Sound: a new dimension in QC

In response to demand from universities and commercial research departments, Stable Micro Systems, a provider of texture analysis equipment, has designed and launched its new Acoustic Envelope Detector.

Used with the TA.XTPlus texture analyser, the new instrument offers pharmaceutical manufacturers a quick and easy method of collecting and analysing the noise released by solid products as they are deformed.

Together with the TA.XTPlus designed to measure force, distance and time, this innovation adds a new dimension to texture analysis and quality control. Brittleness is a pivotal factor in determining the appeal and acceptance of solid products such as chewable vitamins, indigestion tablets, and painkillers.

One of the most prominent characteristics of products such as these is the acoustic energy emitted upon their disintegration during chewing, snapping, and mechanical testing.

For many years, academic institutes have attempted to analyse acoustic emissions to test product texture. Methods of analysis, however, have proven complicated and lengthy as data has been collected on huge files up to 2Mb in size.

Using the new Acoustic Envelope Detector, acoustic data can now be analysed quickly and easily using small and manageable files in the region of 20Kb per test.

Various other design features make the Acoustic Envelope Detector ideal for testing solid pharmaceutical products.

A highly sensitive directional microphone, mounted close to the test product, picks up only relevant high frequencies emitted by the sample and filters out those emitted by the texture analyser itself.

Force, distance, time and acoustic data can be acquired at very high speeds of up to 500pps (data points per second) - an important feature when testing products that snap or break quickly.

Acoustic and force curves can be viewed at the same time so that relationships between acoustic and force events can be easily identified.