Method and apparatus for freeze drying
First Claim
1. A freeze drying apparatus having:
- a drying chamber including an upright cylindrical heat-transfer medium container having heat-transfer medium inlet/outlet pipes, a plurality of upright tubes extending through said container from a lower plate to an upper plate, a lower space formed beneath the lower plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes and a product liquid inlet/outlet conduit, an openable bottom lid defining the bottom of said lower space, an upper space formed above said upper plate of said heat transfer medium container and being in communicating with the interior of said tubes, and a trap chamber provided with a pressure regulation valve and being in communication with said upper space, wherein pressure regulation lid means is engageably provided to the upper end of said tubes to airtightly close the upper end, said tubes include one tube set not be covered with said pressure regulation lid means and an other tube set to be covered with said pressure regulation lid means, and a pressure regulation conduit is provided which has a pressure regulation valve adapted to regulate pressure in the other tube set covered with said pressure regulation lid means independently of pressure in said one tube set.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A freeze drying apparatus comprises a heat-transfer medium container having heat-transfer medium inlet/outlet pipes, a plurality of tubes extending through the heat-transfer medium container from its lower plate to upper plate, a lower space formed beneath the heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the tubes and a product liquid inlet/outlet conduit, an openable bottom lid defining the bottom of the lower space, an upper space formed above the upper plate of the heat-transfer medium container, a trap chamber being in communication with the upper space, pressure regulation lid means operable to airtightly cover part of the tubes at their upper ends, and a pressure regulation conduit with pressure regulation valve operable to regulate pressure in the tubes covered with the pressure regulation lid means.
29 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A freeze drying apparatus having:
- a drying chamber including an upright cylindrical heat-transfer medium container having heat-transfer medium inlet/outlet pipes, a plurality of upright tubes extending through said container from a lower plate to an upper plate, a lower space formed beneath the lower plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes and a product liquid inlet/outlet conduit, an openable bottom lid defining the bottom of said lower space, an upper space formed above said upper plate of said heat transfer medium container and being in communicating with the interior of said tubes, and a trap chamber provided with a pressure regulation valve and being in communication with said upper space, wherein pressure regulation lid means is engageably provided to the upper end of said tubes to airtightly close the upper end, said tubes include one tube set not be covered with said pressure regulation lid means and an other tube set to be covered with said pressure regulation lid means, and a pressure regulation conduit is provided which has a pressure regulation valve adapted to regulate pressure in the other tube set covered with said pressure regulation lid means independently of pressure in said one tube set.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A freeze drying method for use in a freeze drying apparatus having:
- a drying chamber including an upright cylindrical heat-transfer medium container having heat-transfer medium inlet/outlet pipes, a plurality of upright tubes extending through said container from a lower plate to an upper plate, a lower space formed beneath the lower plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes and a product liquid inlet/outlet conduit, an openable bottom lid defining the bottom of said lower space, an upper space formed above said upper plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes, and a trap chamber provided with a pressure regulation valve and being in communication with said upper space, said method comprising the sets of;
sorting said tubes into tube sets of desired numbers of tubes; airtightly closing the upper end of a tube set with pressure regulation lid means and supplying a material liquid to be dried from the lower ends of all tubes; increasing pressure in tubes of said tube set closed airtightly with said pressure regulation lid means or reducing pressure in tubes of a tube set not closed airtightly with said pressure regulation lid means to admit the material liquid to be dried into the tubes of said tube set not closed airtightly and to said lower space; under this condition, refrigerating the tube surfaces to form frozen layers of the material liquid to be dried on the inner surfaces of the tubes to a desired thickness; reducing pressure in tubes of said tube set closed airtightly or increasing pressure in tubes of said tube set not closed airtightly to admit unfrozen part of the material liquid to be dried into the tubes of said tube set closed airtightly and to said lower space; under this condition, refrigerating the tube surfaces to form frozen layers of the material liquid to be dried on the inner surfaces of the tubes to a desired thickness; discharging unfrozen part of the material liquid to be dried from said drying chamber; and thereafter separating said pressure regulation lid means from the upper end of said tube set, evacuating said drying chamber to vacuum and drying all the frozen layers. - View Dependent Claims (7)
- a drying chamber including an upright cylindrical heat-transfer medium container having heat-transfer medium inlet/outlet pipes, a plurality of upright tubes extending through said container from a lower plate to an upper plate, a lower space formed beneath the lower plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes and a product liquid inlet/outlet conduit, an openable bottom lid defining the bottom of said lower space, an upper space formed above said upper plate of said heat-transfer medium container and being in communication with the interior of said tubes, and a trap chamber provided with a pressure regulation valve and being in communication with said upper space, said method comprising the sets of;
Specification