Vessel conveying system

Abstract

A drier 8 is disposed within a sterile chamber 14. If a vessel 10 stays within the drier for a prolonged length of time, it will be deformed under heat, and accordingly, it is taken out by a reject wheel 28 and dropped onto a discharge chute 30 which is disposed below it. A downstream portion of the discharge chute is surrounded by a second sterile chamber 36 which is separate from the first mentioned sterile chamber, and a glove 38 mounted on the wall of the chamber 36 allows an access to the discharge chute while maintaining the chute in a sterile condition. A door 40 which can be opened and closed is mounted on the wall 36a of the second chamber, and the rejected vessel is discharged through the door which is then opened. Chambers 14 and 36 are disposed within a processing chamber 4. The pressure within the first chamber 14 is controlled to be higher than the pressure (atmospheric pressure) within the processing chamber 4 while the pressure within the second chamber 36 is controlled to be lower than the atmospheric pressure. As a consequence, a vessel which is rejected by the rejected wheel can be taken out without destroying an internal ambience of the sterile chamber which surrounds the reject wheel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.