ES2370884B1 - METHOD AND DEVICE EMPTY BAGS OF BLOOD PRODUCT. - Google Patents

Abstract

Method and device for emptying bags of blood products # Device for emptying bags of a frozen product derived from blood comprising: # - a conveyor belt; # - a cutting device; # - a product extractor; and # - a hopper for receiving the product; # characterized in that it comprises a robotic arm for transporting the bag from the band to the plasma extractor, said robotic arm comprising a gripping device which, in turn, comprises: # - two capture arms, each defining at least one distal end and one proximal end; and # - an actuator # in which the actuator controls a mechanism for modifying the distance of separation of the distal ends of said clamping arms to capture the bag by its lower surface.

Description

it is passed between two rollers to eject the plas-

Method and device for emptying bags of blood products.

The present invention refers to a device for removing a product (preferably blood or a blood-derived product) frozen from a flexible plastic container.

The use of flexible plastic containers for the storage of blood and its components in the medical field is widely known. In addition, the division of blood into several components is known, among which are: plasma, red blood cells and platelets.

The storage of said components is conventionally carried out in plastic bags that are subsequently frozen to preserve the properties of said components.

According to the inventors' knowledge, all the aforementioned embodiments, whose object is the complete automation of the process of emptying or unloading bags, have not been successful in practice due to operational problems due to the variability of the size of the bags, shape concrete of the frozen bag and cleaning and reliability requirements. Therefore, in industrial practice, emptying processes are completely manual or semi-manual, involving the handling of biohazardous products.

Being a liquid product that solidifies by freezing, the exact form that the bag has once the product stored in it solidifies is unpredictable. Consequently, the transport and emptying of said plastic containers is complex in that, in addition to their shape not being known, they usually become slippery due to the moisture that freezes on the surface of the bag.

On the other hand, the products stored in a particular embodiment of the present invention are usually dangerous biological products from which their sterility must be maintained and the safety of the personnel handling them must be maintained.

US 5,829,634 discloses a device and a method for the discharge of a frozen blood (plasma) product. This document discloses a device comprising a conveyor belt that carries the frozen plasma to a cutting section, after making a cross-sectional cut to the bag, said bag is moved to a toothed roller that grips the bag by the opposite end to the end in which the cut has been made and when applying pressure longitudinally from the grip end to the opposite end it expels the frozen product. Once the frozen product is disposed on the band, means for collecting this plasma are used and the bags are placed in an empty bag container.

WO 93/24371 discloses a method for the discharge of frozen blood from a container without having to partially defrost it. This method stems from the need to break the bond that exists between the frozen plasma and the bag, presumably, due to moisture that can be deposited inside the bag when sterilization is performed by autoclaving.

This method consists in making a frozen helical cut of said bag. In addition, this document discloses that any element that exerts a force of pressure on the bag, first on one end and, later, along the entire bag can be used to extract the frozen content.

Document ES8603338 discloses a device for opening bags that have an overhanging flap and a weak longitudinal line, that is, that a longitudinal line through the bag wears out or the bag is manufactured so as to be susceptible to break down that line. The emptying device of said bags comprises a bag transport station, which advances the bag towards the cover removal stations in which jaws grip the projecting fin. These jaws exert a force on the bag causing it to break along the weak line and eject its contents.

Therefore, none of the applications of the technique have an adequate mechanism for the treatment of plasma once its content has been expelled. It is important to emphasize that frozen products increase their temperature as they move along a conventional transport belt, in addition, the pressure they exert, both cutting tools and jaws, helps defrosting the product, so, in the devices of the technique, once the bag is cut the frozen product leaves residues of biological material on the conveyor belt. This situation worsens when using the devices of the technique if, once the frozen product has been extracted, it is again disposed on the conveyor belt, leaving the biological residues defrosting without any protection on the belt, consequently increasing the dirtiness of the device extraction and requiring greater and more thorough maintenance.

Likewise, it is very convenient, in this type of applications, to maintain the cleanliness of each of the elements that make up the emptying device since, as explained above, the contents of said bags are potentially dangerous biological material that, in addition, must stay sterile

Consequently, the present invention discloses a device that allows, by autonomous means, to carry out a correct and reliable emptying of containers of frozen products while maintaining the cleanliness and sterility of the product and ensuring lower product losses than in the devices of the art and higher productivity.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to disclose a bag emptying device of a frozen blood-derived product comprising:

-

a conveyor belt;

-

a cutting device;

-

a product extractor; Y

-

a hopper for the reception of the product;

comprising a robotic arm for transporting the bag from the band to the extractor

3 EN 2370884A1 4

plasma, said robotic arm comprising a gripping device which, in turn, comprises:

-

two capture arms, each of them defining at least one distal end and one proximal end; Y

-

an actuator

wherein the actuator controls a mechanism for modifying the distance of separation of the distal ends of said clamping arms to capture the bag by its lower surface.

In a particular embodiment, the capture arms are two arms of substantially semi-ellipsoidal cross-section attached to the robotic arm by means of a joint, the actuator being provided with means to rotate said joint.

Preferably, the robotic arm comprises a stop that is disposed at one of the longitudinal ends of the bag and between said holding arms. Said stop preferably comprises a proximity detector. In addition, said proximity detector can be a limit switch.

More preferably, the cutting device is a cross-sectional device of the bag. In a particular embodiment, the cutting device is a toothed cutting device that generates a discontinuous cut in the bag preventing the contents from leaving the bag by its own means and allowing the extractor device to break said discontinuities of the bag by pressure. .

Even more preferably, the band is inclined. This facilitates the work of cleaning the device in that the plasma that defrosts during the path of the bag falls by gravitational action, consequently, it is enough to have water on the top of the band so that it cleans the thawed plasma during the tour.

Even more preferably, the plasma extractor comprises two rollers. In a particular embodiment, the rollers are in contact and rotate in opposite directions, thus favoring the grip of the bag by passing it through them and exerting a longitudinal pressure along the entire bag.

Preferably, at least one of the rollers is made of non-slip material.

For better understanding, some drawings of an embodiment of the blood product bag emptying method and device object of the present invention are attached by way of explanatory but not limitative example.

Figure 1 shows a device according to the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a gripping device according to the present invention.

Figure 3 shows a side view of the gripping device of Figure 2 in the passive position.

Figure 4 shows a side view of the gripping device of Figure 2 in active position.

Figure 5 shows the gripping device of Figures 2,3 and 4 and its attachment to the robotic arm.

Figure 6 shows a side view of the device of Figure 5.

An embodiment of the present invention comprises a conveyor belt on which fully sealed frozen plasma bags are arranged, said conveyor belt carries the bags to a cutting device. Subsequently, the cutting device makes a cut, either continuous (conventional blade)

or discontinuous (serrated blade), at one end of the bag. Then, the bag is transported, by means of the robotic mechanical arm (1) to an extraction device where the frozen product is extracted from the bag and said frozen product is collected in a hopper (23) intended for this purpose.

In order to facilitate the cleaning of the device, the conveyor belt can be arranged inclined. Thus, when cleaning is required, it is sufficient to have water (or a suitable liquid for cleaning) that will be lowered by gravity, eliminating the contaminants that may occur due to the natural defrosting of the bags when the procedure is performed.

The cutting device can be a continuous or discontinuous cutting device, in a preferred embodiment the cutting is carried out in a discontinuous manner, so that when the bag is placed in the extractor it exerts a sufficient force on the bag to finish breaking it and Eject the content.

In Figure 1 you can see the robotic arm

(one)

comprising an arm body (11) and a gripping device (10). Also shown is the extractor device (2) comprising a motor (21), and an extractor which, in this particular case, are two rollers

(22)

arranged in such a way that they come into contact to exert pressure on a container (in this particular case a bag) when the bag is disposed through them. On the other hand, a hopper (23) is shown for the disposal of the product extracted from said bag.

The embodiment shown in Figure 1 is intended to transfer bags from a transport system, for example, a conveyor belt (not shown) to an extraction device (2) that minimizes the dirt produced by thawed plasma during the transport procedure, consequently it is convenient to move the container from the conveyor belt to a remote device, such as the hopper (23).

The extraction device, in this particular case, comprises two rollers (22) and an engine (21). Said rollers rotate in opposite directions so that a container (or a bag) disposed at the junction of both rollers is driven into the rollers and, at the same time, a force is exerted from the contents of the bag to the outside of the rollers, that is, towards the hopper (23). In a particularly preferred embodiment, one of the rollers is of metallic material and the other roller is of a non-slip material.

Figure 2 shows a gripping device (10) according to the present invention. The embodiment of Figure 2 comprises two semi-ellipsoidal arms (101),

(102) although, in a particularly preferred embodiment, they could be two "L" shaped arms. The arm (101) is attached to a projection (103) of the robotic arm (not shown) by means of a joint with rotational capacity, that is, an articulation (1011). The rotation of said joint (1011) defines whether the position of the gripping device is an active position or a passive position. Similarly, the joint (1021) defines the position of the arm (102).

For simplicity of the explanation of the invention, the active position will be called the position in which the arm captures the container and the passive position in which the arm does not capture the container.

Figure 3 shows the realization of the device

5 EN 2370884A1 6

Grip of Figure 2 in a passive position. To reach this passive position, an actuator (not shown) rotates in opposite directions the joints (1021), (1011) causing the arms (101), (102) to rotate in opposite directions causing the gripping device to open allowing The arm can approach a container.

Figure 4 shows the embodiment of the gripping device of Figure 2 in an active position. It is noteworthy that this embodiment of the gripping device allows the container to be captured at its bottom, this detail is of significant importance in that the containers, in a preferred embodiment, contain frozen material that make the container too slippery to hold it. by its lateral ends. In addition, the use of the arms (101), (102) of the present invention provide additional support for the container by keeping it resting on its lower part to the semi-ellipsoidal arms.

Figures 5 and 6 show the gripping device coupled to the body of the robotic arm (11) where the incorporation of a stop (104) can be observed.

The incorporation of the stop (104) gives the device the possibility of detecting the proximity of the surface on which the containers are located by incorporating a proximity sensor at its distal end. Surprisingly, the incorporation of the stop (104) prevents the bag from moving longitudinally on the arms thus avoiding falls of biohazardous material.

Furthermore, in a particular embodiment, said stop (104) is also used as a thrust piece once the bag is arranged between the rollers. The location of said stop can be variable depending on the particularities of each application, in a particularly preferred embodiment, said stop is arranged in the gripping device and not in the arm body.

The materials used in the manufacture of the components of a device according to the present invention, their shapes and dimensions and all the accessory details that may be presented will be independent of the object of the invention, provided they do not affect their essentiality.

While the invention has been described with respect to examples of preferred embodiments, these should not be considered as limiting the invention, which will be defined by the broader interpretation of the following claims.

7 EN 2370884A1 8

Claims (15)

 of the frozen product and between the aforementioned arms of 1. Bag emptying device of a frozen product derived from blood comprising:

-

a conveyor belt;

-

a cutting device;

-

a product extractor; Y

-

a hopper for the reception of the product;

characterized in that it comprises a robotic arm for transporting the bag from the band to the plasma extractor, said robotic arm comprising a gripping device which, in turn, comprises:

-

two capture arms, each of them defining at least one distal end and one proximal end; Y

-

an actuator

wherein the actuator controls a mechanism for modifying the distance of separation of the distal ends of said clamping arms to capture the bag by its lower surface.

2.

Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the capture arms are two arms of substantially semi-ellipsoidal cross-section attached to the robotic arm by means of a joint.

3.

Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the actuator has means for rotating the joint.

Four.

Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the robotic arm comprises a stop that is disposed at one of the longitudinal ends of the container bag

subjection.

5.

Device according to claim 4, characterized in that said stop comprises a proximity detector.

6.

Device according to claim 5, characterized in that said proximity detector is a limit switch.

7.

Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cutting device is a cross-sectional device of the bag.

8.

Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cutting device is a serrated blade.

9.

Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the band is inclined.

10.

Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plasma extractor comprises two rollers.

eleven.

Device according to claim 10, characterized in that the rollers are in contact.

12.

Device according to any of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that the extractor comprises a motor interconnected to the rollers to rotate them.

13.

Device according to claim 12, characterized in that the rollers are interconnected such that they rotate in opposite directions.

14.

Device according to any of claims 10 to 13, characterized in that at least one of the rollers is made of a non-slip material.

SPANISH OFFICE OF THE PATENTS AND BRAND Application no .: 201131265 SPAIN Date of submission of the application: 07.27.2011 Priority Date: REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE 51 Int. Cl.: B65B69 / 00 (2006.01) RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Category

Documents cited Claims Affected

TO

DE 102009056225 A1 (MAGURIT GEFRIERSCHNEIDER GMBH) 01.06.2011, 1,7-14

paragraphs 16-29; figures 1,2.

TO

US 5829634 A (GLOGER RUDOLF et al.) 03.11.1998, 1-4

column 5, line 64 - column 10, line 67; Figures 2,3,9-11.

TO

ES 8102801 A1 (BAXTER TRAVENOL LAB) 16.05.1981, 1,9-14

page 11, line 13 - page 13, line 10; figures 3.4.

TO

WO 9324371 A1 (BAXTER INT) 09.12.1993, 1-8

page 7, line 9 - page 11, line 23; figures 1.6.

TO

ES 2245837 A1 (GRIFOLS SA) 16.01.2006, 1-4

column 2, line 17 - column 3, line 6; figure 3.

Category of the documents cited X: of particular relevance Y: of particular relevance combined with other / s of the same category A: reflects the state of the art O: refers to unwritten disclosure P: published between the priority date and the date of priority submission of the application E: previous document, but published after the date of submission of the application

This report has been prepared • for all claims • for claims no:

Date of realization of the report 25.11.2011

Examiner M. I. Esteban Gil Page 1/5

REPORT OF THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE Application number: 201131265 Minimum documentation sought (classification system followed by classification symbols) B65B Electronic databases consulted during the search (name of the database and, if possible, terms of search used) INVENES, EPODOC State of the Art Report Page 2/5  WRITTEN OPINION Application number: 201131265 Date of Written Opinion: 25.11.2011 Statement

Novelty (Art. 6.1 LP 11/1986)

Claims Claims 1-14 IF NOT

Inventive activity (Art. 8.1 LP11 / 1986)

Claims Claims 1-14 IF NOT

The application is considered to comply with the industrial application requirement. This requirement was evaluated during the formal and technical examination phase of the application (Article 31.2 Law 11/1986).  Opinion Base.- This opinion has been made on the basis of the patent application as published. State of the Art Report Page 3/5  WRITTEN OPINION Application number: 201131265 1. Documents considered.- The documents belonging to the state of the art taken into consideration for the realization of this opinion are listed below.

Document

Publication or Identification Number publication date

D01

DE 102009056225 A1 (MAGURIT GEFRIERSCHNEIDER GMBH) 06.01.2011

D02

US 5829634 A (GLOGER RUDOLF et al.) 03.11.1998

D03

ES 8102801 A1 (BAXTER TRAVENOL LAB) 05/16/1981

D04

WO 9324371 A1 (BAXTER INT) 09.12.1993

D05

ES 2245837 A1 (GRIFOLS SA) 01/16/2006

2. Statement motivated according to articles 29.6 and 29.7 of the Regulations for the execution of Law 11/1986, of March 20, on Patents on novelty and inventive activity; quotes and explanations in support of this statement The invention in its claim 1, claims a bag emptying device of a frozen product derived from blood comprising a conveyor belt, a cutting device, a product extractor, a product receiving hopper, and a robotic arm for transport from the bag of the band to the plasma extractor with a gripping device that has two capture arms, defining at least one distal and one proximal end and an actuator that controls a mechanism for modifying the distance of separation of the ends distal of the aforementioned support arms to capture the bag by its lower surface. Documents D01 to D05 only show the state of the art. Document D01 can be considered the state of the art closest to the invention, in which a bag emptying device (1) of a frozen product (8) derived from blood comprising a conveyor belt (3), a device is disclosed cutting (4), a product extractor (5), and a product receiving hopper (22). However, said device does not have the robotic arm with the technical characteristics described in claim 1. However, document D02 discloses a robotic element with similar characteristics to those described by the invention in claims 1 to 6, however its function is the to carry out all the steps carried out in the application in said element, since it has a reception area (37) of the product up to some arms that support it (9) having an actuator (6) that controls the operation of the clamping arms. However, it differs from the request that it does not hold the bag by its lower part but that it surrounds a bottle (3) to be able to perform in that robotic arm the operations of cutting and emptying the product in addition to other stages described in document D02 and It is not for transporting the bag from a band to the extraction zone. No document has been found that discloses the technical characteristics described in claim 1, therefore the invention is new (ART. 6 law 11/1986 of the patent law) and possesses inventive activity (ART. 8 law 11/1986 of the patent law). The other claims are dependent on the first and therefore are also new and have inventive activity (ART. 6 and 8 law 11/1986 of the patent law); however, the characteristics claimed in them are found in the cited documents or are known to a person skilled in the art. Claim 2 claims that the capture arms are two arms of substantially semi-ellipsoidal cross section attached to the robotic arm by means of a joint. In document D02 it can be seen that the clamping arms (8 'and 9') are of semi-ellipsoidal section as shown in Figure 3. In claim 3 it is provided that the actuator contains means for rotating the joint. Said means (11) are shown in document D02. In claim 4 the robotic arm comprises a stop which is disposed at one of the longitudinal ends of the bag containing the frozen product and between said holding arms. Document D02 shows an element (21 and 22) that act as a stop. In claim 5 said stopper comprises a proximity detector, and that proximity detector is a limit switch (claim 6). Proximity detecting elements are known in this sector of the art as shown in document D01 as it has a detector (25) of the bag to be detected and thus adjust the position of the rollers (9). In claim 7 the cutting device is a cross-sectional device of the bag and is a serrated blade (claim 8). In document D02 it is noted that a cross-section is made with a cutting disc. It is claimed in claim 9 that the band is inclined to be able to perform a cleaning if necessary for the subsequent evacuation of said water, which is obvious to a person skilled in the art to make said arrangement. State of the Art Report Page 4/5  WRITTEN OPINION Application number: 201131265 In claim 10 it is claimed that the plasma extractor comprises two rollers that are in contact (claim 11) with an interconnected motor that rotates them (claim 12) such that they rotate in opposite directions (claim 13) and at least one of the rollers is made of non-slip material (claim 14). In document D01 it is disclosed that the plasma extractor comprises two rollers (9 and 10) that are in contact with a motor that turns them and controls their speed (paragraph 22) in such a way that they rotate in opposite directions such as It is shown in fig. 2, being one of the rollers made of plastic or soft material in a way that makes it non-slip (paragraph 22). It is known in the state of the art the use of rollers for pressing the bags as discussed in document D02 and shown in Figures 10 and 11. None of said documents shows an arrangement as described in the claims. 1 to 14 and therefore cannot be considered as prior. On the other hand, it is not obvious that, from said documents, a person skilled in the art could conceive a similar arrangement, with the characteristics mentioned in said claims. The invention claimed through the content of claims 1 to 14 seems to bring obvious improvements over what is already known in the field of bag emptying devices of a frozen product and therefore can be considered to be new and involves inventive activity (ART. 6 and 8 law 11/1986 of the patent law). State of the Art Report Page 5/5