Industries

Food & Pharma — Hygienic and reliable HMI solutions for sensitive applications

Project request
Technical ques­tion
Food & Pharma

The food and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­tries place par­tic­u­larly high demands on HMI com­po­nents. Hygiene, pre­ci­sion and reli­a­bil­ity are of cen­tral impor­tance here. At EP Electronic Print, we develop cus­tomized solu­tions that are spe­cially tai­lored to the sen­si­tive require­ments of this indus­try. Our HMI sys­tems are robust, easy to clean and guar­an­tee safe oper­a­tion under demand­ing conditions. 

HMIs (Human Machine Interfaces) in the food and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try must meet the high­est hygiene stan­dards in order to sup­port GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) guide­lines. Closed sur­faces are essen­tial as they allow easy clean­ing and min­i­mize the risk of con­t­a­m­i­na­tion. For max­i­mum safety, mate­ri­als are pre­ferred where no glass splin­ters are pos­si­ble, even with inten­sive use or chang­ing pro­duc­tion solu­tions. These require­ments ensure both prod­uct qual­ity and user protection. 

Areas of application in the food and pharmaceutical industry

The HMI com­po­nents from EP Electronic Print are per­fectly tai­lored to the require­ments of the food and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal industries:

Hygienic sur­faces:
Smooth, seam­less mate­ri­als such as glass or coated front foils that are easy to clean and disinfect.
Resistance:
High resis­tance to aggres­sive clean­ing agents and chem­i­cal substances.
Reliability:
Precise and error-​free oper­a­tion even under demand­ing con­di­tions such as high humid­ity or tem­per­a­ture fluctuations.
Customizable solu­tions:
Customized HMI sys­tems that are per­fectly adapted to your machines and pro­duc­tion processes.
Safety:
HMI com­po­nents that com­ply with the applic­a­ble stan­dards and guide­lines of the food and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­tries, such as FDA or EU regulations.
Project request
Technical ques­tion

Special requirements and features

Medical tech­nol­ogy places spe­cific require­ments on the com­po­nents used to ensure opti­mum func­tion­al­ity and patient safety. Our solu­tions meet these require­ments through: 

Closed surfaces

Medical devices have spe­cial require­ments in terms of reli­a­bil­ity and the pro­tec­tion of users and patients. In order to avoid mal­func­tions due to the ingress of solids or liq­uids, med­ical devices are nor­mally designed with closed sur­faces or, in the case of med­ical devices, at least the IP-​Schutzklasse 65 gem. ISO EN 60529 recommended.

Medical technology - Closed surfaces

Resistance to disinfectants and cleaning agents

Frequent clean­ing and dis­in­fec­tion is a per­ma­nent chal­lenge for the mate­ri­als used. The mate­ri­als we use have proven them­selves in prac­tice over many years and there­fore rep­re­sent a safe basis(DIN 42115). Sometimes, how­ever, appli­ca­tions require spe­cial clean­ing agents (e.g. highly alka­line or acidic). We will be happy to sup­port you with addi­tional data on var­i­ous resis­tances or sug­gest a suit­able solution. 

Medical technology - Resistance to cleaning agents

Optimized readability

Depending on the appli­ca­tion, the read­abil­ity or accu­racy of the rep­re­sen­ta­tion on the dis­play can be a very sen­si­tive issue. The choice of the right com­po­nents, the right opti­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tion and the type of con­nec­tion (e.g. opti­cal bond­ing or air-​gap bond­ing) must be selected with a view to the tar­get. Neither “over­shoot­ing the tar­get” nor “just doing it” are opti­mal in terms of price, qual­ity and performance. 

Air-gap bonding vs optical bonding

Traceability of the functional components

The demands on qual­ity man­age­ment are con­stantly increas­ing and have there­fore led to increased safety for patients and users. If prob­lems do occur despite pre­cau­tion­ary and risk man­age­ment mea­sures, com­plete trace­abil­ity of the func­tional com­po­nents is required in order to ana­lyze prob­lems accu­rately. We can pro­vide you with the nec­es­sary data at ser­ial num­ber level. 

Complete HMI solution

Protection against liquids

Thorough clean­ing and dis­in­fec­tion of devices is more impor­tant in the med­ical sec­tor and there­fore takes place more fre­quently than in many other appli­ca­tions. Systems in med­ical tech­nol­ogy should there­fore be com­pletely resis­tant to the pen­e­tra­tion of clean­ing agents and dis­in­fec­tants, drugs, steam or water. For med­ical devices, at least the IP-​Schutzklasse 65 gem. ISO EN 60529 recommended.

Automation technology - Protection against liquids

Electromagnetic compatibility — EMC

To ensure patient safety, IEC 60601–1‑2 spec­i­fies increased require­ments for the EMC behav­ior of med­ical devices. This affects fac­tors such as inter­fer­ence and radi­a­tion, con­ducted cou­pling, etc. The impor­tance of the right con­cept with the selec­tion of mechan­i­cal and elec­tronic hard­ware can­not be empha­sized enough. In the worst-​case sce­nario, there is a risk of rework­ing the final device. 

Medical technology - EMC

Usability with gloves

The use of gloves is com­mon prac­tice in all med­ical areas for rea­sons of hygiene. The latex dis­pos­able gloves fre­quently used in med­ical tech­nol­ogy are no prob­lem for any of our input sys­tems and can be used with­out any prob­lems. However, thicker gloves made of var­i­ous mate­ri­als such as cot­ton or nylon can also be con­sid­ered if required. 

Automation technology - operability with gloves

Mechanical resistance of the surface

Modern multi-​touch HMI sys­tems are usu­ally equipped with a sta­ble glass sur­face and are there­fore already very robust against mechan­i­cal impact from the out­side. But even if glass can­not or should not be used (e.g. for tac­tile feed­back), we only use films with hard­ened sur­faces (3H or 9H accord­ing to ISO 15184) and thus max­i­mize the mechan­i­cal resilience. 

Automation technology - Impact resistance

Anti-​microbial surfaces

Microbes, espe­cially bac­te­ria, are a per­sis­tent prob­lem in appli­ca­tions with high hygiene require­ments. We can there­fore offer the option of an anti-​microbial coat­ing for our prod­ucts. This reduces the micro­bial load by 97% within 24 hours(ISO 22196). Although this does not replace reg­u­lar, pro­fes­sional clean­ing, it dras­ti­cally reduces the risk of micro­bial spread. 

Medical technology - Anti-microbial surface

Manufacturing

ISO 13485 is a har­mo­nized stan­dard that for­mu­lates the require­ments for qual­ity man­age­ment (QM) and the QM sys­tem of med­ical device man­u­fac­tur­ers. We are happy to sup­ply med­ical device man­u­fac­tur­ers who man­u­fac­ture in accor­dance with this stan­dard and also pro­vide you with all the nec­es­sary doc­u­ments and information. 

Everything from a single source

Why EP Electronic Print?

At EP Electronic Print, we rely on state-​of-​the-​art com­po­nents and tech­nolo­gies to develop inno­v­a­tive and cus­tomized HMI solu­tions.

Do you have any ques­tions or would you like to find out more about our HMI solu­tions?

Our team will be happy to advise you and work with you to find the best solu­tion for your project. Use our con­tact form or call us directly — we look for­ward to hear­ing from you!

Project request
Technical ques­tion

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    EP Electronic Print GmbH
    Am Weidegrund 8 & 10
    82194 Gröbenzell     Technische Anfragen:
    Telefon: +49 (0)8142 /420896–20
    E‑Mail: projekte@ep-electronicprint.de     Allgemeine Anfragen:
    Telefon: +49 (0)8142 /420896–0
    E‑Mail: info@ep-electronicprint.de