APK-40A Automatic Effervescent Tablets Tube Filling Machine
Pneumatic indexing, 35 to 40 tubes a minute, 10 to 20 tablets per tube
An effervescent tablet is 25 mm across and brittle, and it can’t be dropped down a counting channel like a vitamin. This machine vibrates tablets along a flat track, lines them up in a single row, and pushes them into the tube on their side. Pneumatic cylinders throughout — fewer electronics than the 40B, and less to go wrong.
1. Speed: 35 to 40 tubes a minute
2.Tablets per tube: 10 to 20
3. Indexing: pneumatic cylinders, not a stepper. The simpler of the two 40-series machines
4. Power: 220 V, 1.2 kW
Is this the right machine for you?
✓ Yes, if…
- You're packing effervescent tablets into rigid tubes
- Your tablets are Ø25 mm and 6 mm thick
- You need 35 to 40 tubes a minute
- Your tablet thickness is consistent and your production runs are long
- Your tube's inner diameter is at least 2 mm bigger than your tablet
✕ Buy something else if…
- Your tube's inner diameter is at least 2 mm bigger than your tablet
- You need more than 40 tubes a minute → the APK-60 runs 50 to 60 and rejects short counts
- Your tablet hardness is under 5 kg → tablets that soft chip in the track, whatever the machine
- Your tube's inner diameter is the same as your tablet → it will jam. Two millimetres of clearance is the minimum
Pneumatic Indexing
Stations are stopped by AirTAC cylinders with magnetic proximity switches, not by a servo or stepper. Fewer electronics, lower cost, and nothing to re-home after a power cut. The trade-off is on the 40B’s page.
Laid Flat, Not Dropped
A vibrating table screens and aligns tablets into a single overlapping row before they reach the tube. Nothing falls, which is what keeps a 25 mm effervescent tablet’s edges intact.
38 mm Dust Extraction Port
Effervescent tablets shed powder, and that powder settles on the optical sensors that do the counting. The port is ready for your extraction unit — the extractor itself is on your side.
No Tablet, No Cap
If the count is short or a cap is missing, the capping cylinder is locked out for that tube and the tube is rejected at the exit. You don’t pay for a cap on a tube you’d have to open again.
SUS316L on Contact Parts
Frame cover in SUS304, everything the tablets touch in SUS316L.
Technical specification
Specification | APK-40A | What it means for you |
Speed | 35–40 tubes/min | Depends on tablet size and stack count |
Tablets per tube | 10–20 | Set at build; tell us your count |
Tablet diameter | 25 mm | — |
Tablet thickness | 6 mm | Thickness variance must stay within ±0.2 mm |
Tablet hardness | Above 5 kg | Softer tablets chip in the track |
Tube inner diameter | At least 2 mm larger than the tablet | Below that it jams |
Indexing | Pneumatic cylinders | The 40B uses a stepper and indexing disk |
Control | Siemens PLC and touchscreen | — |
Power | 220 V, 1.2 kW | 60 Hz |
Compressed air | 0.5–0.6 MPa, 0.28 m³/min | — |
Dust port | 38 mm | Extractor supplied by you |
Dimensions | 1,600 × 1,500 × 1,600 mm | — |
Weight | 420 kg | — |
Contact parts | SUS316L | Frame cover SUS304 |
Model comparison
Model | Indexing | Speed | Power | Weight |
APK-40A | Pneumatic | 35–40 tubes/min | 1.2 kW | 420 kg |
APK-40B | Stepper + indexing disk | 35–40 tubes/min | 1.5 kW | 420 kg |
APK-60 | Stepper, with short-count rejection | 50–60 tubes/min | 2 kW | 1,000 kg |
APKZL-60 | Tube labeller | 60 tubes/min | 0.8 kW | 320 kg |
The 40A and 40B run at the same speed and weigh the same. What differs is how each station is stopped — and that shows up when your tablet thickness varies.
Production Applications
What changing over involves
What changed | What you adjust | Roughly |
Same tablet, different count per tube | Track setting | 15-30mins |
Different tube diameter | Tube guides and cap vibrating disk | 15-30mins |
Different tablet diameter | Row alignment rails and track guides | 15-30mins |
Tablet thickness drifts within ±0.2 mm | Nothing — but that’s the limit | — |
Beyond ±0.2 mm of thickness variance, no adjustment fixes it. That’s where the 40B’s stepper indexing earns its cost.
What to check before you buy
Your tablet, before the machine
Hardness above 5 kg, thickness variance within ±0.2 mm, and a tube at least 2 mm wider inside than your tablet. Those three decide whether any tube filler runs cleanly on your product — ask any supplier to confirm them against your actual samples.
Which indexing you're paying for
Pneumatic stops cost less and are simpler. A stepper with an indexing disk holds position more consistently. Ask which one you're quoted and what it means when your thickness drifts.
Installation and training
Ask what's included and what costs extra.
Why Choose AIPAK？
Factory-direct — You buy from the plant, not through a trading company.
We run your tablets first — Send us tablets and tubes and we run them before you order, so you see whether your hardness and thickness clear the track.
U.S. line, answered by us — +1 (213) 526-8644, 9am to 11pm Eastern, Monday to Friday. That’s 6am to 8pm Pacific.
Lead time — 1-3months. Confirmed in writing with your order.
Fully Expanded Technical FAQ for APK-40A Effervescent Tablets Tube Filling Machine
The system avoids drop-down or gravity impact mechanisms. Tablets are hand-loaded into an optimized vibratory hopper and gently fed into specialized screening tracks. The machine guides, aligns, and screens the tablets as they move horizontally into a single-row overlapping structure. This ensures the product experiences minimal impact force and protects its structural hardness metrics.
The APK-40A is engineered with a strict multi-point interlock verification array governed by optical fiber and photoelectric sensors. If a tube experiences a tablet shortage during the row-shuffling loop, or if there is an insert anomaly, the system automatically bypasses the capping cylinder for that container. The machine will sound a localized alarm and instantly eject the uncapped, defective tube from the active line.
The built-in mechanical screening tracks will automatically filter out minor fragments and fine powder during operation. However, according to rigorous pharmaceutical standard validations, large structural debris or heavily deformed tablets must be checked and cleared from the track alignment slots manually by the cleanroom technician.
Effervescent formulation processing naturally creates fine, airborne tablet dust that can contaminate fiber-optic sensors or foul cylinder seals. The built-in 38 mm extraction port is engineered for seamless connection to external industrial cleanroom vacuum systems. This allows you to safely capture airborne particles right at the sorting station and maintain air quality compliance.
To guarantee flawless overlapping stacking and error-free cylinder insertion, the machine requires a standard tablet hardness profile of above 5kg. Furthermore, your tablet thickness error limits must stay within a rigid baseline variance of ±0.2 mm.
Yes. The completed, sealed tubes exit the machine’s pressing station in an orderly sequence and can feed directly into the APKZL-60 Tube Labeling Machine.
Same speed, same footprint, same weight. The 40A stops each station with pneumatic cylinders; the 40B uses a stepper motor and a mechanical indexing disk. If your tablet thickness is consistent, the 40A does the job for less. If it drifts, the 40B holds position better.
Customers Also Interested In...
APK-40B Tube Filling Machine
The same machine with a stepper and indexing disk instead of pneumatic stops. Worth it if your tablet thickness varies.
APK-60 Tube Filling Machine
The step up. Faster, and it rejects any tube that's a tablet short.
APKZL-60 Tube Labeling Machine
Downstream. Labels the finished tube horizontally with batch coding built in.
Send us tablets and tubes
Three numbers decide whether this machine runs on your product: tablet hardness, thickness variation, and how much bigger your tube’s inner diameter is than your tablet. Send us samples of both and we’ll check all three before quoting.
- Reply within one business day
- Your tablets and tubes run on the machine before you order
- Your formula and specs stay with us
