Apparatus and method for the measurement of the vertical position of upper and lower punches of a rotary tablet press

A rotary tablet press with a rotatably driven rotor and upper and lower punches, pairwisely associated to the rotor and rotating synchronously with the rotor, which perform a vertical movement in certain regions along the circumference of their rotational movement during a rotation of the rotor, further comprising:

• an apparatus for the measurement of the vertical position of upper and lower punches, pairwisely associated to a rotatably driven rotor of a rotary tablet press and rotating synchronously with the rotor, which perform a vertical movement in certain regions along the circumference of their rotational movement during a rotation of the rotor, characterised by at least one scale (54) arranged on at least one of the upper and/or lower punches (18, 20), running in parallel to the vertical movement direction of the respective upper and/or lower punch (18, 20), and at least one reading device (56) associated to the scale (54), also rotating synchronously with the rotor (12), by means of which a vertical position of the respective upper and/or lower punch (18, 20) can be measured by reading out the scale (54).

A method for the measurement of the vertical position of upper and lower compression punches, pairwisely associated to a rotatably driven rotor of a rotary tablet press and rotating synchronously with the rotor, which perform a vertical movement in certain regions along the circumference of their rotational movement during a rotation of the rotor, characterised in that vertical positions of at least one upper and/or lower punch (18, 20) are measured along the complete circumference of its rotational movement during at least one rotation of the rotor.