JPH07124257A - Sealed vessel and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the contaminated air, or liquid or gas in a vessel from being drawn into an annular recess by sealing pressure higher than the required level into the recess, regarding a sealed vessel closed under the required pressure with an intermediate plug having the annular recess formed between adjacent annular seal sections. CONSTITUTION:An intermediate plug 5 is cylindrically formed out of rubber, and has three annular seal sections 5a radially projected outward at the axial upper and lower ends, and the intermediate position thereof. Also, space between the adjacent seal sections 5a is formed as an annular recess 5b. The clean air is introduced into two annular recesses 5b via a gap formed with a gap pin 16, and the internal pressure of each recess 5b is kept at the atmospheric pressure level. On the other hand, the lower annular seal section 5a acts to prevent the internal space of a vessel 1 from being communicated to a vacuum chamber. According to this construction, the outside contaminated air is prevented from being drawn into the recesses 5b or a medicine is prevented from being drawn after the shipment of an injector by sealing fresh gas in the recesses 5b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hermetically sealed container and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a hermetically sealed container in which the container is sealed with an inner stopper and a method for manufacturing the same.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a vacuum stoppering machine for stoppering an inside stopper into a syringe barrel as a container in a vacuum state (Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-28386). This vacuum stoppering machine is provided with a vacuum chamber, a rack for holding a container filled with a chemical solution with its mouth upward, and a plate provided above the mouth of the container held by the rack to hold the stopper. And a capping pin that is provided above the plate and that fits the inner plug held by the plate into the mouth of the container. In the vacuum stopper machine, while setting the container in the rack outside the vacuum chamber, set the stopper inside the plate and set the plate on the rack,
Next, this is supplied to a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber. When this state is reached, the inside of the vacuum chamber is evacuated to a vacuum state, and then the stopper pin is lowered,
The inner stopper held by the plate is fitted into the mouth of the container to seal the container. After that, the vacuum chamber is opened, atmospheric pressure is introduced into the vacuum chamber, and the inner plug fitted to the mouth of the container is automatically moved to a predetermined position in the container due to the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the container. To complete the stoppering work of the inner stopper to the container. And the inner plug usually has a plurality of annular seal portions on the outer periphery, and the adjacent annular seal portions are annular recesses, and the plurality of annular seal portions are brought into close contact with the inner surface of the container to form a vacuum state. In, the drug solution is sealed in the container.

However, since the sealed container manufactured by the above vacuum stopper machine caps the inner stopper in a vacuum state, the annular recess of the inner stopper is still capped in the vacuum state. Will be done. Therefore, the dirty air outside after the sealed container is shipped due to the vacuum pressure in the annular recess is sucked into the annular recess, and conversely, the chemical solution is sucked into the annular recess and becomes dirty air. The chemicals may be attracted to each other, and in the worst case, the inside of the container may be contaminated by dirty air. In view of such circumstances, the present invention prevents as much as possible the suction of dirty air outside or the liquid or gas in the container into the annular recess, thereby reducing the risk of contaminating the inside of the container. The present invention provides a sealed container and a manufacturing method thereof.

That is, the present invention comprises a container and an inner plug having a plurality of annular seal portions on its outer circumference and having an annular recess between adjacent annular seal portions. In a hermetically sealed container in which the container is fitted into a container and hermetically sealed at a required pressure, a pressure higher than the required pressure is sealed in the annular recess. is there. Further, the present invention comprises a container, and an inner plug having a plurality of annular seal portions on the outer periphery and having an annular recess between adjacent annular seal portions, the inner plug being fitted into the container, and In a method of manufacturing a hermetically sealed container for sealing a container at a required pressure, a gap pin is inserted between the inner plug and the container, and the inner plug inside the container is connected to the outside while communicating the inside of the container with the outer plug. And the lower end of the gap pin is positioned in the annular recess of the inner plug, and the innermost annular seal part blocks communication between the inside of the container and the outside of the inner plug. A method for manufacturing a hermetically sealed container, comprising: a step of hermetically sealing the container; and a step of externally supplying a pressure higher than a pressure at which the container is hermetically sealed into the annular recess.

According to the manufacturing method of the present invention, first, the gap pin is inserted between the inner stopper and the container to communicate the inside of the container with respect to the inner stopper to the outside, so that the air inside the container is prevented. The inner plug can be smoothly fitted into the container while allowing the gas to escape to the outside. Then, by locating the lower end of the gap pin in the annular recess of the inner plug, the innermost annular seal portion can block communication between the inside of the container and the outside of the inner plug. it can. In this state, the annular recess communicates with the outside, so by supplying a pressure higher than the pressure for sealing the container into the annular recess from the outside, the high pressure is sealed in the annular recess. You can As described above, in the sealed container in which the annular recess is filled with a pressure higher than that in the container, dirty air after shipment of the sealed container is sucked into the annular recess, or the liquid or gas in the container is annular. Since the air is not sucked into the concave portion, the dirty air outside can be well separated from the inside of the container, and thus the inside of the container can be prevented satisfactorily.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIG. 1 (a), an injection cylinder or container 1 is inserted into a holder 2 with its lower part having a mounting opening 1a for an injection needle facing downward. Therefore, the holder 2 holds the mouth portion 1b of the container 1 in a state of facing upward. A cap 3 is attached to the mounting opening 1a, and the container 1 is already filled with a drug solution. The air around the container 1 is kept in a clean state. The tapping pin 4 which is lifted and lowered by an elevating mechanism such as a cylinder device (not shown) is provided at a position as close as possible to the outlet of a filling machine that fills the container 1 with the drug solution, and the filling machine fills the container 1 with the drug solution. Immediately after filling the container 1, the inner stopper 5 is plugged into the container 1 by the stopper pin 4 so that foreign substances and bacteria are not mixed in the drug solution filled in the container 1. The inner plug 5 is supplied to the lower end of the stopper pin 4 manually or automatically, and is sucked and held at the lower end of the stopper pin 4 by the negative pressure supplied to the negative pressure passage 4a formed in the stopper pin. It has become so. The inner plug 5 is
As shown in FIG. 2, it is made of rubber in a columnar shape, and has three annular seal portions 5a protruding outward in the radial direction at upper and lower ends and an intermediate portion in the axial direction, and adjacent annular seal portions 5a. An annular concave portion 5b is formed between them. Further, a bottomed hole 5c is formed in the center of the upper surface of the inner plug 5, and the lower end portion of the tapping pin 4 can be fitted into the hole 5c. Further, in FIG. 1A, a gap pin 6 is provided integrally and in parallel with the tapping pin 4, and the gap pin 6 is an inner plug 5 held by the tapping pin 4.
It comes in contact with or close to the outer peripheral surface of the inner plug 5 and projects downward from the lower surface of the inner plug 5 by a predetermined amount. When the inner stopper is fitted into the mouth portion 1b of the container 1 filled with the chemical solution, the inner stopper 5 is manually or automatically operated as described above.
Is supplied to the lower end portion of and is suction-held by negative pressure. Then, in this state, the stopper pin 4 and the gap pin 6 are lowered, firstly the lower end portion of the gap pin 6 is inserted into the mouth portion 1b of the container 1, and then the inner stopper 5 is inserted into the mouth portion 1b of the container 1. It is fitted (FIG. 1 (b)). At this time, since the gap pin 6 is interposed between the outer peripheral surface of the inner plug 5 and the inner peripheral surface of the container 1 to form a gap in that portion, the air in the container 1 is smoothly released while letting it escape to the outside. The inner stopper 5 can be pressed into the container 1. Then, when the inner stopper 5 is inserted into the container 1 until the upper surface of the inner stopper 5 is substantially the same as the upper surface of the container 1,
The suction holding of the inner plug 5 by the negative pressure is released, and the stopper pin 4 and the gap pin 6 are raised. At this time, since the frictional force between the inner stopper 5 and the gap pin 6 is much smaller than the frictional force between the inner stopper 5 and the container 1, the inner stopper 5
The gap pin 6 can be pulled out while leaving the container 1 in the container 1 (FIG. 1C). In this state, the mouth 1b of the container 1 is sealed by the inner stopper 5, so that even if it takes much time and work until the container 1 is supplied to a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber thereafter. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent foreign substances and bacteria from entering the chemical solution. Further, in this state, the inside of the container 1 and the inside of the annular recess 5b of the inner stopper 5 are both at atmospheric pressure. Next, FIG. 3 shows the structure of a vacuum stopper machine. The vacuum stopper machine is provided with a vacuum chamber 12 which is moved up and down by a cylinder device 11 and the lower end opening is sealed when lowered. The chamber 12 is connected to either the vacuum pump 15 or the atmosphere via a flexible hose 13 and a flow path switching valve 14. In the vacuum chamber 12, a gap pin 16, a tapping pin 17, and an inner plug holding means 18 are provided above the container 1 when the container 1 is supplied to a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber. There is. The gap pin 16 is attached to the lower end portion of a hollow rod 21 provided in the vacuum chamber 12 so as to be airtight and capable of moving up and down, and an arm portion 21a provided at the upper end portion of the hollow rod 21 and an upper surface of the vacuum chamber 12. Cylinder device 2 provided between
2, the hollow rod 21 and the gap pin 16 can be moved up and down. Further, the stopper pin 17 is attached to the lower end portion of an elevating rod 23 which is provided in the hollow rod 21 so as to be able to ascend and descend while keeping airtightness, and the elevating rod 23 is provided at the upper end portion of the elevating rod 23. The arm portion 23a and the arm portion 21 of the hollow rod 21
Cylinder device 24 provided between a and a can be raised and lowered. Therefore, when the hollow rod 21 and the gap pin 16 are moved up and down by the cylinder device 22, the cylinder device 24, the lift rod 23, and the stopper pin 17 can be moved up and down integrally with the hollow rod 21 and the gap pin 16. On the other hand, when the lifting rod 23 and the stopper pin 17 are moved up and down by the cylinder device 24, the stopper pin 17 can be moved up and down with respect to the gap pin 16. further,
The inner plug holding means 18 is for holding the inner plug 5 fitted in the mouth portion 1b of the container 1. In this embodiment, the container 1 is generated when the vacuum chamber 12 is evacuated. The inner plug 5 fitted into the opening 1b of the container 1 is extruded from the container 1 by the pressure difference between the internal atmospheric pressure and the vacuum pressure in the vacuum chamber 12, and the extruded inner plug 5 is held by the inner plug. It can be held by means 18. The inner plug holding means 18 has a configuration in which a through hole 18a is formed in a flat plate-like member, and the inner diameter of the through hole 18a is made slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the inner plug 5, so that the inner plug 5 is formed. When is pushed into the through hole 18a, the inner plug 5 can be held in the through hole 18a by the frictional force between the two. A guide groove 18b for guiding the gap pin 16 is formed in the inner peripheral surface of the through hole 18a along the axial direction. Further, on the lower surface of the inner plug holding means 18, a step portion 18c and a taper hole 1 are formed continuously with the through hole 18a.
8d are provided in series so that the mouth 1b of the container 1 is centered by the tapered hole 18d and the upper surface of the container 1 can be pressed and held by the step 18c. The inner plug holding means 18 is provided at a lower end portion of an elevating rod 25 that is provided in the vacuum chamber 12 so as to be airtight and capable of elevating, and an arm portion 25 provided at an upper end portion of the elevating rod 25.
A double rod cylinder device 26 is attached to a, the lower end of the cylinder rod 26a of the double rod cylinder device 26 is attached to the upper surface of the arm portion 21a of the hollow rod 21, and the upper end of the cylinder rod 26a is attached to the vacuum chamber 12. The lower surfaces of the brackets 27 are in contact with each other.
The axial length of the cylinder rod 26a is matched with the distance between the upper surface of the arm portion 21a and the lower surface of the bracket 27 when the hollow rod 21 is positioned at the rising end by the cylinder device 22. Next, the operation of the vacuum stopper machine having the above structure will be described. In the container 1 in which the stopper 5 is fitted under the atmospheric pressure by the above-described process, the vacuum chamber 12 is moved to the rising end by the cylinder device 11. In the state where it is located, it is supplied into the vacuum chamber 12 and positioned directly below the stopper pin 17. After positioning the container 1 at a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber 12, the vacuum chamber 12 is moved by the cylinder device 11.
And the vacuum chamber 12 is sealed. In this state, the cylinder devices 22, 24, 26 have the gap pins 16,
The stopper pin 17 and the inner stopper holding means 18 are respectively located at the rising ends, and the flow path switching valve 14 is provided in the vacuum chamber 1.
The inside of 2 is communicated with the atmosphere (see FIG. 4 (a)). When the vacuum chamber 12 is sealed, both rod cylinder devices 26 are operated to lower the elevating rod 25 and the inner plug holding means 18, and the tapered hole 18 of the inner plug holding means 18 is operated.
The mouth 1b of the container 1 is centered on the stopper pin 17 by d, and the upper surface of the container 1 is pressed by the step portion 18c to hold the container 1 (see FIG. 4B). In this state, the flow path switching valve 14 is switched to connect the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 to the vacuum pump 14, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 is set to a low vacuum state of, for example, about 300 Torr. Then, this causes a pressure difference between the atmospheric pressure in the container 1 and the vacuum pressure in the vacuum chamber 12,
At the same time when the inner plug 5 is pushed out of the container 1, it is pressed into the through hole 18a of the inner plug holding means 18 and held by the inner plug holding means 18 (FIG. 4).
(B)). Next, when this state is reached, the inner plug holding means 18 is raised to the original rising end position by the rod cylinder devices 26. This makes it possible to lift the inner plug 5 held by the inner plug holding means 18 with respect to the container 1,
The inside of the container 1 can be surely evacuated by communicating the inside of the container 1 with the inside of the vacuum chamber 12. On the other hand, by raising the inner plug 5 integrally with the inner plug holding means 18, the lower end portion of the tapping pin 17 is fitted into the hole 5c of the inner plug 5, and the gap pin 16 is the inner plug holding means. 18 guide grooves 1
It is guided by 8b and protrudes below the lower surface of the inner plug 5 (FIG. 4 (c)). When a predetermined vacuum pressure is introduced into the container 1 in this way, the double rod cylinder device 2
6 is operated to lower the inner plug holding means 18 again, and the cylinder device 22 is operated to lower the gap pin 16 and the tapping pin 17 integrally. When the step portion 18c of the inner plug holding means 18 comes into contact with the upper surface of the container 1, the descent is stopped (FIG. 4 (d)), but the cylinder device 22
The descent of the gap pin 16 and the stopper pin 17 is continued (see FIG. 4 (e)). And the gap pin 16 and the stopper pin 1
As the descent of 7 continues, the inner plug 5 held by the inner plug holding means 18 is inserted into the container 1. At this time, the outer peripheral surface of the inner plug 5 and the inner peripheral surface of the container 1 are separated from each other. Since the gap pin 16 is interposed therebetween to form a gap in that portion, it is possible to smoothly insert the inner plug 5 into the container 1 while allowing a small amount of air remaining in the container 1 to escape into the vacuum chamber 12. it can. Further, when the gap pin 16 and the stopper pin 17 become the descending ends and the descending is stopped, a predetermined distance δ between the lower surface of the inner stopper 5 and the liquid surface of the chemical solution is set. It can be secured (FIG. 4 (e)). Further, at this time, when the hollow rod 21 is lowered by the cylinder device 22, the distance between the upper surface of the arm portion 21a of the hollow rod 21 and the lower surface of the bracket 27 widens, so that both rods for operating the inner plug holding means 18 are activated. The cylinder device 26 also descends integrally with the arm portion 21a, but when the step portion 18c of the inner plug holding means 18 contacts the upper surface of the container 1, the lowering is stopped. In this state, the cylinder rod 26a
The upper and lower ends are the lower surface of the bracket 27 and the arm portion 21a.
And the bottom surface of both rod cylinder devices 26 and bracket 27 because the holding force for holding container 1 is only the weight of both rod cylinder devices 26, elevating rod 25 and inner plug holding means 18. Between the spring 2
8 is elastically mounted, and the elastic force of the spring 28 provides the necessary holding force for the container 1. When the gap pin 16 and the stopper pin 17 become the descending ends and the descending is stopped, the inside of the vacuum chamber 12 is then changed to, for example, 10-5.
A high vacuum state of about 0 Torr is provided, and the vacuum pressure is introduced into the container 1 through the gap formed by the gap pin 16.
When a high vacuum pressure is introduced into the container 1 in this way, the cylinder device 24 is actuated to slightly lower the tapping pin 17 by a predetermined required amount (FIG. 4 (f)), and the flow path switching is continued. When the valve 14 is switched to introduce clean air into the vacuum chamber 12 to make the inside thereof atmospheric pressure, the inner stopper 5 is moved downward by the vacuum pressure inside the container 1 and the external atmospheric pressure, and its lower surface. Will stop in a state of being substantially in contact with the liquid surface of the drug solution (FIG. 4 (g)). In this state, the lower end portion of the gap pin 16 is located between the annular seal portion 5a below the inner plug 5 and the intermediate annular seal portion 5a. It is introduced into the two annular recesses 5b through the gaps to be formed, and the inside of each annular recess 5b is brought to atmospheric pressure. On the other hand, the lower annular seal portion 5a prevents the interior of the container 1 from communicating with the vacuum chamber 12. Thus, the annular recess 5b
When a clean gas is filled in the inside, the dirty air outside the syringe after shipping is sucked into the annular recess 5b, or the liquid medicine is used as in the case where the inside of the annular recess 5b is kept at a vacuum pressure. Since the air is not sucked, it is possible to keep the external dirty air and the chemical liquid well separated from each other, and therefore it is possible to prevent the chemical liquid from being contaminated by the dirty air. Vacuum chamber 1 by the above-mentioned process
When the atmosphere is introduced into the inside of 2 and the annular recess 5b, the gap pin 16, the tapping pin 17 and the like are returned to their original rising end positions, and the cylinder device 11 causes the vacuum chamber 12 to move.
The container 1 can be carried out from inside by raising. In the above embodiment, the inner plug 5 is fitted into the container 1 in a state where the inside of the container 1 is evacuated by the vacuum chamber 12, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, an inert gas at 1 atm may be supplied into the vacuum chamber 12, and the inner plug 5 may be fitted into the container 1 in this state. In this case, if the pressure in the vacuum chamber 12 is increased with the lower end of the gap pin 16 positioned in the annular recess 5b of the inner plug 5, the pressure in the annular recess 5b will be higher than the pressure in the container 1. The pressure can be enclosed. In this way, if a pressure higher than the pressure inside the container 1 is enclosed in the annular recess 5b, the same effect as that of the above embodiment can be obtained. In addition, although the gap pins 6 and 16 are made of solid rods in the above embodiment, they may be made of hollow rods. In particular, when the gap pins 16 are hollow, 16 can be directly connected to a pressure supply source, and a pressure higher than the pressure in the container can be directly supplied to the annular recess 5b via the inside thereof.

As described above, in the present invention, since the pressure inside the annular recess of the inner stopper is higher than that in the container, the dirty air after the sealed container is shipped is sucked into the annular recess. It is possible to prevent the liquid or gas in the container from being sucked into the annular concave portion, and thus to prevent the dirty air outside from the inside of the container, thereby effectively preventing the contamination in the container. The effect of being able to do is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process diagram showing a process of stoppering an inner plug 5 into a container 1 under atmospheric pressure.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of an inner plug 5.

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a vacuum stopper machine.

FIG. 4 is a process diagram showing a process of inserting the inner stopper 5 into the container 1 under a vacuum state by the vacuum inner stopper machine.

[Explanation of sign]

1 ... container 5 ... inner stopper 5a ...
Annular seal part 5b ... Annular recess 12 ... Vacuum chamber 16 ...
Gap pin 17 ... Capping pin 18 ... Medium plug holding means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A container, and an inner plug having a plurality of annular seal portions on an outer periphery and having an annular recess between adjacent annular seal portions, the inner plug being fitted into the container to form a container. A sealed container in which the container is sealed at a required pressure, wherein a pressure higher than the required pressure is sealed in the annular recess. 2. A container, and an inner plug having a plurality of annular seal portions on the outer periphery and having an annular recess between adjacent annular seal portions, the inner plug being fitted into the container, In a method of manufacturing a hermetically sealed container in which a container is sealed at a required pressure, a gap pin is inserted between the inner plug and the container, and the inner plug inside the container is connected to the outside while communicating the inside of the container with the outer plug. And the lower end of the gap pin is positioned in the annular recess of the inner plug, and the innermost annular seal part blocks communication between the inside of the container and the outside of the inner plug. A method for manufacturing a hermetically sealed container, comprising: a step of hermetically sealing the container; and a step of further supplying a pressure higher than a pressure for hermetically sealing the container from the outside into the annular recess.