Method for conducting maintenance on a chromatography column
Active Publication Date: 2009-02-12
CYTIVA SWEDEN AB
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Benefits of technology
[0065]In another aspect, the wheels are independently rotatable to improve the maneuverability of the handling device. Preferably, the wheels are independently lockable. Preferably, the wheels are independently levelable; for example, by means of jacking devices attached to each wheel. Levelable wheels provide easier and smoother operation of the handling device on surfaces which are uneven such as clean rooms with sloping floors. More preferably, the wheels are powered by electrical means.
Problems solved by technology
As these components can be very heavy (bed supports, for example, may weigh in excess of 100 kg), their manual removal and re-introduction poses a potential safety risk to operators who must physically support and manipulate them.
The use of heavy overhead lifting equipment to disassemble the column in order to carry out internal maintenance is, in itself, highly undesirable.
Operator safety is obviously a concern when heavy equipment is lifted overhead and technicians exposed below.
Moreover, the requirement to use heavy lifting equipment imposes constraints on housing such columns, sufficient overhead space and support being required to accommodate hoists or cranes.
Further, the presence of such hoists or cranes in GMP facilities used for biopharmaceutical manufacturing (such facilities also being known as “clean rooms”) is highly undesirable due to the shedding of particulate matter such as dirt during their operation and maintenance.
However, the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,974 has significant disadvantages associated with it by virtue of its design.
This clearly poses a significant safety risk to the operator, particularly where the operator's arm or head is exposed below the suspended or supported load.
Furthermore, once the column tube/cylinder or adapter assembly has been raised from the base assembly or tube, respectively, removal of the heavy bed support or distributor from the column can only be accomplished by tilting the bed support or distributor at an angle to negotiate the hydraulic drive pistons or safety rods.
Removal of these internal components, which could weigh in excess of 100 kg, requires considerable manhandling by the operator and necessitates their being exposed below the suspended column or adapter assembly.
Once again, this represents a significant safety risk for the operator.
The configuration of the hydraulic pistons and the safety rods, and the need to tilt the bed support and/or distributor in order to avoid the supporting structures in withdrawing these components from the column, makes their manual withdrawal and re-introduction a difficult and potentially dangerous task.
Maintenance of the column thus imposes a potential safety risk for the operator in physically supporting and manipulating the heavy column components.
Method used
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[0084]The present invention is concerned with a method and apparatus for conducting maintenance on a chromatography column. The invention is described by reference to chromatography columns which utilise drive systems to lift and / or lower the adapter assembly, and lift and / or lower the tube and adapter assembly. It will be understood that the invention could equally be described by reference to chromatography columns wherein these components are raised and / or lowered by an overhead hoist or crane. FIG. 1 shows a column 10 known in the art and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,974 which permits maintenance within a chromatography column without the need for a hoist or crane. The column 10 comprises an elongated hollow cylindrical housing 12, or tube, having a dispersion system 14 at the top and a collection system 16 at the bottom. The dispersion system 14 includes a cylindrical drum 18 having an upper cylindrical plunger head or adapter 20 formed at the lower or interior end (i.e.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods for conducting maintenance on chromatography columns used in industrial-scale chromatography. In particular, the invention is concerned with safer methods for performing maintenance on such columns, such as cleaning and replacing bed supports, distributors, nozzles, O-rings and other column components, by the use of a handling device to support, lift, carry and manipulate such column components.
Description
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