CLOSURE PROCESSING EQUIPMENT AND METHOD

Abstract

A closure processing equipment for closing openings of a number of containers includes a number of stopper members, a container holder and a set of compensation structures. Each of the stopper members is made of an elastic material, has a plug portion configured to fit into an opening of one of the number of containers and has a cover portion configured to abut a boundary surface adjacent to the opening of the one of the number of containers. The container holder has a number of container seats each configured to receive one of the number of containers in a predefined position. Each compensation structure of the set of compensation structures is configured to compensate a container manufacturing dimension tolerance. The set of compensation structures includes diverse compensation structures to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

Claims

1. A closure processing equipment for closing openings of a number of containers, comprising: a number of stopper members and a container holder; and a set of compensation structures, each compensation structure configured to compensate a container manufacturing dimension tolerance, wherein each stopper member of the number of stopper members is made of an elastic material, has a plug portion configured to fit into an opening of one of the number of containers and has a cover portion configured to abut a boundary surface adjacent to the opening of the one of the number of containers, and wherein the container holder has a number of container seats, each container seat configured to receive one of the number of containers in a predefined position, wherein the set of compensation structures comprises diverse compensation structures to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

2. The closure processing equipment of claim 1, wherein the number of container seats of the container holder is arranged in a grid of a first number of rows and a second number of columns.

3. The closure processing equipment of claim 1, further comprising a stopper holder having a number of stopper seats, each stopper seat configured to receive one stopper member of the number of stopper members in a predefined position.

4. The closure processing equipment of claim 3, wherein the number of stopper seats of the stopper holder is arranged in correspondence with the number of container seats of the container holder.

5. The closure processing equipment of claim 1, wherein the set of compensation structures is embodied by the number of stopper members.

6. The closure processing equipment of claim 5, wherein the cover portion of each stopper member of the number of stopper members has a cover thickness configured to compensate a container manufacturing dimension tolerance.

7. The closure processing equipment of claim 6, wherein the number of stopper members comprises stopper members having cover portions with diverse cover thicknesses to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

8. The closure processing equipment of claim 1, wherein the set of compensation structures comprises container seat inserts, each container seat insert configured to be arranged in one of the container seats of the container holder.

9. The closure processing equipment of claim 8, wherein each container seat insert has an insert thickness configured to compensate a container manufacturing dimension tolerance.

10. The closure processing equipment of claim 9, wherein the container seat inserts have diverse insert thicknesses to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

11. A method of closing openings of containers, comprising: obtaining a number of containers, each container having an opening; measuring a dimension of each one of the number of containers to determine a container manufacturing dimension tolerance for each of the number of containers; obtaining a number of stopper members made of an elastic material, each stopper member having a plug portion configured to fit into an opening of one of the number of containers and a cover portion configured to abut a boundary surface adjacent to the opening of the one of the number of containers; obtaining a container holder having a number of container seats, each container seat configured to receive one of the number of containers in a predefined position; obtaining a set of compensation structures comprising diverse compensation structures to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances; based on the determined container manufacturing dimension tolerances of the number of containers, selecting a compensation structure of the set of compensation structures per container of the number of containers suitable to compensate the determined container manufacturing dimension tolerance of the container; positioning the number of containers in the number of container seats of the container holder; providing each container of the number of containers with one of the selected compensation structures being suitable to compensate the respective determined container manufacturing dimension tolerance; and closing each opening of the openings of the number of containers by fitting the plug portion of one of the stopper members into the respective opening and abutting the cover portion of the one of the stopper members to a boundary surface adjacent to the respective opening.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein closing each opening of the openings of the number of containers comprises mounting a cage member to each container of the number of containers to hold the number of stopper members.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein providing each container of the number of containers with one of the selected compensation structures comprises obtaining a stopper holder having a number of stopper seats and positioning the selected compensation structures in the number of stopper seats.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of compensation structures is embodied by the cover portions of the stopper members having diverse cover thicknesses to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein selecting a compensation structure of the set of compensation structures per container of the number of containers comprises selecting a stopper member of the stopper members per container of the number of containers having a cover portion with a cover thickness suitable to compensate the determined container manufacturing dimension tolerance of the respective container.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of compensation structures comprises container seat inserts having diverse insert thicknesses to compensate different container manufacturing dimension tolerances.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein selecting a compensation structure of the set of compensation structures per container of the number of containers comprises selecting a container seat insert of the container seat inserts per container of the number of containers having an insert thickness suitable to compensate the determined container manufacturing dimension tolerance of the respective container.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein measuring a dimension of each one of the number of containers comprises optical measuring of the dimension of each one of the number of containers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] The closure processing equipment according to the invention and the method according to the invention are described in more detail hereinbelow by way of exemplary embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

[0054] FIG. 1 shows a cut side view of an embodiment of a closure processing equipment according to the invention;

[0055] FIG. 2 shows a side view of a vial as an embodiment of a container to be closed by means of the closure processing equipment of FIG. 1;

[0056] FIG. 3 shows a side view of a first set of compensation structures of the closure processing equipment of FIG. 1;

[0057] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a container seat insert of a second set of compensation structures of the closure processing equipment of FIG. 1;

[0058] FIG. 5 shows a cut perspective view of the container seat insert of FIG. 4; and

[0059] FIG. 6 shows a side view of the vial of FIG. 2 positioned in the container seat insert of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0060] In the following description certain terms are used for reasons of convenience and are not intended to limit the invention. The terms right, left, up, down, under and above refer to directions in the figures. The terminology comprises the explicitly mentioned terms as well as their derivations and terms with a similar meaning. Also, spatially relative terms, such as beneath, below, lower, above, upper, proximal, distal, and the like, may be used to describe one element's or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. These spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different positions and orientations of the devices in use or operation in addition to the position and orientation shown in the figures. For example, if a device in the figures is turned over, elements described as below or beneath other elements or features would then be above or over the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term below can encompass both positions and orientations of above and below. The devices may be otherwise oriented, and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Likewise, descriptions of movement along and around various axes include various special device positions and orientations.

[0061] To avoid repetition in the figures and the descriptions of the various aspects and illustrative embodiments, it should be understood that many features are common to many aspects and embodiments. Omission of an aspect from a description or figure does not imply that the aspect is missing from embodiments that incorporate that aspect. Instead, the aspect may have been omitted for clarity and to avoid prolix description. In this context, the following applies to the rest of this description: If, in order to clarify the drawings, a figure contains reference signs which are not explained in the directly associated part of the description, then it is referred to previous or following description sections. Further, for reason of lucidity, if in a drawing not all features of a part are provided with reference signs it is referred to other drawings showing the same part. Like numbers in two or more figures represent the same or similar elements.

[0062] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a closure processing equipment 1 according to the invention. The closure processing equipment 1 comprises a vial holder 4 as container holder with a plurality of vial seats 41 as container seats and a stopper holder 5 with a plurality of stopper seats 51. The vial seats 41 are regularly arranged in ten straight rows each having nine container seats 41. In FIG. 1 one row of vial seats 41 is depicted. The stopper seats 51 are correspondingly arranged in ten rows each having nine stopper seats, such that one stopper seat 51 is neighbouring one vial seat 41. More specifically, on top of each vial seat 41, a stopper seat 51 is positioned, when the stopper holder 4 is properly arranged on the container holder 5.

[0063] Each of the stopper seats 51 holds a stopper 3 as stopper member and a clip cage 7 as cage member. The stoppers 3 are monolithically made of an elastic material. Each stopper 3 has a plug portion 31 and a cover portion 32 radially protruding the plug portion 31. The clip cages 7 are made of a rigid but to a certain extent elastic metallic material such as stainless steel. Alternatively, the clip cages 7 may also be made of a resilient plastic such as, e.g., polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyoxymethylene (POM), or the like.

[0064] Each of the vial seats 41 of the vial holder 4 receives a plastic or glass vial 2 as container. As can be best seen in FIG. 2, each vial 2 has a body 23 with a hollow interior 231 and a neck 22 passing over into a head 21. Further, each vial 2 has a circular or cylindrical opening 25 at its head 21 which allows to access the interior 231 of the body 23. A boundary surface 24 adjacent to the opening 25 is designed as a flat upwardly oriented surface. A distance between the vial's 2 bottom end and a top end, i.e. the boundary surface 24, defines a height 26 of the vial 2. The vials 2 are manufactured in accordance with a standard which allows a total height tolerance of +/?0.5 mm.

[0065] Returning to FIG. 1, for closing the vials 2 after filling the interiors 231 with a specific amount of a substance and lyophilizing the substance inside the vials 2, the plug portions 31 of the stoppers 3 are forwarded top down into the openings 25 of the vials 2. Thereby, the plug portions 31 are tightly fitted into the opening 25 and the cover portions 32 are configured to abut the boundary surface 24. More specifically, the plug portions 31 are dimensioned such that they are radially compressed when being pushed into the openings 25 thereby tightening the openings 25 of the vials 2. For further increasing tightness, the cover portions 32 are pushed onto the boundary surfaces 24 of the vials 2 such that they are compressed. The cover portions 32 are then held in such compressed state by the clip cages 7 being snap fitted to the heads 21 of the vials 2.

[0066] For providing the closing of the vials 2 each stopper seat 51 of the stopper holder 5 is equipped with a bore 52 through which the respective clip cage 7 and stopper 3 is accessibly when received by the stopper seat 51. In an automated process, e.g. using legacy equipment, all clip cages 7 and stoppers 3 are uniformly accessed and processed through the bores 52 by an appropriate tool. However, due to the manufacturing height tolerance of each vial 2, such uniform processing usually results in a non-homogenous force applied to the stoppers 3 such that a non-uniform compression of the cover portions 32 of the stoppers 3 would result which might decrease the level and quality of tightness of the closure.

[0067] For improving the closure tightness independent from the manufacturing height tolerances of the vials 2, the closure processing equipment 1 comprises two sets of compensation structures, wherein each of them or a combination of them is suitable to eliminate or reduce inhomogeneous compression of the stoppers 3.

[0068] The first set of compensation structures is shown in FIG. 3. It is embodied by the stoppers 3. Basically, the cover portion 31 of each stopper 3 has a cover thickness 33. The set of compensation structures comprises three types of stoppers 3, 3, 3 each having a different cover thickness 33, 33, 33 configured to compensate a specific manufacturing height tolerance of the associated vial 2. Thus, the three types of stopper members 3, 3, 3 have cover portions 31, 31, 31 with diverse cover thicknesses 33, 33, 33 to compensate different container manufacturing height tolerances. More specifically, a first type of stoppers 3 has a cover section 31 with a first cover thickness 33, a second type of stoppers 3 has a cover section 31 with a second cover thickness 33 and a third type of stoppers 3 has a cover section 31 with a third cover thickness 33. The first cover thickness 33 is smaller than the second cover thickness 33 which is smaller than the third cover thickness 33.

[0069] FIG. 4 shows one exemplary part of the second set of compensation structures of the closure processing equipment 1. The second set of compensation structures comprises container seat inserts 6 configured to be arranged in one of the container seats 41 of the container holder 4. Each seat insert 6 comprises a base plate of square shape which is equipped with four lateral mounting clips 63 upwardly extending from the base plate. The seat insert 6 is set in one of the vial seats 41 of the vial holder 4. Each vial seat 41 has four counterpart protrusions 411 corresponding to the mounting clips 63 of the seat inserts 6. More specifically, the seat inserts 6 are mounted in the vial seats 41 by means of the mounting clips 63 engaging the counterpart protrusions 411.

[0070] Centrally, the base plate of each seat insert is equipped with a circular vial rest 62 configured to support one of the vials 2. About the vial rest 62 four clamping fingers 61 upwardly extend from the base plate. As can be best seen in FIG. 5, the vial rest 62 defines an insert thickness 64. The second set of compensation structures comprises seat inserts 6 having diverse insert thicknesses 64 to compensate different container manufacturing height tolerances.

[0071] In FIG. 6 one of the vials 2 is shown when being received in the vial seat 41. The vial 2 is positioned on the vial rest 62 of the seat insert 6 mounted to the vial seat 41 and the clamping fingers 61 hold the body 23 of the vial 2. Thereby, the seat insert 6 defines a position and, in particular, a vertical location of a bottom of the vial 2. More specifically, the insert thickness 64 determines the vertical location of the vial 2, i.e. the bigger the insert thickness 64, the more the vial 2 is vertically lifted such that the top end or the vertical location of the boundary surface 24 is defined.

[0072] The closure processing equipment 1 can be particularly efficient when used in an embodiment of a method according to the invention. For example, in accordance with the invention the closure processing equipment can be used as follows.

[0073] The plurality of vials 2 is obtained and each vial is scanned in order to measure its individual height. Like this, for each vial 2 its container manufacturing height tolerance is determined. Based on the determined manufacturing height tolerance, a combination of one of the stoppers 3 of the first set of compensation structures and one of the seat inserts 6 of the second set of compensation structures is selected for and associated to each vial 2 such that the manufacturing height tolerance of each individual vial 2 can accurately be compensated by the specifically selected combination.

[0074] The vial seats 41 of the vial holder 4 and the stopper seats 51 of the stopper holder 5 are then loaded with the combinations of seat insert 6 and stopper 3 such that the associated combination of each vial 2 is arranged in corresponding vial seat 41 and stopper seat 51. Then each vial 2 is set into its associated vial seat 41 such that it is positioned on the vial rest 62 of the associated seat insert 6.

[0075] The stopper holder 5 is positioned on top of the vial holder 4 such that the associated stopper 3 is adjacent to the opening 25 each vial 2. After processing the vials or their content, e.g. by filling and/or lyophilisation, the vials 2 are closed at once by fitting the plug portions 31 of the associated stoppers 3 into the opening 25 and pressing the cover portions 31 of the associated stoppers 3 to the boundary surfaces 24 of the vials 2. More specifically, the stoppers 3 are provided into and pressed onto the vials 4 by snap fitting the clip cages 7 with a uniform pressure force onto the heads 21 of the vials 2.

[0076] By providing each vial 2 with its individual combination of stopper 3 and vial insert 6, it is achieved that a uniform and accurately predefined compression of the stoppers 3 results. Like this, manufacturing height tolerances of the vials 2 can all efficiently be compensated such that an appropriate and accurate tightness can be achieved when closing the vials 2.

[0077] This description and the accompanying drawings that illustrate aspects and embodiments of the present invention should not be taken as limitingthe claims defining the protected invention. In other words, while the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. Various mechanical, compositional, structural, electrical, and operational changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this description and the claims. In some instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the invention. Thus, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those of ordinary skill within the scope and spirit of the following claims. In particular, the present invention covers further embodiments with any combination of features from different embodiments described above and below.

[0078] The disclosure also covers all further features shown in the Figs. individually although they may not have been described in the afore or following description. Also, single alternatives of the embodiments described in the figures and the description and single alternatives of features thereof can be disclaimed from the subject matter of the invention or from disclosed subject matter. The disclosure comprises subject matter consisting of the features defined in the claims or the exemplary embodiments as well as subject matter comprising said features.

[0079] Furthermore, in the claims the word comprising does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article a or an does not exclude a plurality. A single unit or step may fulfil the functions of several features recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. The terms essentially, about, approximately and the like in connection with an attribute or a value particularly also define exactly the attribute or exactly the value, respectively. The term about in the context of a given numerate value or range refers to a value or range that is, e.g., within 20%, within 10%, within 5%, or within 2% of the given value or range. Components described as coupled or connected may be electrically or mechanically directly coupled, or they may be indirectly coupled via one or more intermediate components. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.