Dec Group delivers The world's first blood bank robot

Recently, Dec Group has successfully implemented a fully automated Blood Bag Processing System (BBPS) at Sanquin, a not-for-profit based organization responsible for the safe and efficient blood supply in the Netherlands.

This greatly simplifies the processing of hundreds of blood donations every day. Manual activities such as sorting by blood groups and ingredients, sticking labels, scanning codes, etc. can now be taken over by a fully automated system. This not only speeds up the process, but also avoids potential errors, contamination and damage to the donations.

This unit is unique as it is completely tailor-made according to the requirements of the blood bag processing workflow from Sanquin. The system completely automates the process activities, saves a lot of time and is highly ergonomic.

BBPS comes with loading trolleys and integrates the following steps:  

Main Conveyor

The Main Transport consists of a belt with horizontal product carriers that hold the blood bags in position and a clamping system that moves the cross tubes at every index to the next stations such as Stripping Station, Sealing Station, and Bundling/Attaching Station.

Stripping

In this process, the stripping rollers move up and down to make sure that there is no air remaining in the tube.

Sealing

This unit comes with 3 sealing heads. The first seal device is in a fixed position to separate the seventh segment. The second and third seal devices take care of the six segments in a three-stage movement. The sealing is done from the end of cross tube towards the blood bag to avoid any build-up of pressure.

Bundling & Attaching

During this process, the segments of the cross tube are folded twice in a horizontal position to form a closed Zig-Zag bundle which is kept together in the middle by a Bundle Holder Clamp. The cross tube bundles are transferred from the bundle clamp to the bundle holds of the attaching clamp that rotates the bundle horizontally on the blood bag. Finally, the bundle is secured by a label.

Labelling & Sorting

In this process, a custom print is applied on the blood bag. After this process, the Sorting Robot moves the verified blood bags to the correct bin.

Unique Features of the BBPS

• Pick & Place of IV infusion bags while pulling the tube tightly for pinching and stripping
• Tube clamping, folding and taping
• Vacuum enabled Pick & Place gripper to handle the bags
• Scanning for traceability and distribution including interface to customer database

Video: Dec Group Fully Automated Blood Bag Handling System

About Dec

Dec Group is the leading global provider of contained powder handling systems and is recognized as a world-leading expert in process containment technologies. It has been supplying the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and cosmetic industries for more than 35 years.

​The depth of Dec’s knowledge and their ability to develop innovative new technologies make them an invaluable partner for both multinationals and specialist organizations.

​With true worldwide coverage through subsidiaries in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, USA, India, China, its recent acquisition of advanced containment and aseptic solution provider Extract Technology and the latest expansion with the integration of UK based Alconbury Weston Ltd (AWL) as well as agents covering more than 60 countries, the Dec Group provides its customers with unparalleled global expertise and a reliable network for local support.