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JP-2026514242-A - Transfer device

JP2026514242AJP 2026514242 AJP2026514242 AJP 2026514242AJP-2026514242-A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transfer device (100) for enabling a specific aseptic transfer between a first object (102), specifically a first process unit (102), and a second object (104), specifically a second process unit (104). Furthermore, the present invention relates to a system (200) comprising at least two objects (102, 104), specifically process units (102, 104), and a system (200) comprising three, four, or five or more objects (102, 104, 202, 204), specifically process units (102, 104, 202, 204).

Inventors

  • ダービト ベラー
  • フィンセント オイヒナー
  • レーナ ショーバー

Assignees

  • キョービー テック ゲゼルシャフト ミット ベシュレンクテル ハフツング

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20240503
Priority Date
20230505

Claims (17)

  1. A transfer device (100) for enabling a specific aseptic transfer between a first object (102), specifically a first process unit (102), and a second object (104), specifically a second process unit (104), wherein the transfer device (100) is at least partially installable within the first object (102) and at least partially installable within the second object (104), and the following, namely: A first door element (110) is positioned in the first object (102) in an assembled state, and is formed within a wall section (120) of the first object (102) for opening and closing an access opening (118) to the interior (122) of the first object (102), A second door element (112) is positioned in the second object (104) in an assembled state and is used to open and close an access opening (124) to the interior (128) of the second object (104), which is formed within the wall section (126) of the second object (104), A locking device (114) for locking the first door element (110) in a closed state and for releasing the first door element (110) to open the first door element (110), wherein the locking device (114) is incorporated into and/or disposed on the first object (102), An opener device (116) for opening and closing at least one of the door elements (110, 112), wherein the opener device (116) is installed in and/or located on the second object (104), It has, The first door element (110) and the second door element (112) are engageable with each other, and when the first door element (110) is released by the locking device (114) while engaged, the first door element (110) and the second door element (112) can be moved together away from the access opening (118, 124) by the opener device (116) to allow for a specific, aseptic transfer between the first object (102) and the second object (104). Transfer device (100).
  2. The first door element (110) specifically includes a frustoconical or truncated pyramidal section (130), the section tapers toward the interior of the first object (102) when the first door element (110) is closed, and the circumferential surface of the section (130) of the first door element (110) is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the access opening (118) of the first object (102) when the first door element (110) is closed, and/or The transfer device (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that the second door element (112) specifically includes a frustoconical or truncated pyramidal section (132), the section tapers outward with respect to the second object (104) when the second door element (112) is closed, and the circumferential surface of the section (132) of the second door element (112) is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the access opening (124) of the second object (104) when the second door element (112) is closed.
  3. The transfer device (100) has a sealing device (134), the sealing device is formed from or includes a plurality of sealing partial elements (136, 138, 140, 142), and the following is done: - The sealing device (134) makes it possible, or is sealed, outwardly between the first door element (110) and the inner circumferential surface of the access opening (118) of the first object (102) when the first door element (110) is closed, and/or - The sealing device (134) makes it possible, or is sealed, outwardly between the second door element (112) and the inner circumferential surface of the access opening (124) of the second object (104) when the second door element (112) is closed, and/or - The sealing device (134) ensures that, in the engaged state of the first door element (110) and the second door element (112), and in the closed state of the corresponding door elements (110, 112), the respective surfaces of both door elements (110, 112) facing outward relative to the corresponding objects (102, 104) are able to seal outward or are sealed, and/or - The sealing device (134) ensures that, in the state where the respective wall sections (120, 126) of the objects (102, 104) are pressed against each other to engage the first door element (110) and the second door element (112), the respective opening areas of the respective access openings (118, 124) of both objects (102, 104) are able to seal outward or are sealed, and/or - The sealing device (134), specifically each sealing element (136, 138, 140, 142), has a closed, and specifically circular, contour. A transfer device (100) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one of the following applies.
  4. The second door element (112) includes a coupling element (144), the coupling element being located within and/or on the second door element (112) and forming at least a portion of the second door element (112), the coupling element (144) enabling the first door element (110) to engage with and be held by the second door element (112), and optionally the following: the coupling element (144) forms a portion of the second door element (112) oriented outward with respect to the second object (104), the portion having a coplanar transition to the rest of the second door element (112), the rest of which is oriented outward with respect to the second object (104), and/or A transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the coupling element (144) is formed as an electromagnet or includes at least one electromagnet, and the first door element (110) is formed as a partially or completely magnetically compatible element or includes the magnetically compatible element.
  5. The transport device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first door element (110) and/or the second door element (112) each have outward-facing sides with a configuration suitable for hygiene, specifically a hygienic design, and in the said configuration, specifically the first door element (110) and/or the second door element (112) do not have an undercut on the outside, specifically on the side.
  6. The opener device (116) includes a swivelable lever element (148), the lever element being swivelably fixed in the second object (104) to a first end region (152) of the lever element (148) in an assembled state, and the second door element (112) being fixed to the second end region (154) of the lever element (148), the lever element (148) can move the second door element (112) or any other engaged door elements (110, 112) together into the interior (128) of the second object (104), and thus away from the access openings (118, 124). A transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that
  7. The transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that at least a portion of the opener device (116) is rotatable and/or pivotable about a rotation axis (150) that can be positioned or positioned inside the interior (128) of the second object (104), and can cause opening and closing of at least one of the door elements (110, 112) by corresponding rotation and/or pivoting motion, and the rotation axis (150), in its assembled state, is positioned at a predetermined distance from the access opening (124) of the second object (104), and the distance is greater than or equal to the maximum opening dimension of the access opening (124) of the second object (104), or more specifically, greater than or equal to the opening diameter of the access opening (124) of the second object (104).
  8. The transport device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the transport device (100) includes one or more sensor units (156, 158) for detecting the open state of the first door element (110) and/or the open state of the second door element (112), and specifically, each sensor unit (156, 158) is specifically signal-technically connected to a control unit (146) of the transport device (100) and/or a control unit (146) that can be assigned to or has been assigned to the transport device (100) in order to determine whether or not a transfer between the first object (102) and the second object (104) is permitted.
  9. The transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the transfer device (100) includes at least one sensor unit (160) which can be used to detect whether the first door element (110) and the second door element (112) are engaged with each other, and optionally at least one of the following: - the sensor unit (160) can be used to detect a mass moved by the opener device (116) when it is opened and/or closed, and/or - the sensor unit (160) can be used to detect a change in the magnetic field inside and/or of the second object (104), the change being caused by the opener device (116) when it is opened and/or closed, and/or - the sensor unit (160) can be used to detect an electrical contact between the first door element (110) and the second door element (112) when they are engaged and closed.
  10. The first door element (110) includes a retaining contour (164), the retaining contour is positioned inward relative to the first object (102) in the closed state, and the locking device (114) is - At least one retaining element (166, 168) is positioned within the first object (102) in an assembled state, and the retaining element can be selectively engaged with the retaining contour (164) to lock the door element (110), - The drive device (170) allows the retaining elements (166, 168) to move so that they can selectively engage with the retaining contour (164), and more specifically, they can move between a locked position and a released position, and more specifically, the drive device (170) is incorporated into and/or disposed on the first object (102), and optionally the drive device (170) includes an elastic element, more specifically a spring element (174), which allows the retaining elements (166, 168) to be preloaded, or are preloaded, in the direction of engagement with the retaining contour (164), specifically toward the locked position, Specifically, the transfer device (100), specifically the locking device (114), includes at least one sensor unit (172) for detecting the locked state of the first door element (110), and the sensor unit is capable of detecting the position of the retaining elements (166, 168) relative to the drive device (114) and/or the retaining contour (164), as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.
  11. The drive unit (170) is coupled to the retaining elements (166, 168) via shafts (176, 176), and via the shafts (176, 176), the retaining elements (166, 168) are able to engage with and disengage from the retaining contour (164), specifically being able to move to the locked position and the released position, specifically that the drive unit (170) includes a motor (180) and a transmission device, and via the transmission device, torque and/or force that can be provided by the motor (180) can be delivered to the shafts (176, 178) in order to engage the retaining elements (166, 168) with the retaining contour (164), and specifically to move the retaining elements (166, 168) to the locked position and the released position, and/or The drive device (170) includes a motor (180) and a spindle drive device (182) driven by the motor (180), and an operating arm (184) is formed on the shafts (176, 178), the operating arm is movably coupled to the spindle drive device (182), the rotational motion of the spindle drive device (182) can be transmitted to the shafts (176, 178) in the form of a pivoting motion via the coupling of the shafts (176, 178) to the operating arm (184), the pivoting motion can be transmitted to the holding elements (166, 168) via the shafts (176, 178), and optionally the locking device (114) A transfer device (100) according to claim 10, comprising further retaining elements (166, 168), wherein the retaining elements are movably coupled to the spindle drive device (182) via further shafts (176, 178) by operating arms (184) formed on the further shafts (176, 178), and the two retaining elements (166, 168) are engageable with the retaining contour (164) and disengageable again from the retaining contour (164) by opposing, specifically synchronous, pivoting motion, and specifically, at least one of being movable to the locked position and the released position.
  12. The drive unit (170) is arranged in the first object (102) and outside the interior (122) of the first object (102) in an assembled state, or the drive unit (170) is arranged inside the first object (102) in an assembled state, and is formed to be at least partially autoclavable, and the autoclavable portion of the drive unit (170) and the non-autoclavable portion of the drive unit (170) are coupled to each other via at least one coupling component, and the non-autoclavable portion of the drive unit (170) can be disassembled and incorporated into the interior (122) of the first object (102), or The transfer device (100) according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the drive unit (170) is positioned inside the first object (102) in an assembled state and is formed to be autoclavable, and more specifically, the drive unit (170) includes a sealed housing, the housing being partially or completely, specifically, thermally isolated from the surrounding area.
  13. The transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the opener device (116) has a drive unit (418) that can move the second door element (112) or the mutually engaged door elements (110, 112) together in a swiveling and/or linear manner, preferably linearly and then swiveling, into the interior (128) of the second object (104), and moreover, this can move the door elements out of and/or away from the access openings (118, 124).
  14. The drive unit (418) has a motion device (420) and a motor device (422), the motion device (420) is rotatable by the motor device (422), and is at least partially capable of linear motion, in particular, - The motion device (420) preferably has a rotation axis (150) formed as an axis and a moving device (424), wherein the moving device (424) is positioned outside the rotation axis (150) and is capable of moving and/or moving linearly along the rotation axis (150), and/or - The motor device (422) has a rotary motor (444) for causing the rotational motion of the motion device (420) and a linear motor specifically formed as a spindle drive motor (446) for causing the linear motion of the motion device (420), specifically of at least a part of the moving device (424), The transfer device (100) according to claim 13, characterized in that the following is defined.
  15. The transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the transfer device (100) includes a control unit (146), and/or the transfer device (100) is assignable to or has been assigned a control unit (146), specifically the control unit (146) of the first object (102) and/or the second object (104), and the signal-technical connections of the control unit (146) and/or the control unit are selectively separable and/or current-free switchable for autoclave processing of the transfer device (100).
  16. A system (200) comprising at least two objects (102, 104), specifically process units (102, 104), wherein the two objects (102, 104) include at least one transfer device (100) as described in any one of claims 1 to 15, and optionally each object helps to produce a product, specifically a biological pharmaceutical product.
  17. A system (200) comprising three, four, or five or more objects (102, 104, 202, 204), specifically process units (102, 104, 202, 204), wherein each object (102, 104, 202, 204) is provided with one or more first parts and/or one or more second parts (106, 108) of a transfer device (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the transfer device (100) can be formed from at least one first part and at least one second part (106, 108), and the at least one first part (106) and at least one second part (108) of the transfer device (100) are provided within different objects (102, 104, 202, 204).

Description

This invention relates to a transfer device for enabling a sterile transfer between a first object, specifically a first process unit, and a second object, specifically a second process unit. Specifically, in the field of pharmaceutical formulations for personalized therapeutics, for example, various processing operations for the production of a biological drug can often be carried out by using multiple process units and/or process spaces and/or process areas for manufacturing the product. Often, it may be necessary to connect such objects, such as process units and/or process spaces and/or process areas, to enable the performance of a specified processing operation. For example, in this case, it may be necessary to efficiently lock materials and/or objects into and out of one process unit. In this case, the highest degree of sterility is required. Furthermore, highly personalized therapeutics are associated with high costs, specifically labor costs, due to their individual and/or minimum production batch sizes, making large-scale application and/or industrial production of individual and/or minimum batch sizes often impractical. Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a transfer device that enables a specific aseptic transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, based on an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the transfer device of Figure 1.Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the transfer device of Figure 1 as viewed from the first process unit toward the second process unit.Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the transfer device of Figure 1 in a cross-sectional view along the line A-A.Figure 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the transfer device of Figure 1.Figure 6 is a schematic top view showing a system consisting of at least two process units based on an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figure 7 is a schematic top view showing a system consisting of three, four, or five or more process units based on an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figures 8 to 18 are schematic diagrams showing parts and/or components of a transfer device that enables a sterile transfer between a first process unit and a second process unit, each based on a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Figure 19 is a schematic perspective view showing a transfer device for enabling a specific aseptic transfer between a first proc