Grifols Engineering project for erythrocyte filling

 

Grifols engineering develops an erythrocyte filling line for Diagnostic Grifols

Diagnostic Grifols, a company belonging to Grifols, an international group of companies in the hospital-pharmaceutical sector, has finished installing a new erythrocyte filling machine for its immunohematology line of products in the Parets de Valles plant.

Grifols Engineering was charged with designing and building this new filling line for erythrocytes. The design complies with the strict norms of the Good Manufacturing Practices(GMP’s).
The machine was designed to fill 5 and 10 ml vials from 1, 3, 5 or 10 liter bags of erythrocytes. The red blood cells must be agitated constantly to prevent sedimentation from forming. The agitation system is a critical factor in the process and was developed and patented by Grifols.

The machine offers various filling possibilities: a peristaltic valve or gravity system. It is totally automated and equipped with sensors at each stage in the process so that every aspect can be strictly controlled: the filling level of each vial, the vial and pipette feeder, presence and rejection controls and more.

The system incorporates cutting edge techniques: an electronically controlled thread cutter places grooves in the vials in a way which allows each vial to be recorded and controlled.

The control system is based on PLC with a touch screen from which the process is operated and monitored.

The production capacity of this new filling machine is 1800 units/hour for 5 ml vials and 1200 units/hour for 10 ml vials.