Sterile Package Clamping and Cutting Apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses for removing sterile products from packages in sterile environments often contaminate the products due to the diffusion of volatile and residual particles during the cutting process, and the lack of proper sterilization of blades and suckers can further compromise sterility.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that clamp and cut the sterile package between facing surfaces and a flap, creating an opening while maintaining the internal volume sealed, and then expel the product by pushing it through this opening without direct contact with potentially contaminated tools, ensuring the sterile internal walls guide the product out.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a cutting blade is used to open the sterile package, then the package can be opened to remove the product, but volatile particles and residual particles diffuse into the internal volume and contaminate the sterile product
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful action of the cutting blade is extracted from the sterile environment. The blade cuts the package exterior before the package is introduced into the sterile zone, so the cutting operation occurs outside the sterile boundary. This separates the contaminating action from the sterile product space, allowing package opening without internal contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The package is cut open before being introduced into the sterile environment. By performing the cutting action preliminarily, outside the sterile zone, the package opening is completed in advance, preventing the need to introduce a cutting blade into the sterile environment where it would contaminate the product.
2Productivity
If suckers are used to pick up the sterile product, then the product can be transferred, but the suckers can contaminate the sterile product if not properly sterilized
Solution Approach 1:
The pickup action is extracted from the sterile environment. Instead of using suckers that would need to be sterilized and introduced into the sterile zone, the package is pushed from the sterile side, and the product emerges through an opening that has already been created outside the sterile boundary. This eliminates the need for non-sterile pickup tools within the sterile environment.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of picking up the product from the sterile side with potentially contaminated tools, the approach is inverted: the package is pushed from the sterile side, and the product is expelled through an opening created outside the sterile zone. This reverses the conventional pickup approach and eliminates contamination risk.
3Ease of operation
If the cutting blade penetrates into the internal volume of the package, then an opening is created for product removal, but the opening allows volatile particles and residual particles to diffuse and contaminate the product
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting action is extracted from the sterile internal volume. The blade cuts only the exterior package layers before the package is introduced into the sterile environment, creating an opening outside the sterile zone. This prevents the blade from penetrating into the internal volume where it would disperse contaminants throughout the sterile product space.
Solution Approach 2:
The package opening is created preliminarily, before the package enters the sterile environment. By completing the cutting action in advance, outside the sterile boundary, the opening is established before any risk of internal contamination can occur, allowing subsequent product removal without introducing contaminants.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for removing a sterile product from a sterile package which contains the sterile product and to an apparatus (1) for actuating the method. The method comprises clamping a part of a sterile package (5) located between the sterile product (6) and a first flap (7), and cutting the sterile package (5) at a region (9) interposed between the clamped surfaces (3, 4) and the flap (7). Once the facing surfaces (3, 4) are disengaged, an opening (10) is identified in the sterile package (5), through which the sterile product (6) can be expelled. The surfaces (3, 4) are then disengaged from the clamping action, and the sterile product (6) expelled from the sterile package (5) through the opening (10) by exerting a pushing action on an external surface of the sterile package (5).