Method for testing multilayer tablets in a multiple rotary press, the tested tablets produced under normal operation, with m layers pressed and the m+1 layer suctioned off and the tablet fed to the testing station

A method for testing multilayer tablets in a multiple rotary press, in which during normal operation:

• die holes of a circulating die plate of the press are successively filled with tablet material of different tablet layers in consecutive filling devices,
• the filled tablet material is compressed layer after layer to pressed articles having n layers by means of synchronously circulating compression punches in compression stations respectively associated to the filling devices, and the pressed articles are subsequently ejected and unloaded in a unloading station, wherein in a testing procedure, pressed articles having m layers are unloaded in an unloading station after the compression during normal operation and are fed to a testing station, wherein 1<=m<n,
• initiating a testing procedure comprising the further steps of:
• after the initiation of the testing procedure, die holes (12) with pressed articles having m layers run through the (m+1)th filling device (34) after the mth layer had been pressed as during normal operation, and there, tablet material of the (m+1)th layer is filled onto the pressed articles located in the die holes (12) as during normal operation,
• that the tablet material of the (m+1)th layer is subsequently suctioned off from the die holes (12) containing the pressed articles having m layers by means of a suction device (52) arranged after the (m+1)th filling device (34) and before the (m+1)th compression station (36, 38), and
• that only pressed articles from such die holes (12) are fed to the test station that are situated between the mth filling device (28) and the suction device (52) in the moment of the initiation of the testing procedure so that only pressed articles made under normal operation are tested, so as to not be influenced by the testing procedure.