| 摘要 |
A sterile product packaging system includes a bottle filling/stoppering machine housed within a sterile environment and a bottle capping machine housed within a non-sterile environment separated by a partition wall from the sterile room. Each of the filling/stoppering machine and capping machine has a belt conveyor associated therewith for moving bottles to and from the machines, each belt conveyor residing entirely within the respective sterile and non-sterile rooms. A transfer conveyor system is provided to transfer bottles from the filling/stoppering machine belt conveyor, through the opening in the partition wall, to the capping machine belt conveyor. The transfer conveyor system includes a lead screw formed of an elongated shank having a continuous spiral thread along its length. A transfer plate overlaps the ends of the two belt conveyors, and is situated beneath and substantially contiguous with the lead screw. The spiral thread of the lead screw has a bottle-engaging root configured to engage a bottle between the lead screw and a guide bar opposite the lead screw. Bottles are pushed from the filling/stoppering machine conveyor belt onto the transfer plate and conveyed along the length of the lead screw as the spiral thread rotates to exit the lead screw onto the capping machine conveyor. The lead screw transfer conveyor system prevents cross-contamination between the sterile and non-sterile environment.
|
