Loading equipment for lyophilization apparatus

Claim 1

Loading equipment in combination with a lyophilization autoclave, wherein the autoclave comprises a lyophilization chamber with a full height door and a bottom and within the lyophilization chamber a rack of supporting plates for containers containing a substance to be subjected to lyophilization, said rack of plates, which rests on the bottom of the chamber, comprises a plurality of superimposed plates connected to one another by a plurality of adjustable support means, said adjustable support means permitting said rack of plates to be vertically collapsible and adapted to be contracted into a compact pack setting and adapted to be expanded into an expanded setting in which the plates are arranged at a predetermined vertical distance from one another sufficient for placing said containers therebetween, the autoclave further comprising an actuator for controlling the setting of said plate rack, said loading equipment comprising an auxiliary inspection port formed in the lower region of said full height door and effective to allow full view of, and access to, said plate rack, said loading equipment further comprising, separate from the autoclave, platform means including a loading carriage, which is manually provided near said port in a removably associable manner and guided and positioned so as to remain at a constant height level substantially corresponding to said loading level coinciding with the level of the first uppermost supporting plate in the plate rack, said loading carriage being effective to support thereon containers for products to be lyophilized in such a number and size as to correspond to the useful area of a carrier plate, said containers being manually transferable onto said plates as the latter are sequentially raised to the height level of said fixed loading platform, and held here for the time required to load, through a plurality of position sensors operatively coupled to a control unit for controlling said actuator.