The area inside the machine where Capping is taking place is isolated from the rest of the machine, and all surfaces are either stainless steel or polished anodized aluminum. There are no electrical devices in this area (fiber-optic sensors only). The cover of the machine raises for maintenance, and the capping area can be wiped down with commercial disinfectants.

No ferrous steel is used, and the risk of metal sparks is very small. No operating electrical arcs are produced; all electronics are solid state and all motors are brushless type. All materials are medical-grade including predominately PTFE based elastomers, seals, and electrical insulation.

The cap grippers have no rubbing motions; to our knowledge the only "over-vial" gripper mechanism in the world to be totally enclosed. Zero particulates are produced over the open vial.

The Shuttle is low to the platform so that the machine can sit inside existing automation platforms. Z-axis excursion of your robot to load and unload vial and caps is minimal, and usually well within the limits of the Z-axis rack. The low profile and Shuttle drive below the vial insure no moving parts are above the open vial.

All electrical systems are 24 volts DC or less, and the shuttle is low energy; should a technician get caught in the shuttle, it will not cause any harm. Motions are inhibited while the cover is raised.

The machine requires air pressure of 80 psig [5,4 bar] at 2.0 cfm [57 l/m]. An exhaust line is provided to allow pneumatic device exhaust air to be routed out of the work space.

The controller is housed in a small aluminum enclosure with 10 feet [3 m] of cable. A plug at the machine completes the connection from the enclosure. The enclosure can be powered by any global power, 100-240 vac, 50-60 hertz.

An ASCII RS232 communication option is available to remotely control the EP-314 as part of an automated cell.

The machine is self-monitoring and applies a rigorous internal diagnostic routine to insure six-sigma accuracy to the capping process. If a fault is detected, the machine will halt, and a fault code will be displayed. Although this is rare, it insures that every capping cycle is correctly torqued.