Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Whether you are in the capsule filling or a tablet press industry, you definitely need a pharmaceutical hammer mill.

Hammer mill will help you breakdown large material components into smaller pieces for further processing.

But, how can you choose the best pharmaceutical hammer mill?

Let’s find out:

What is Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

 Hammer Mill

These are the most commonly used old grinding mill.

It is a highly accurate machine that is used in grinding, crush and pulverize solids and granules.

It consists of at least four hammers connected on a central shaft covered with a tight metal case.

This machine produces a size reduction by impact.

The hammers together strike the products as they rotate at a very high speed inside the chamber.

The high rotation of the hammers results in a brittle fracture of the materials.

The machine crushes products in two stages.

1. A dynamic impact stage causing material size reduction.
2. Attrition and shear, which results in the sizing of materials to much smaller particles of 15 to 50 µm.

 Hammer mill

What are the Advantages of Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

• This machine does not require a large space for it to be operated. Even a small room is ideal for its operation.
• It has a special top size, and therefore, it does not require a closing system with a closed circuit.
• The machine is capable of producing relatively many distribution sizes, which have a minimum of fines because of its self-classification.
• It can be useful in primary, secondary, or tertiary grinding with a high ratio of reduction and capacity.
• This equipment uses relatively low power.
• The impact of blunt hammers creates the bets fractures for brittle materials.
• The machine can grind a variety of materials.
• It’s one of the types of equipment that are easy to install, use, and can run continuously without posing any technical challenges.
• A pharmaceutical hammer mill can easily be cleaned, and this makes its maintenance also easy.
• This pharmaceutical equipment is relatively cheap in comparison to other machines.
• It is user-friendly since it is manufactured with essential components.
• Lastly, it is easy to manufacture. For this reason, it can easily be constructed locally.

Are there Limitations of Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

Yes, there are some shortcomings of hammer mill.

Below is an illustration of some of them.

• This equipment can wear too much if it’s used for grinding very hard and abrasive products. This can compromise the quality of the end product.
• Materials that melt slowly or those that are plastic-like cannot be ground using this machine. This is because they cause the equipment to generate too much heat at the head due to mill fouling.
• The machine will possibly get damaged if the hammer mill happens to chock. To avoid this problem, the material feed rate into the machine should be carefully controlled.
• Unwanted materials like stones and metals may find their way into the materials. This happens because of the limited garbling process, and this may damage the machine.
• During the process of grinding, clogging may occur on the screen, which may prevent the efficient discharge of the materials.

What is Hammer Mills used for?

This machine has been found useful by many industries, including the pharmaceutical industry.

Its principle of operation remains the same regardless of the industry using it.

Below are some of its uses.

Section of pharmaceutical hammer mill

· It is used to Grind and Crush Wet and Dry Granulations

The pharmaceutical products are made up of ingredients from different substances which are mixed and compressed into the final product.

These products may either require dry or wet granulation.

The desired standard of the material is arrived at when this machine is used regardless of the granular type.

· The Equipment is used in Ingredient Size Reduction

Some materials in pharmaceutical processing require size reduction.

This is because it will help in making them fit well in the packages they are meant for.

Apart from this, the reduction of the sizes increases efficiency in the medicinal products processed.

Therefore, the pharmaceutical hammer mill is a very important unit in the micro-sizing of products to the desired size.

· It helps in Producing Intermediate Powder Grades

Different grades of ingredients are used to perform different applications in the pharmaceutical industries.

Unfortunately, this machine cannot produce intermediate powder grades from sticky materials.

But fortunately, it can produce the intermediate powder grades from other non-sticky materials.

This is an advantage not only to pharmaceutical industries but also to both food and cosmetic companies.

· This Machine helps in Enhancing Dissolution or Formulation

A good result of mixing requires a large surface area.

The machine has a large surface area that guarantees a thorough mixing of pharmaceutical ingredients.

With it, you can be sure of getting a recommended particle reduction.

· Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill is used for Mixing the Powder in a High Shear Mixer

This is possible because this machine can produce a consistent and uniform homogenous small particles throughout the process.

The tiny particles are recommended because they ensure a uniform distribution of ingredients in the final formulation.

· It Reduces Active Ingredient Substrates

For some products to attain the desired efficacy, the vigor of some ingredients substrates must be reduced.

This is a very common process undertaken in pharmaceutical companies.

· This Machine makes the Pharmaceutical Product Manufacturing Process Easy

Large volumes of medicines can be produced within a very short duration since the machine is very efficient.

Which are the Parts of Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

This machine is composed of four main parts.

Although the number of main parts may vary depending on the design of the machine, each part plays a specific role in material processing.

Therefore, below are some of the parts and the role each one of them plays.

 Parts of hammer mill

· Feed Hopper

The materials are delivered into the machine chamber for processing through this part.

It is also known as feeder chute or feeding tray.

They are then driven via a rotary valve into the crushing chamber.

The feed chute is very important because it determines the number of materials the machine can produce at a time.

Feed hopper design may differ if a particular machine construction is different.

Fortunately, this component can be adjusted to enable you to find a good angle for pouring materials into the machine.

· Pneumatic Rotary Valve

This is a component that provides airlock between systems with different air pressures.

This valve allows the pharmaceutical ingredients to pass through the areas with different air pressures.

It helps in facilitating the feeding and metering functionality of the feeding hopper.

The major role of the pneumatic valve is to maintain pressure.

Apart from this, it also provides a tight air seal between various product transmission conversions.

A good airlock provided by this part prevents loss of air pressure in both high pressure and temperature conditions.

· Rushing Chamber

The actual process of grinding, crushing, and pulverizing takes place here.

This is where the hammers are located, and it’s where they rotate at very high speed to perform their functions.

It creates a vacuum for grinding and pulverizing various types of materials.

There are different sizes of crushing chamber, which are influenced by its design and other elements.

The hammers are driven by an electric power via a motor causing the rotation and crushing of the ingredients.

· Control Box

This is a very critical part of a pharmaceutical machine.

It has many switches that are used in controlling the machine.

Different machine functionalities are also determined here so that you can set the right conditions for processing the ingredients.

Many parameters that allow you to synchronize the Machine in a wide range of perspectives are also found here.

The pharmaceutical hammer mill control box has a display panel from where the machine is controlled.

It also enables you to monitor all processing activities fully.

Other components include Base structure, bottom, and top casings, transmission shaft, disc separator, particle sieve, and transmission bearing.

Apart from these, we have v-belt, electric motor and its mounting, tension device, robust hinge, in-let, and out-let regulator devices.

How do you Achieve Powder Homogenization using Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

To achieve this, you first of all have to grind pure materials separately before mixing.

This is because the machine has a relatively low holdup capacity.

Also, active ingredients can be lost when mixed grinding is done.

After grinding pure ingredients, you can now go ahead and remix the materials after commination in the pharmaceutical hammer mill.

This will promote a better powder homogeneity.

Which other Technologies can Replace Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

Many technologies could replace hammer mill machine.

These include:

Hammer mill Machine

· Air Classifying Mill for Carbon Black of High-quality

This works bests with clean and low grit ingredients.

It can achieve a grit level of as low as one to two parts per million.

This machine rotor has a special hammer and many deflectors.

It works by subjecting the ingredients to mechanical stress.

The contact between the materials and the hammer causes an impact that results in the crushing of the ingredients.

Also, particle-to-particle due to attrition promotes crushing.

The mechanical stress impact accounts for 80%, while particle-to-particle accounts for 20% of the grinding of materials.

This machine uses air to present the ingredients to the mill.

A rotating disc with hammers reduces the materials, and the air classifies the ingredients into fine and course.

The fine ones are then passed out through the sieve.

This process is repeated to ensure all ingredients are fine.

The advantage of this machine is that it can grind and classify products in a single step.

· Pin Mill

This is ideal for reducing the sizes of needle-like particles and fatty feed products in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

It can work continuously without any challenges, even in the grinding of difficult products.

It has a wide chamber that prevents coating and blockage problems that may arise in the machine.

The machine utilizes less power of up to 50% less in comparison to other hammer mills.

It has a single rotating pin disc that has a static door disc and a narrow grinding chamber.

A centrifugal force from the rotating disc causes the materials to go through the labyrinth of circular row arranged pins.

The size of these ingredients is reduced as they pass through the row of the pins.

Also, the fine materials are discharged from the pin mill by gravity.

This technology does not use screens to control the size of the particles.

The advantage of this machine is that its wide chamber helps in removing materials that may accumulate within the mill.

· Jet Mill for Tungsten Carbon

This equipment is capable of crushing very abrasive materials.

This is because particles impact each other and not against the inner machine components.

It is relevant for very hard materials.

The machine classifiers are made from strong materials like silicon-carbon, which provides very long working hours.

Materials are charged into the machine through the top gravity feed inlet.

The mill accelerates the gas through a nozzle connected to a central focal point.

Many nozzles are used to create a grinding zone at the mill center.

The high-speed gas entrains the materials and combines the gas and the materials.

This results in a mixture which is directed to the central grinding zone where Particle-to-particle reduces the material sizes.

The fine ingredients are carried by the up-word airflow to the classifier wheel, where thy eventually exit the machine.

The bigger ones return to the machine by gravity for further grinding.

How do Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills work?

 Hammer mill illustration

Hammer mill equipment works by impact between the crusher and the material.

The ingredients being processes are stationary while the machine component responsible for crushing rotates.

This is what results in an impact that breaks the particles into tiny sizes.

Below is an illustration of how it works.

First of all, you have to wear your gloves for protection and then feed the ingredients into the feed hopper.

Ensure the ingredients selected have the recommended properties and of the right size.

When the machine is switched on, the materials move to the crushing chamber through gravity, or they can be metered.

This movement depends on machine design.

Upon reaching the crushing chamber, ultra-speed rotating hammer impact will hit them continuously, causing powdering of the ingredients.

The particles that conform to the screen size will pass through to the output of the milling chamber.

The large ones will continue to be hit until they break and become tiny to pass through the screen.

Once it has passed through the screen, it is now called a finished product that can be packaged.

How many Types of Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills are there?

This machine is available in two categories:

The reversible type and the Non-reversible one.

However, all these types operate similarly, although their construction is different.

 Hammer mill machine

· Reversible Hammer Mill

This type of machine can reverse the rotor direction.

The action creates new grinding edges, which reduces the servicing of the equipment.

Using this type of hammer mill increases production and doubles the machine life span.

Other than these, it also reduces the cost of maintenance and the entire cost of production.

The materials can be fed into the machine through both sides.

· None-reversible Hammer Mill

This machine cannot reverse the rotor direction.

It has only one side direction feed.

The machine has a low life span since it is not reversible.

It is also not cost-effective as compared to the reversible one.

How do you Troubleshoot Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

Good maintenance is needed for this machine to operate efficiently.

The following are some of the problems that may arise during the operation of this machine, which may require troubleshooting.

1) Excessive Vibration of the Machine

When this happens, you should locate the source of vibration by removing all the hammers, rods, and spacers.

Place them back and run it, and if the vibration disappears, it means the source was the hammer and rods.

If the vibration does not stop, then stop it and check the stabilizing bars and spanner nut tightness.

Welds on the rotor also should be checked.

If the problem is not solved, rebalance the rotor or replace it if it is worn out.

2) Using Worn-out Parts

This is another great challenge.

When the parts being used are worn out, the quality of products is compromised.

The screens are worn out when the perforated holes become round.

Hammer indicates weariness when the corners are rounded, and the main drive motor amperage has widened.

A reduction in the thickness of the wear plates by 50% is also an indication that they are worn out.

The remedy for this is to replace these parts before they become too worn out.

Another solution is to reverse the rotation of the machine rotor every week to increase its life span.

You can also ensure uniform feeding of products into the mill.

Uneven distribution of materials in different parts of the machine tends to cause a screen and hammer wearing out.

Apart from these, ensure adequate air volume into the machine to facilitate uniform feeding and grinding.

Too little air calls for pre-mature wear on the main rotor plate.

This may force you to change these parts frequently, and this is costly.

3) The Issues with the Grinding Process

This should be monitored to ensure the efficiency of the machine.

This can be done by confirming the machine capacity and checking hammers and screens.

You can also check the grinding chamber temperature, air volume, and feeding drive.

In addition to these, check the possibility of discharge obstructions and do not use excess horsepower.

Which Factors Control Particle Sizes in Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

Several factors control the particle sizes in this machine.

They include:

• Material feed rate as well as the velocity of the rotor.
• The resistance of the hit and clearance between the hammer and the plates grinding the materials.
• It also depends on the opening size of the screen, which is the determinant for residual time for ingredients.

What is Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill Specifications?

When you are new in this field, you may find difficulty in choosing a good quality pharmaceutical hammer mill.

Considering the specifications of this machine is a very important thing.

This is because they will allow you to get the best quality machine which can perform its functions very efficiently.

Therefore, before purchasing this machine, ensure your choice meets the specific technical specifications.

The following are some of them.

· Output Type

It’s important to consider pharmaceutical hammer mill output when you want to purchase one.

This will guide you on the quantity of the ingredients you will expect to process.

Also, it will give you an idea of how to quantify the ingredients.

Different types of machines have different outputs.

Therefore, it important for you to configure one that meets your requirements.

The most crucial things that will help you determine the output are the screen size and speed of the shaft.

Hammer alignment is also important.

· Capacity of Production

This is the maximum quantity of ingredients the machine can process within a specified duration.

There are these kinds of equipment which are ideal for small, middle and large scale production.

Production capacity is important because it helps in making it easy to decide on the volume you want to process.

What determines the Quality of Material?

The material quality is influenced by many factors.

These factors include tip speed, the design of the hammer mill, the number of hammers, and the open screen area.

The hammer mill motor, material moisture content, and the sieve are also other determining factors.

Additionally, the raw material flow rate in the machine can also influence the quality of the final product.

Which Factors Determine Quality Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill output?

There are several of these factors.

They include the following:

Weight and shape of materials used in making the machine: This is important because the kinetic energy is proportional to the hammer weight.

This means that a greater crushing of ingredients is achieved by a heavy machine.

The speed at which the feed hammer mill rotor rotates: High rotation speed of the hammer mill generates greater kinetic energy.

This results in a high efficiency of the machine, which in-turn generates very fine particles.

Increasing speed causes an increase in the motor load, vibration, and noise produced by the machine.

The balance of the rotor, together with the machine strength, also increases, resulting in fine products.

What Influences the Capacity of Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

Many factors determine the capacity of this machine. They include:

• Material characteristic.
• Crushing hammer type.
• Size of the feed.
• Many rows of a crushing hammer.
• Size of the screen mesh.

When you are aware of these, you are likely to operate this machine optimally.

Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill should conform to which Quality Standards?

• It must be made in compliance with CGMP. This is because the products target human beings and should be safe from any harm.
• The machine must be made from material approved by the FDA. For example, stainless steel 304 material.
• This machine should have safety devices that can be used to stop the machine in-case of any emergency.

What is a Vertical Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

This is a type of hammer mill that utilizes less power.

It has a high level of production capacity, which is possible in a little space.

It’s available in three versions.

These are limited airflow, hammers, and screens that are easily replaced and easy to clean and inspect grinding chambers.

Technical Characteristics of Vertical Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill

• The mills are fitted together with a dispenser stone and metal removal system.
• A flexible coupling connects to both the impeller and the motor.
• This machine has very good safety standards where the bearing temperature is monitored by PT 100 sensors.
• It produces less noise in comparison to the horizontal counterpart.
• The equipment has been constructed in compliance with ATEX 22 standards.

Can Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill Produce Intermediate Grades of Particles?

Yes, it can.

The intermediate grades of particles are those particles with nominal diameters, which are neither large nor small.

This can take place when you intend to have some specific applications in the pharmaceutical company.

The equipment can produce intermediate grade particles from many ingredients.

Unfortunately, it is not ideal for producing the same from sticky materials, which will just clog inside the machine.

What is Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill Crusher?

Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill Crusher is a machine used to reduce the size of particles in a pharmaceutical company.

Larger particles are subjected to the energy that crushes them into smaller particles.

The capacity of this machine is determined by the demand of the user.

For example, 700kg per hour, 1000kg per hour, and 2000kg per hour are all available in the current market.

How does Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill compare to Pulverizer Machine?

Pharmaceutical hammer mill is used for grinding, crushing and pulverizing solid and granules in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

On the other hand, the Pulverizer machine is used for crushing metals particles in the metallurgical industry.

The pharmaceutical hammer mill is made from stainless steel 304.

Pulverizer is made from cast iron and mild steel material.

Both of these machines provide particle size reduction by the impact on the materials.

Both of these machines produce less noise while operating, and noise may indicate default in the machine.

They are user-friendly, easy to install, requires small space, easy to clean, and maintain.

Which Material is used to make Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill Contact Parts?

The material used in making this machine determines its safety and durability.

The parts that have contact with products are made from stainless steel 304 material.

What are the Properties of Materials you can Process using Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill?

Materials that can be processed through pharmaceutical hammer mill have the following properties:

• They are non-cohesive and non-sticky products that can move by gravity inside the grinding chamber.
• They are less heat sensitive.
• They must not be too hard since this may cause wearing out of the machine parts and increase maintenance costs.

How do you Charge and Discharge Material from Pharmaceutical Hammer Mills?

The materials are fed into the feed chamber through the feed chute or by force of gravity.

They are discharged through a perforated screen which covers the discharge area.

This bar gate only allows fine materials to pass through the screen.

The coarse ones return to the grinding chamber for further crushing.

Which Role does Pharmaceutical Hammer Mill play in Wet and Dry Granulation Processes?

Wet granulation is a process where powder particles are bound together using a liquid solution through an impeller.

The machine plays the role of enlarging the particles before they can be processed in a capsule filling machine.

Dry granulation is binding particles without using solvents, which can be achieved either by slugging or roll compacting materials.

In dry granulation, this machine plays the role of ensuring that materials that are sensitive to moisture are granulated successfully.

It also provides granulates with the ability to absorb moisture.

How does Material Size Reduction by Dynamic Impact vs. Attrition and Shear in Hammer Mills Compare?

Material size reduction by dynamic is where ingredients drop into a fast rotating rotor.

It then receives a smashing blow from a set of hammers, which results in particle reduction in size.

When materials sizes are reduced by rubbing against the hammer mill, it’s called particle size reduction by attrition.

Shear crushing happens when materials are broken along or across the cleavage lines.

What is the difference between Non-reversible and Reversible Hammer Mill?

Non-reversible hammer mill cannot reverse the rotor direction, whereas the reversible counterpart can reverse the rotor direction.

Non-reversible hammer mill does not create new grinding edges.

For this reason, its servicing cost is high.

On the other hand, reversible one creates new grinding edged, and this helps in minimizing the servicing cost. 

Using this reversible hammer mill increases production and doubles the machine life span.

On the contrary, it’s a different case when it comes to a non-reversible one.

Feeding of the materials can be done through both sides of the reversible hammer mill.

On the contrary, non-reverse one charges through a single side.