Container assembly and method for humidity control

Abstract

A container assembly has a material storage container defining a sealed chamber therein. A quantity of moisture-sensitive material is disposed in the chamber. The moisture-sensitive material has a desired range of moisture content. A hydrated humidity control substance is also disposed within the chamber, and the humidity control substance is in humidity-transferable communication with the chamber. The humidity control substance regulates a relative humidity within the chamber in order to maintain a moisture content of the moisture-sensitive material within the desired range of moisture content.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 640,558, filed Dec. 30, 2004 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 640,975 filed Jan. 3, 2005.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a container and method for retaining a moisture-sensitive material. More specifically, the present invention relates to a container that has a moisture-sensitive material and a humidity control substance, where the humidity control substance regulates a relative humidity within a chamber of the container in order to help the moisture-sensitive material maintain a desired range of moisture content. [0003] Moisture-sensitive materials, such as pharmaceutical products, are often stored in hermetically and waterproof resealable containers. When opened for access to those materials, however, there may be an exchange of moisture between the air inside the container and the air outside the container. There ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] The present invention is a container assembly for retaining a moisture-sensitive material. The container assembly has a container defining a sealed chamber. A humidity control substance is disposed within the chamber of the container and is in humidity-transferable communication with the chamber. The humidity control substance regulates a relative humidity within the chamber of the container in order to help the moisture-sensitive material maintain a desired range of moisture content.

Problems solved by technology

When opened for access to those materials, however, there may be an exchange of moisture between the air inside the container and the air outside the container.

There may also be an exchange of moisture between the air inside the container and the air outside the container if there is an air leak in the container.

The exchange of moisture may adversely affect the properties of the moisture-sensitive material stored in the container.

The quality of moisture-sensitive material may be affected if the moisture level (also known as the “humidity level”) of the air inside the container falls below or rises above a desired level, in part because the moisture content of the moisture-sensitive material may change.

When an off-the-shelf inner container is used, the manufacturer or bottler of the moisture-sensitive material has little control over the moisture level inside the chamber of the material storage container, and the manufacturer or bottler can only maintain a generally dry environment.

This may be undesirable if the moisture-sensitive material needs to be stored at a specific moisture level in order to maintain its quality and / or if the moisture-sensitive material is readily affected by a large change in moisture level.

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