In-line monitoring of coating thickness of pharmaceutical tablets during production scale film coating by Terahertz imaging

摘要

We present preliminary results from in-line Terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) measurements of coating thickness on pharmaceutical tablets made during production-scale film coating. Results of these real-time TPI measurements are compared to those from off-line TPI measurements, as well as weight-gain measurements made on sample tablets removed at discrete time-intervals during production. The results, and their repeatability, demonstrate that real-time monitoring of pharmaceutical tablet coating is not only possible but provides substantially more information than the standard quality control method.