in order to achieve the desired level of compression of the pharmaceutical ingredient, the control system is adapted to measure the weight of the capsules with the pharmaceutical ingredient (45a) filled therein, and in the event that the weight of the filled capsules is above/below a pre-determined weight, the control system is further adapted to control the operation of at least one servo motor (10) to displace a set of tamping pistons (5) belonging to that servo motor with a tamping force sufficient to compress the pharmaceutical ingredient in the corresponding hole(s) in the dosing disc which align below that set of tamping pistons as per a desired level to ensure that each filled capsule is of the pre-determined weight.

ADVANTAGES

[53] At least some of the technical advantages offered by the tamping assembly provided by the present disclosure include:

• generating varied force levels for different tamping pistons; and

• generating tamping force as per a desired level of compression of a pharmaceutical ingredient.

[54] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined within formation and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.