Medical blister cups

Cycle time optimisation for 14-cavity 2k mould

Pharmaceutical quality – an important criterion for the consumer safety of medical products. We design and build our injection moulds for the medical sector with particular care in order to meet these criteria.

As in this case: a 14-cavity 2k turntable mouldf for the production of blister cups for dispensing medication. To ensure that patient health and production efficiency go hand in hand in production, we optimised our customer’s existing mould concept with conformal cooling and a valve gate system.

The result: a 35% faster, more efficient injection mould whose products protect patients’ health and make the work of nursing stuff easier.

Optimised tooling for safe medication dispensing

Safe and flexible blister packaging of medicines is essential for pharmacies and care facilities. Our customer’s patented blister cups, being produced with our injection moulds, are setting new standards:

Thanks to the hinge function, the blisters can be easily opened and securely resealed – a crucial advantage for quick medication changes. At the same time, they are suitable for both solid and liquid medications and are manufactured in accordance with the specifications of the Central Laboratory of German Pharmacists (Zentrallaboratorium Deutscher Apotheker e.V.) and DIN EN ISO 15378 (standard for primary packaging materials, as well as the guidelines of the German Federal Chamber of Pharmacists ‘Testing and storage of primary packaging materials’).

However, this innovation can only be produced economically with the right mould technology. Our 14-cavity 2K turntable mould ensures that the cups are produced with maximum precision and efficiency.

• Precision machiningof two polypropylene components for optimum functionality
• Close-contour cooling with 3D-printed inserts for faster cycle times
• 20 years of additive manufacturing experience for perfectly tailored cooling channels
• Valve gate instead of torpedo gate for clean injection points

The combination of innovative cups and optimised mould technology results in a pharma-compliant, efficient and economical product that enables safe and time-saving medication dispensing.

Technologies for manufacturing of conformal cooling systems

As conventional milling or drilling processes are not sufficient to produce highly curved cooling channels, advanced manufacturing processes are used:

Additive manufacturing (3D printing, metal laser melting, SLM/DMLS)

• Enables highly complex cooling channel geometries in a single operation.
• Particularly suitable for high-quality steel or aluminium inserts.

Diffusion-welded inserts (DMLS + diffusion welding)

• Cooling channels are incorporated into multiple thin metal sheets.
• Sheets are diffusion-welded under pressure and high temperature to create a homogeneous, dense mould structure.

Advantages of conformal cooling

• Uniform mould temperature control: Homogeneous heat dissipation and fewer hotspots, as cooling channels are placed close to the object’s surface.
• Shorter cycle times: Well-placed cooling channels ensure efficient mould and plastic temperature reduction.
• Better part quality: Even temperature distribution reduces shrinkage, warpage and internal stresses, resulting in fewer rejects and greater dimensional accuracy.
• Optimal cooling performance for complex geometries: Particularly benficial for deep pockets and ribbed structures by providing optimum cooling even in hard-to-reach areas.
• Energy savings & sustainable production: Faster temperature drops result in lower energy consumption and reduced machine uptime during production.