Measuring and testing – With fluid pressure – Leakage
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-02
2003-07-15
Raevis, Robert (Department: 2856)
Measuring and testing
With fluid pressure
Leakage
C073S049800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06591662
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Device for detecting whether the connection between the elements of a device for the sealed connection of two chambers isolated from the external medium, for example with a view to transferring the contents of one of the chambers to the other chamber, is sealed.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
For the purposes of this description, and of the interpretation of the appended claims, the terms “sealing” or “sealed” mean the characteristic whereby any wall separating two types of medium prevents or limits any transfer of one or more reference substances, for example so-called contaminating substances, through the said wall.
The terms “contaminating” or “contamination” mean the characteristic whereby a substance must remain excluded, or in a limited quantity or concentration, in a given medium. This may, for example, be a pathogen or polluting agent of biological or some other nature, but may also be simple solid, liquid or gaseous particles that can be placed in suspension in any fluid medium.
More specifically, although not exclusively, the present invention will be described hereafter with reference to an application of a medical or biological type, requiring any contamination, including by particles, from the external medium to be avoided or limited. By way of example, one of the chambers, hereafter called “A”, consists of a clean room or sterile room, hence stationary, though it may also be a displaceable chamber, and the other chamber, hereafter called “B” is removable and transportable, for example a disposable chamber, and contains one or more objects, or a charge to be transferred, when the sealed connection device described hereafter is in the coupled position, through the passage thus formed between the two chambers, namely from the transportable chamber to the stationary chamber, for example to supply the latter with components or products required for the manufacture or production in progress within the clean room or, conversely, to discharge waste or products from the said room.
Such situations also arise in the nuclear, electronic, pharmaceutical and medical fields.
Before giving any explanation about the detection device of the present invention, it is necessary, with reference to the appended
FIGS. 1
to
7
, to describe a device for the sealed connection of two chambers, in accordance with the state of the art, and in which the temporary coupling of the doors
2
and
3
each borne by a stationary frame in the form of a flange
4
and
5
respectively, forms a chamber “C”. One of these doors, namely the door
2
, is arranged on the opening
6
of a stationary chamber “A” isolated form the external medium, while the other door, namely the door
3
, is arranged in the opening of another chamber “B”, also isolated from the external medium. The invention relates more specifically, although not exclusively, to the application of this device to the connecting-together of a sterile chamber “A” and a transportable or mobile chamber “B”, for example consisting of a transportable container formed by a casing made of synthetic material
8
fixed to the flange
5
of the door
3
.
With this sealed joining device, the stationary chamber “A” is closed by a door
2
, generally circular, borne by an arm
9
articulated about an axle
10
, for example vertical, with respect to the flange
4
. This door has sealing means, such as a compressible annular seal
12
cooperating with a bearing surface
11
of the flange
4
or vice versa.
Likewise the transportable chamber “B” is closed by a door
3
, generally circular but of smaller diametral size than the opening
4
a
formed in the flange
4
for the door
2
of the stationary chamber, so that it can fit through this opening. The door
3
has means of sealing with its flange
5
, namely a compressible annular seal
14
borne by the flange cooperating with a bearing surface
15
of the door
3
(cf. FIG.
2
), or vice versa.
Each of the doors
2
and
3
is also associated with means of locking it to its flange in the closed position. In the embodiment depicted in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, defined hereafter, these locking means comprise a shaft
50
mounted so that it can rotate freely in a bearing of the flange
4
, a rotary latch
51
wedged onto that end of the shaft that is located in the chamber A, and a lever
52
wedged onto that end of the shaft
50
which extends outside the chamber A. The rotary latch
51
is in the form of a blade and can occupy either a position in which, as shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, it presses the door
2
into a recess in the flange
4
, or a position in which it is radially outside this door, to allow this door to move.
The shaft
50
also bears, wedged on it and from the outside of the flange
4
toward the lever
52
, on the one hand, another rotary latch
53
which can wedge the flange
5
against the flange
4
and, on the other hand, two radial fingers
54
and
55
capable of cooperating with the means of wedging the door
3
on its flange
5
.
FIG. 6
shows that these various elements
51
,
53
,
54
and
55
are angularly offset with respect to one another and with respect to the lever
52
.
The means of locking the door
3
to its flange
5
comprise two cylindrical pins
56
,
57
engaged, as a tight fit and one after the other, in, respectively, a blind bore
58
in the door
3
, and a bore
59
coaxial with the first bore and formed radially in the flange
5
. The pins are engaged only partially so that the pin
57
projects out from the flange
5
and so that the pin
56
cuts across the internal bore
5
a
of the flange
5
taking the door
3
so as to lock the door to its flange. If the container is a disposable container, then another pin
60
, visible in
FIG. 6
, is arranged in a bore
61
of the flange, aligned with a blind bore
62
of the door
3
. At the start, the pin
60
is in the position depicted in
FIG. 6
, that is to say extends radially from the flange
5
at one end, while its other end lies flush with the bore
5
a
without entering the blind bore
62
. This pin
60
and the coaxial pins
56
,
57
are angularly offset on each side of the diametral plane containing the axis of rotation of the shaft
50
and are arranged in the circular paths of the fingers
54
,
55
borne by this shaft.
Such a device is generally associated with other similar devices angularly spaced around the periphery of the flange
4
.
Finally, to make the flange
5
of the removable chamber or container B easier to position with respect to the flange
4
of the stationary chamber A, and as shown in
FIG. 7
, the flange
4
is secured to several longitudinal fingers
63
projecting outwards and capable of cooperating with circular cutouts
64
made in the periphery of the flange
5
. However, definitive positioning is ensured by engagement of a central boss
71
of the door
2
in a recess
75
of the door
3
. Each finger may also be extended at
63
a
inside the stationary chamber to cooperate with cutouts
65
formed at the periphery of the door
2
to make the radial positioning of the latter with respect to the opening of the flange
4
easier at the end of the movement for closing it.
When no transfer is taking place, each of the doors
2
and
3
is locked, to its respective flange
4
and
5
, by the latches
51
and the pins
56
. When the contents of one chamber need to be transferred into the other chamber, for example when the contents of the transportable chamber “B” have to be transferred into the stationary chamber “A”, the flange
5
of the door
3
of the transportable chamber “B” is brought, as shown in
FIG. 1
, against the flange
4
of the door
2
of the stationary chamber “A”, where it is pre-positioned by the fingers
63
, then definitively by the boss
72
-recess
75
cooperation.
Turning the levers
52
in the direction of the arrow
70
of
FIG. 6
simultaneously locks the flange
5
onto the flange
4
, unlocks the door
2
from its flange
4
and unlocks the door
3
from its flange
5
through the fingers
55
driving in the pins
56
,
57
: this d
Grimard Jean-Pierre
Porret Jean-Yves
Becton Dickinson France S.A.
Cygan Michael
Fortunato David M.
Raevis Robert
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