In highly sensitive industries such as medicine and pharmaceuticals, the application of centrifuges, whether in ordinary non-sterile environments or strict sterile environments, places extremely high demands on the equipment itself and the environmental control during its operation. Especially under the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) system, there is a clear division of cleanliness levels for sterile workshops, such as Class 100,000, Class 10,000, and even higher standards of Class 100 environments. Such high-level clean spaces impose strict standards on the airtightness of the equipment. A good sealing design can not only effectively prevent the exchange of air, particles and microorganisms between the inside and outside of the machine, but also ensure that any form of cross-contamination between the solid, liquid and gas phases and the operator or the external environment is avoided during operation.
For this reason, when purchasing centrifuge equipment, the user should inform the manufacturer of the specific requirements for sterility or sealing in the early stage, and clarify the sealing level and cleanliness standards to be achieved. In the production and manufacturing process, we should also strictly control each key link to ensure that the airtightness is fully reflected.
Generally speaking, the centrifuge needs to strengthen the sealing performance design in the following key parts to meet the requirements of aseptic production:
Sealing structure between the main shaft and the shell
Transition area between the drum and the discharge port
Interface between the control system and the transmission system
Opening positions such as the equipment door cover, observation window and operation interface
Through the optimized sealing design of the above key parts, it is ensured that the entire centrifuge system does not leak to the outside and no pollutants enter during operation, thereby meeting the strict requirements of the medical and pharmaceutical industry for product quality and production environment.
Sealing of the machine cover: Since the machine cover is flippable, the joint surface with the machine casing should have reliable sealing measures. If the sealing structure or material fails to prevent corrosion, it may cause leakage of liquid and gas phases, causing harm to the environment and personnel.
The anti-corrosion performance of the sealing groove structure and the sealing strip should be fully considered in the design and selection of its sealing performance and reliability.
For the installation interfaces of additional devices such as the feed pipe, washing pipe, and observation mirror, there should also be reliable sealing measures.
Sealing of the bearing position: For the sealing of the spindle nut and the bearing position, the sealing measures of the previous traditional models in this regard are relatively simple and can only achieve relative sealing. For example, in the spindle nut position, the joint surface between the spindle nut and the drum is generally not equipped with a sealing ring. During the operation of the centrifuge, the liquid phase and the gas phase penetrate into the spindle cone surface, corrode the spindle cone surface, and even penetrate into the bearing, causing damage to the bearing, thus affecting the normal use of the machine. The upper bearing cover is generally equipped with a skeleton seal and other structures, but a part between the upper bearing cover and the drum cone hole is exposed to the outside, and the gas phase in the inner cavity of the centrifuge may corrode the exposed surface of the spindle. The centrifuges used in the pharmaceutical industry mostly separate organic solvents or acids, alkalis, salts and other media. Therefore, when ordering equipment, the sealing requirements of these parts should be fully considered, and dynamic or static sealing structures should be set to meet the sealing requirements.
Sealing of the working area of the transmission belt: The transmission belt of the traditional centrifuge is open, and only a protective cover is set at the motor end, mainly from the perspective of safety to improve its safety of use, but the dust pollution to the environment caused by friction is not controlled. It is not feasible to use it in a clean area. Therefore, the working area of the transmission belt must be sealed to prevent the leakage of friction dust.
Other parts (interface parts such as liquid outlet pipe, feed pipe, discharge hopper, etc.): For the external pipes of the centrifuge, such as feed pipe, washing pipe, cleaning pipe, etc., flange installation is generally used to ensure the sealing performance of its interface. For some occasions with high cleanliness requirements, the interface should use a sanitary quick-open interface device for easy cleaning.
