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US 12,226,944 B2Granted
Systems and methods for rotary Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) machine staged vacuum
AssigneeKoska Family Limited
InventorJeff Price
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for altering the typical rotary Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) machine manufacturing process to implement a staged or phased vacuum application to the BFS molds.
Claims15
A rotary-style BFS manufacturing system, comprising:
- a BFS mold comprising two cooperatively matched mold halves, each mold half defining a plurality of vacuum cavities;
- a mold holder coupled to each mold half, the mold holders each comprising (i) a first vacuum port in communication with a first subset of the plurality of vacuum cavities of the respective mold half and (ii) a second vacuum port in communication with a second subset of the plurality of vacuum cavities of the respective mold half;
- and
- a vacuum slider in communication with the mold holder, the vacuum slider comprising two vacuum slots, each vacuum slot being operable to (i) be engaged with the first vacuum port of a respective mold holder at a first time in a rotary BFS cycle and (i) be engaged with the second vacuum port of a respective mold holder at a second time in the rotary BFS cycle.
1 more element
A rotary-style BFS staged vacuum manufacturing method, comprising:
- initiating a rotary BFS molding cycle in which cooperative BFS mold halves are moved to engage with a parison to mold a BFS product;
- molding the BFS product, by:
- (i) applying, at a first time, a first stage of vacuum to a first vacuum port of rotary BFS mold holders coupled to each of the BFS mold halves;
- (ii) moving, after the first time, the BFS mold halves from a first position to a second position of the rotary BFS molding cycle;
- and
- (iii) applying, at a second time, a second stage of vacuum to a second vacuum port of the rotary BFS mold holders coupled to each of the BFS mold halves;
- filling the molded BFS product with a medicament;
- and
- sealing the molded and filled BFS product.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.