Freeze-drying apparatus and method
AssigneeNew England Biolabs Lyophilization Sciences Ltd.
InventorsMartin A. Lee, Diane R. Lee, Peter Lovell
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Abstract
A process for freeze drying a material. The process has the steps of (a) placing material to be freeze-dried in a vessel, the vessel comprising a container having a base, and at least one wall defining an opening at one end; (b) applying a membrane to the at least one wall to thereby cover the opening, wherein the membrane comprises an aperture which, in use, is aligned with the opening; and (c) subjecting the vessel to a lyophilisation procedure, wherein the membrane is in place on the container during the lyophilisation procedure.
Claims33
A process for freeze drying a material, said process comprising:
- (a) placing the material in a vessel, the vessel comprising a container having a base, and at least one wall defining an opening at one end;
- (b) applying a membrane to the at least one wall to thereby cover the opening, wherein the membrane comprises an aperture which, in use, is aligned with the opening and wherein the membrane comprises a metal foil;
- and
- (c) subjecting the vessel to a lyophilization procedure, wherein the membrane is in place on the container during the lyophilization procedure.
A vessel for use in a freeze-drying procedure, the vessel comprising
- a container having a base, and at least one wall defining an opening at one end;
- and
- a membrane configured to cover the opening of the container, wherein the membrane is provided with an aperture which, in use, is aligned with the opening of the container, wherein the membrane comprises a metal foil.
A vessel for use in a freeze-drying procedure, the vessel comprising:
- a container having a base, and at least one wall defining an opening at one end;
- and
- a membrane configured to cover the opening of the container, wherein the membrane is provided with an aperture which, in use, is aligned with the opening of the container,
- wherein a single membrane is provided for the multiple containers, arranged such that a portion of the membrane covers an opening of each container in the vessel, and each portion of the membrane is provided with an aperture and wherein the membrane comprises a metal foil.
A system for use in a freeze-drying procedure, the system comprising:
- two or more vessels, each of the vessel comprising:
- one or more container, each of the container having at least one wall defining an opening at one end;
- and
- a membrane, divided into membrane portions, each of the membrane portion being configured to cover the opening of a container, wherein each of the membrane portion is provided with an aperture which, in use, is aligned with the opening of the container and each of the membrane portion comprises a metal foil;
- and
- a support for receiving the two or more vessels and being configured to retain the two more vessels in alignment with one another, the support having at least one alignment feature configured to engage with a corresponding alignment feature of the membrane to thereby align the membrane relative to the two or more vessels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.