Water pills, also known as water pills, are small spherical pills made of cold boiled water, medicinal juice or other liquids as sticky (wet) agents. Shuiwan is developed on the basis of decoction. At first, the decoction of some drugs in the prescription and the fine powder of another drug were dropped into pills, and then gradually evolved. Taking various water-soluble liquids as binders, all or part of the fine powder in the prescription is made into pills by pot method. Pot-made pellets are small in size, compact and smooth in surface, easy to swallow, not easy to absorb moisture, and beneficial to storage.

First, the meaning and characteristics of water pills

Water pill, also known as water pill, refers to a pill made of fine powder of medicinal materials with water or yellow wine, dilute medicinal juice and sugar solution as auxiliary materials.

Features: ① Small size, compact and smooth surface, easy to swallow and difficult to absorb moisture; (2) Pills can be dispersed by layers according to the properties of drugs, so as to cover up the bad smell of drugs and improve the stability of aromatic volatile components; (3) easy to dissolve and disperse, and quick to take effect; ④ The production equipment is simple, but the operation is complicated; ⑤ The uniformity and dissolution of drug content are difficult to control.

Second, the auxiliary materials of water pills

1. water. The hygroscopic, soluble or toxic drugs in the prescription can be dissolved or dispersed in water before being made into pills.

2. wine. The viscosity of wetting powder is weaker than that of water. When water pills have strong viscosity, they can be replaced by wine. Wine is also a good organic solvent, which contributes to the dissolution of alkaloids and volatile oils. The pills made are easy to dry and have certain anti-corrosion ability.

3. vinegar. Vinegar can increase the dissolution of alkaloids in the powder, and rice vinegar can promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, reduce swelling and relieve pain, and introduce drugs into the liver. Vinegar is often used as an excipient in the preparation of water pills for promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis and relieving pain.

4, medicine juice. Some drugs in the prescription are not easy to crush or are too large in volume, so juice can be squeezed or liquid medicine can be extracted as auxiliary materials.

There are mainly the following categories: ① drugs with strong fiber (such as pericarpium arecae and towel gourd) and mineral drugs with hard texture (such as magnetite and native copper) are leached to make leaching solution for pan-pill; ② Resin drugs (such as frankincense and myrrh). ), extracts, gums, soluble salts, etc. Can be used as adhesive by leaching or directly dissolving them; (3) milk, bile, bamboo juice, etc. It can be used after being properly diluted with water; ④ Fresh medicines (such as ginger and garlic) can be used for juicing.

Thirdly, the preparation of water pills.

Process flow: raw material preparation? Molding? Pan-module? Cover your face? Fuck? Choose pills? Coating? Light it? Quality inspection? parcel

1. Raw material preparation. Generally, the powder for pan-pill should pass through No.5-6 sieve, and the powder for mold drawing or bread wrapping should pass through No.6-7 sieve.

2. Draft the mold. Note: ① Choose powder with proper viscosity for demoulding, and powder with too strong viscosity or no viscosity is not conducive to demoulding; ② Water is often used as wetting agent when demoulding.

(1) powder pot molding method

(2) Wet powder granulation and demoulding method

The following empirical formula can be used for mass production:

X=0.6250？ letter of credit (L/C)

Where, c refers to the dry weight of the finished water pill as 100, g; D total weight of powder, kg; X general powder consumption for demoulding, kg; 0.6250 standard pill mold 100 pill weight, g

3. molding.

(1) Every time water is added, the amount of powder should be appropriate.

(2) In the process of accelerating the increase, attention should be paid to maintaining the hardness and roundness of the pellets, and the rolling time should be appropriate to make the pellets firm and compact without affecting the dissolution.

(3) The slanting materials, powder lumps, oversize and undersize pellets produced in the process of demoulding and expansion shall be mixed with water at any time and sprinkled on the pellets.

(4) If the prescription contains fragrant, volatile, special-smelling and irritating medicinal materials, it is best to pulverize them separately and spread them in the middle layer of the pill to avoid volatilization or cover up the bad smell.

⑤ Pills containing cinnabar, sulfur and acidic drugs should not be lifted in a copper basin to avoid discoloration of the pill surface or harmful components due to chemical changes. Stainless steel pot can be used as a medicine pot for this variety.

Step 4 cover the surface. Commonly used mulching methods include dry powder mulching, clear water mulching, clear pulp mulching and so on.

Dry it. The drying temperature is generally controlled below 80℃, and the pills containing volatile components should be controlled below 60℃. Long-term high-temperature drying may affect the dissolution rate of water pills, so intermittent or boiling drying method should be adopted.

Step 6 choose pills.

7. coating.