Method and system for removing a liquid from a container for accommodating an ophthalmic lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10195303-B2
Application number	US-201615350374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2016
Priority date	Dec 11, 2015
Publication date	Feb 5, 2019
Grant date	Feb 5, 2019

Abstract

A method of removing a liquid from a container ( 1 ) for accommodating an ophthalmic contact lens, in particular a soft contact lens, during transporting the container ( 1 ) from a liquid bath ( 13 ) to a subsequent processing station ( 14 ), the method including the steps of:
transporting the container ( 1 ) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, generating suction ( 20 ), and applying the suction ( 20 ) to a bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) during the step of transporting the container ( 1 ) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, thereby removing the liquid from the container ( 1 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of removing a liquid from a container ( 1 ) for accommodating an ophthalmic lens, during transporting the container ( 1 ) from a liquid bath ( 13 ) to a subsequent processing station ( 14 ), the method comprising the steps of:
transporting the container containing the ophthalmic lens ( 1 ) from the liquid bath ( 13 ) to the subsequent processing station ( 14 ),
generating suction ( 20 ),
applying the suction ( 20 ) to a bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) during the step of transporting the container ( 1 ) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, thereby removing the liquid from the container,
wherein the step of applying suction ( 20 ) comprises:
providing an aspirator ( 2 ) comprising a suction cup ( 21 ) having a concave wall ( 22 ) with at least one suction orifice ( 24 ) arranged in the concave wall ( 22 ),
applying the suction ( 20 ) through the at least one suction orifice ( 24 ) arranged in the concave wall ( 22 ) of the suction cup ( 21 ), and
moving the suction cup ( 21 ) towards the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) with the concave wall ( 22 ) of the suction cup ( 21 ) facing the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) has a convex shape, and wherein the concave wall ( 22 ) of the suction cup ( 21 ) has a shape which corresponds to the convex shape of the bottom ( 11 ) of the container.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein applying the suction ( 20 ) to the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) allows a leakage stream of the liquid from the container to flow between the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) and the concave wall ( 22 ) of the suction cup ( 21 ) towards the at least one suction orifice ( 24 ) in the concave wall ( 22 ) of the suction cup ( 21 ).

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suction cup ( 21 ) is moved towards the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) only to an extent that the suction cup ( 21 ) does not contact the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suction ( 20 ) is applied to the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) during a time period in a range of 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an air flow of the suction ( 20 ) is in a range of 2 m 3 to 8 m 3 .

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suction ( 20 ) is in a range of up to 900 hPa.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein transporting the container ( 1 ) from the liquid bath ( 21 ) to the subsequent processing station is accomplished intermittently, and wherein suction is applied to the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) while the container ( 1 ) is intermitted.

9. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the suction ( 20 ) is applied to the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) during a time period in a range of 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds.

10. The method according to claim 3 , wherein transporting the container ( 1 ) from the liquid bath ( 21 ) to the subsequent processing station is accomplished intermittently, and wherein suction is applied to the bottom ( 11 ) of the container ( 1 ) while the container ( 1 ) is intermitted.

Assignees

• Novartis Ag

Inventors

• Biel Roger
• Kopp Andrea
• Struckmeier Katrin Sylke
• Stutz Michael

Classifications

• F26B5/12

  by suction · CPC title

• B29D11/00259

  Plants for the production of contact lenses · CPC title

• B29D11/0025

  Removing impurities from contact lenses, e.g. leaching · CPC title

• B29D11/0023

  Transferring contact lenses · CPC title

• B29D11/00125 Primary

  Auxiliary operations, e.g. removing oxygen from the mould, conveying moulds from a storage to the production line in an inert atmosphere · CPC title