CAN THIS PUMP REALLY CHANGE THE E-CIG INDUSTRY?

A few years ago, my usual gas station stops to purchase cigarettes was more than just picking up a pack of smokes. I typically threw in a pack of gum or mints along with it, as well as an occasional energy drink to keep from smelling like cigarette smoke. Keeping my spray cologne in the console of my pick-up truck was a must. With the new age of  “safer alternatives,” I was personally impressed to quit traditional smoking and try the non-nicotine e-cigarette which came with a much better scent. 

Many establishments are now allowing vaping in areas where traditional smoking is still not allowed. This trending style of e-smoking has caused an increase in purchasing e-vape pens, e-cigs, and other vape products by consumers worldwide.  According to the Allied Analytics LLP, the global e-cigarette industry is expected to expand from $8 billion to $27 billion by 2023 (2018).

With this increase of demand over the next five years, how will manufacturers continue to maintain quality and control– including precise dosages on millions of tiny prefilled, flavored cartridges?  Consumers and retailers alike are demanding consistency and quality in these products. How will the manufactures keep up with the standard of quality that the consumer expects? 

Quality and control is one of the most common issues manufacturers have associated with e-cigarettes. The automation process of pre-filing the cartridges with an e-juice (e-liquid) typically made of Propylene Glycol (PG) and/or Vegetable Glycerin (VG), distilled water, flavoring, and Nicotine, in some cases CBD or THC, is a meticulous process that needs to be regulated.

Manufacturers are seeing production of both small and large e-liquid cartridges. With amounts smaller than 70mml in a tank only a half-inch wide, to cartridges holding 10ml and up. Factory automation is obviously the solution to both quality and consistency, but are the right instruments to maintain consistent parameters and high specifications being used by these factories?

Located in the heart of Salt Lake City, Utah, Zaxis Inc, has patented an innovative solution to provide precision metered dosage like never before.  E-liquid manufacturers and contract suppliers are extremely impressed by the pinpoint accuracy that the VMP Benchtop provides.

Features include:

• Millions of no maintenance cycles
• 1% accuracy or better with no drift
• Two precision stepper motors for pump volume and speed adjustments
• Patented, automatically adjusted dispense volume
• Independently controlled stroke rate and displacement
• Valve-less piston design
• PC interface with control up to 128 pump modules
• Up to 100 programs
• PLC communication is RS232/485

The Zaxis Inc. VMP Benchtop is just one of many solutions that are available for immediate demo/testing on your products.  Zaxis’s positive displacement metering pump ensures with sub microliter accuracy that each dosage of nicotine is not only extremely precise but accurate across all batches with a coefficient of variation below 0.5. Using Zaxis Inc. precision ceramics and a patented electronically adjustable hinge guarantees each cartridge will contain the correct amount of nicotine, THC, or CBD oil. As nicotine, CBD, and THC cartridge manufacturing processes become more automated, the benefits of Zaxis’s electronically adjustable metering pump will become critical. 

Not only does Zaxis have superior technology for dispensing, but the controls for OEM’s and integrators are extremely easy to use. A teach pendant with a very user friendly user-interface enables integrators to get up to speed rapidly then gain full control of the pump functions over standard ethernet protocols. The electronic adjustment, microstepping, and high torque servo motor allow the user to optimize dispense volumes in real time without wrenches.