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US 5,493,845 AGranted
Method for forming, filling and sealing a sterile flexible container
AssigneeAbbott Laboratories
InventorsWayne F. Adolf, R. Hayes Helgren, James T. Renick, Walter T. Szempruch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a sterile form, filled and sealed flexible solution container and an attached port assembly that allows for the sterile dispensing of the solution.
Claims9
A method for forming, filling and sealing a continuous, longitudinal strip of flexible, multiple-layer film into a plurality of individual flexible solution containers, comprising the steps of:
- sterilizing the continuous strip of film;
- uniformly and outwardly stretching discrete center portions along the continuous strip of multiple-layer film to form a plurality of solution sumps;
- providing a plurality of rigid tubular port members each having a circumferential flange at one end of the tubular port member, each circumferential flange having an inner flange face congruent with the outwardly stretched solution sumps of the multiple-layer film strip;
- circumferentially sealing the inner flange face of the port member to the outside layer of the stretched solution sump of the multiple-layer film strip;
- forming the multiple-layer film strip into a continuous U-shaped longitudinal trough having a bottom surface including the stretched solution sump and the circumferentially sealed flange and having two side surfaces including the opposed inside layer of the multiple-layer film strip;
- sealing a first portion of the opposed inside layer of the film strip together to form a first transverse side seal extending from and generally perpendicular to the bottom surface;
- sealing a second portion of the opposed inside layer of the film strip together to form a second parallel transverse side seal extending from and generally perpendicular to the bottom surface, so that the first side seal, the bottom surface and the second side seal define an open pouch;
- filling the pouch with a sterile solution;
- sealing a third portion of the inside layer of the film strip together to form a top seal so as to form a sealed flexible container;
- and
- cutting the film strip coincident with the first and second side seals so as to divide the continuous formed, filled and sealed film strip into individual sealed containers.
8 more elements
A method for forming, filling and sealing a flexible solution container, comprising the steps of:
- providing a strip of flexible, multiple-layer film;
- uniformly and outwardly stretching a discrete center portion of the film strip to form a solution sump;
- providing a rigid tubular port member having a circumferential flange at one end, the flange having an inner flange face congruent with the outwardly stretched solution sump of the film strip;
- circumferentially sealing the inner flange face of the port member to the outside layer of the stretched solution sump of the multiple-layer film strip;
- further forming the multiple-layer film strip into a U-shaped trough having a bottom surface including the stretched solution sump and the circumferentially sealed flange and having two side surfaces including the opposed inside layer of the multiple-layer film strip;
- sealing a first portion of the opposed inside layer of the film strip together to form a first transverse side seal extending from and generally perpendicular to the bottom surface;
- sealing a second portion of the opposed inside layer of the film strip together to form a second parallel transverse side seal extending from and generally perpendicular to the bottom surface, so that the first side seal, the bottom surface and the second side seal define an open pouch;
- filling the pouch with a sterile solution;
- and
- sealing a third portion of the inside layer of the film strip together to form a sealed flexible container.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.