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Containment has been a core issue for years, particularly in the pharmaceuticals industry. Low occupational exposure limits and complex toxicological evaluations pose special challenges for processors and manufacturers of highly active substances with regard to process safety. On top of this, there are new regulations, such as the modified EU GMP directives, which came into force on 1 March 2015. Thanks to engineering design solutions, today's plants now generate so little dust in regular operations that it is possible to rule out any threat to the health of plant operating staff from harmful dust. The situation is far more critical when maintenance or cleaning work has to be carried out.

Inspection hatches have to be opened in order to inspect working parts in machinery and plants. In the case of maintenance activities, maintenance staff have to remove worn components and install new replacement parts. In the past, this was only possible within isolators when smaller plants and machines were concerned or, when larger machines were concerned, by wearing full body protection. Installation in an isolator is not possible in the case of cyclone screeners for reasons of handling and space, which is why AZO developed the type DA Vario Containment screener.

Cyclone screener type DA Vario Containment

With its newly designed DA Vario Containment screener, AZO provides an entirely new solution to satisfy the above-mentioned requirements: based on the DA screener, tried and tested in actual practice for years, and on the widespread practice of using flexible containment systems in the pharmaceuticals industry, it is now feasible to open the familiar inspection hatch and to inspect the screen in this way without any dust escaping. In addition, it is possible to replace the screen basket and exchange the dosing screw under containment conditions.

What is special about the DA machine type is that there is no need for an upstream dosing unit thanks to self-dosing. It is possible to adjust the integrated screw feeder’s dosing rate to match the specifications for the specific product using frequency converters. With the DA Vario, the screener's throughput can be adjusted using a combination of different dosing screws with the screen module in order to accommodate very diverse products, screen capacity or mesh sizes.