Real-time measurement of desublimation in a freeze-drying system
AssigneeSP Industries, Inc.
InventorPaul W. Coiteux
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are embodiments for real-time measurement of drying in a freeze-drying system. In at least one embodiment, the freeze-drying system includes a freeze-drying chamber; a condenser coupled to the freeze-drying chamber; one or more load sensors; and a processing device operatively coupled to the one or more load sensors and configured to measure mass change of components of the freeze-drying system during a freeze-drying process.
Claims24
A freeze-drying system comprising:
- a freeze-drying chamber;
- a condenser coupled to the freeze-drying chamber;
- one or more load sensors;
- and
- a processing device operatively coupled to the one or more load sensors and configured to measure mass change of components of the freeze-drying system during a freeze-drying process.
A freeze-drying system comprising:
- a freeze-drying chamber;
- a condenser coupled to the freeze-drying chamber via one or more conduits;
- a hydraulic ram configured to apply pressure to a shelf stack disposed within the freeze-drying chamber at a pressure plate;
- a hydraulic fluid pressure sensor configured to measure pressure on the hydraulic ram;
- and
- a processing device operatively coupled to the hydraulic fluid pressure sensor to measure mass change on the shelf stack during a freeze-drying process.
A method of computing batch average temperature of a product during a freeze-drying process at a given point or period in time, the method comprising:
- monitoring, by a processing device, mass transfer from the product to a condenser as accumulated ice during the freeze-drying process;
- and
- computing, by the processing device, a drying parameter of the product based on the monitored mass transfer.
A method comprising:
- implementing, by a processing device, a freeze-drying process for a freeze-drying system according to a process recipe, the process recipe specifying a drying parameter for a product;
- monitoring, by the processing device, mass transfer from the product to a condenser as accumulated;
- computing, by the processing device, the drying parameter at a given point or period in time based on the monitored mass transfer;
- and
- periodically adjusting, by the processing device, the process recipe to cause the computed drying parameter reach and stabilize at or near a target batch average temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.