In-line ultrasound measurement system for detecting tablet integrity

An ultrasound measurement system for tablet defect detection is introduced. The measurement system was implemented in an eccentric single station tabletting apparatus, where ultrasound transducers were placed inside the upper and lower punches. These instrumented punches were then used to measure the speed of sound and ultrasound attenuation values in both intact and defective tablets made from dibasic calcium phosphate, microcrystalline cellulose and lactose monohydrate. Ultrasound attenuation was found to be a very sensitive method to discriminate defective tablets from intact ones. In addition, it was found that the determined ultrasound attenuation was different between all three materials used in this study, which indicates that different materials could be distinguished from one another by this detection method.