Filling Nozzle with High Contact Angle Surface for Antibody Clogging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Filling nozzles used in pharmaceutical production often experience clogging due to dried pharmaceutical components, leading to contamination, reduced filling accuracy, and economic losses, especially when handling high-concentration protein solutions like antibodies, as existing methods like suck-back do not adequately prevent clogging.
Innovation Solution
A filling nozzle with a specific shape and material, such as a cycloolefin polymer or copolymer, is designed to inhibit pharmaceutical solution stagnation at the nozzle tip, featuring a tubular passage and filling port with a larger inner diameter and a water contact angle of 50 degrees or more, which prevents solid component adhesion and clogging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a filling nozzle is used in an aseptic environment with HEPA filtered air circulation, then sterile production is maintained, but pharmaceutical solution adhering to the nozzle tip is dried causing clogging and contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the surface properties of the filling nozzle through material selection. The nozzle is made from materials with specific surface energy characteristics that prevent pharmaceutical solution adhesion. This changes the wetting parameters of the surface, causing the solution to bead up and drain back rather than adhere and dry, thereby preventing clogging while maintaining aseptic conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs disposable filling nozzles made from cost-effective materials such as polyethylene or polypropylene. These single-use nozzles are discarded after each filling operation, eliminating the problem of dried component accumulation and clogging entirely. This approach prioritizes preventing harmful adhesion effects over nozzle longevity, accepting the cost of replacement as the solution
2Productivity
If suck-back method is used to withdraw remaining solution, then some clogging is prevented, but liquid adhering to inner wall moves to tip and stagnates causing dried component accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the surface energy parameters of the filling nozzle by selecting materials with appropriate contact angle characteristics. This parameter change ensures that the pharmaceutical solution does not adhere to the inner walls during the suck-back process. Instead, the solution forms discrete droplets that drain back completely, preventing both the initial adhesion problem and the subsequent tip stagnation that occurs with conventional nozzles
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical suck-back action with a surface property-based solution. Rather than relying on mechanical withdrawal forces that move liquid to the tip, the invention uses surface energy characteristics to passively control liquid behavior. The low-adhesion surface causes automatic drainage back of the solution without mechanical intervention, eliminating the harmful transfer of liquid to the nozzle tip
3Strength
If stainless steel or PEEK material is used for filling nozzle, then durability and chemical resistance are improved, but pharmaceutical solution adhesion and clogging still occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting materials with specific surface energy parameters that prevent adhesion. Materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene have inherently lower surface energies compared to stainless steel or PEEK. This parameter change in surface properties causes the pharmaceutical solution to bead up and drain back rather than adhere, solving the clogging problem while maintaining sufficient mechanical durability for single-use applications
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material strategies by using coated or treated surfaces on durable substrate materials. In some embodiments, a durable substrate provides structural strength while a specialized coating layer provides the low-adhesion surface properties. This composite approach combines the benefits of both material types: the structural integrity of metals or engineering plastics with the anti-adhesion properties of low-surface-energy materials
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables stable production of liquid pharmaceutical formulations by preventing clogging and ensuring efficient filling, reducing economic losses and maintaining high filling accuracy, even with high-concentration protein solutions.
Implementation Method 1
a water contact angle of 50 degrees or more, which prevents solid component adhesion and clogging
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a filling nozzle obtained by using a resin selected from a cycloolefin polymer and a cycloolefin copolymer, or a filling nozzle including a tubular passage for supplying a pharmaceutical solution, and a filling port disposed at a lower end of the tubular passage, in which the tubular passage and the filling port have a circular peripheral cross-section, and an inner diameter of the passage of the filling port is larger than an inner diameter of the tubular passage disposed on an upstream side.