Inventor's Corner
04/01/2001
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Check valve/strainer-filter assembly
A check valve and a strainer-filter assembly are combined in a compact structure. The assembly provides the benefits of floor space savings and low maintenance costs. A strainer-filter element can be mounted in a removable strainer-filter housing to provide easy access to the element for cleaning or replacement. To add flexibility, the check valve can be installed at one of three desirable positions.
Patent number: 6,162,354
Date granted: December 19, 2000
Inventors: Biing Huang Yang, Jiann Jong Wang, Ming Shi Ni,
Shao Wei Ku, Wei Cheng Lee, Ta Jung Feng and Yi Lang Ku
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsin Chu, Taiwan)
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Assembling and packaging medical devices
A housing assembly defines a locally controlled environment that maintains a localized clean work area. This area eliminates the need for an entire cleanroom. The housing assembly includes a HEPA filter coupled to an air inlet to filter all of the air entering the housing. An air blower is coupled to the air inlet to feed filtered air into the housing assembly to prevent unfiltered outside air from entering. Medical containers, such as syringe barrels and syringe tip closures, are introduced into the housing assembly where the syringe barrels and tip closures are cleaned with filtered ionized air and the tip closures are coupled to the barrels. A thin coating of a lubricant is applied to the inner surface of each of the syringe barrels. The syringe barrels can be filled with a substance. While still in the housing assembly, the syringe barrels can be formed into an array and placed in a clean container. A cover is then attached to the tub to completely enclose the array of syringe barrels followed by an outer wrap. The syringe barrels can then be sterilized.
Patent number: 6,164,044
Date granted: December 26, 2000
Inventors: Donald J. Porfano, James C. Kropatsch,
Mark A. German, and Rober B. Odell
Beckton Dickinson and Company (Franklin Lakes, NJ)
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Outdoor enclosure with heated desiccant
The protective enclosure is used for housing heat-generating electronics. It has a sorption device for controlling humidity and a heater for heating the sorption device. The invention protects electronics placed within the enclosure from the effects of water vapor and condensation during normal operation and in the event of power loss. The sorption device adsorbs water vapor during normal operation or power loss when the temperature in the enclosure falls below the dew point. The sorption device releases collected water as vapor when power is restored and the temperature in the enclosure rises above the dew point. The invention thereby prevents failure of the electronics due to condensation build-up and provides for effective long-term use of the sorption device.
Patent number: 6,161,765
Date granted: December 19, 2000
Inventors: Jason Abraham Kay, David Stevens Kerr,
John Robert Morris, Jr., Ivan Pawlenko and
Richard Franklin Schwartz
Lucent Technologies Inc. (Murray Hill, NJ)
Self-cohering, continuous filament non-woven webs
The web comprises continuous filaments that are made of at least one semi-crystalline polymeric component covalently bonded as a linear block copolymer with or blended with one or more semi-crystalline or amorphous polymeric components. The filaments are intermingled and have multiple contact points to form a porous web. The filaments are bonded at the contact points without requisite for added adhesive binders, adjuncts or post extrusion melt processing. The web can be bioresorbable and it can be provided in forms with relatively high cohesive shear strength. The polymeric components exist temporarily in a homogenous substantially phase miscible uncrystallized state. If preserved in this state, the object can be manipulated into a distinct desirable molded shape and then set or crystallized to retain the desired form for a specific use or application.
Patent number: 6,165,217
Date granted: December 26, 2000
Inventor: Byron K. Hayes, Flagstaff, AZ
Send your inventions
Information on the patents highlighted above was obtained through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Inventors who have been granted patents within the last six months for new cleanroom and contamination technology are encouraged to submit them to CleanRooms magazine for publication. Send a brief description of the invention along with a detailed drawing to Mark A. DeSorbo, associate editor, CleanRooms, 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, NH 03062, or e-mail at [email protected].