Continuous freeze drying apparatus

• US 5,269,077 A
• Filed: 11/24/1992
• Issued: 12/14/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Criofarma Di Maria Fusai Bruttini E C SAS
• Original Assignee: Criofarma Di Giorgio Bruttini & C SAS
• Inventors: Bruttini, Roberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Wayner, William E.
• Application Number:
  US07/982,075
• Time in Patent Office: 385 Days
• Field of Search: 34/5, 34/92, 62/353
• US Class Current: 34/92
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 5/065 the product to be freeze-dried being sprayed, dispersed or pulverised

Abstract

Continuous freeze drying apparatus composed of a vessel whose internal chamber houses a cooled revolving cylinder on which a nebulizer sprays the material to be freeze dried.

A scraping blade, grazing the freezed material, removes it making it fall onto revolving holed planes heated by heating elements interposed between these revolving planes, in order to obtain a quick sublimation of the substance to be freeze dried.

Claims

1. A continous freeze drying apparatus comtaining:

a sealed vessel, said vessel comprising walls;

a controlled-pressure chamber contained inside said sealed vessel;

two condensation elements, each one of said two condensation elements being connected to said sealed vessel at a corresponding one of said walls;

a vacuum pump connected to said two condensation elements;

two check valves connected to said two condensation elements, each one of said two check valves being interposed between said vessel and said two condensation elements;

wherein said controlled-pressure chamber includes;

a revolving cylinder refrigerated at controlled temperature, said revolving cylinder having a lateral surface;

a scraping means, slightly spaced from said revolving cylinder and placed orthogonally to said lateral surface of said revolving cylinder;

a nebulizing means to spray a product to be freeze dried onto said lateral surface of said revolving cylinder, from which a freezed product is removed by said scraping means;

a plurality of overlapped revolving planes to collect and distribute a freezed material, each one of said plurality of revolving planes having a plurality of holes or gauged notches to make particles of a size less then the diameter of said holes or said notches, pass through them;

a plurality of heating elements interposed between each one of said revolving planes for the sublimation of a material to be freeze dried;

and wherein said continuous freeze drying apparatus further comprises a flow-regulating means and a removable means to collect a freeze dried material, both said flow-regulation means and said removable means being located below one of the walls of said sealed vessel.

2. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said revolving cylinder is keyed to a hollow shaft to make a cooling fluid pass through it and wherein, to one end of said shaft, a pinion is keyed that engages a chain operated by an electric motor.

3. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said nebulizing means is placed at a substantially orthogonal position with respect to an horizontal rotation axis of said revolving cylinder above said lateral surface.

4. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said scraping means is composed of a plan blade with two tongues supported at side ends of said plan blade, said blade being secured to an horizontal pin passing through a wall of said chamber at the end of which an operating lever is secured to define the exact position of the blade with respect to said revolving cylinder.

5. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heating elements are composed of armored resistors.

6. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heating elements are composed of serpentine ducts for thermal carrier fluids.

7. A continuous freeze drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heating elements are composed of radiating plate or lamp elements.