There are a variety of pill designs, sizes, and shapes currently in use in the pharmaceutical, and personal-health industries of today. The most commonly used pill designs can be divided into three general styles. HardGel Capsules, SoftGel Capsules, and Tablets. This post will focus on the characteristics of HardGel Capsules, and how to determine how many will fit into a specific packer bottle.
What is a HardGel Capsule? - HardGel Capsules consist of pre-manufactured, organic gel, shell-halves. The two halves fit together to create an efficient, tight capsule, that once filled with product, can be taken internally by the customer. Once ingested, the capsule shell is designed to dissolve, releasing the contents. HardGel Capsules are primarily designed for dry powders, aggregates, small pellets, or granules. HardGel Capsules are not recommended for liquids.
HardGel Capsule Sizes - Capsule sizes are organized into a numbered list. “000” being the largest size at approximately 26.14 mm in length (1.37 ml dosage), down to “5” being the smallest commonly recognized size at approximately 14.3 mm in length (0.17 ml dosage).
How To Determine Pill-Count - Okay, so you know what size capsule you are using, and you know what size packer bottle you want to use for packaging. But how do calculate how many of your capsules will fit in the bottle?
1) You can calculate the numbers. Determine the standard size of your capsule. Find it's volume by measuring the height and diameter. Multiply the diameter times the height by one-third. Then find the volume of the packer bottle by measuring the diameter and the FILL height of the bottle. Divide the diameter by two to find the radius. Then square the radius and multiply the result by the height and pi, which is estimated at 3.14, or 22/7 as a fraction. Finally, divide the volume of the packer bottle by the volume of the capsules.
2) You can order samples of our packer bottles. Then just fill the bottle with your capsules till the bottle is full. Pour them out, and count the results.
3) Or… you can just use our handy chart below. In this chart, it shows the capsule-count for the four most common pill-counts to every packer bottle size we carry. The chart also shows the capsule-count when cotton and a desiccant is included. We think the chart is pretty cool, and easier to use than trying to do a lot of math. (Right-click on the chart and open to a new tab to see a larger version.)
