US 11,932,945 B2
Method to manufacture a component for a machine for the production and/or packaging of pharmaceutical products
Gabriele Rustici Venturini, Ozzano dell'Emilia (IT); Claudio Trebbi, Ozzano dell'Emilia (IT); and Gabriele Gabusi, Ozzano dell'Emilia (IT)
Assigned to I.M.A. INDUSTRIA MACCHINE AUTOMATICHE S.P.A., Ozzano dell'Emilia (IT)
Appl. No. 17/426,173
Filed by I.M.A. INDUSTRIA MACCHINE AUTOMATICHE S.P.A., Ozzano dell'Emilia (IT)
PCT Filed Jan. 30, 2020, PCT No. PCT/IT2020/050012
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/157781, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 6, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 102019000001323 (IT), filed on Jan. 30, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0098716 A1, Mar. 31, 2022
Int. Cl. C23C 4/08 (2016.01); C23C 4/073 (2016.01); C23C 4/129 (2016.01); C23C 24/04 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 4/08 (2013.01) [C23C 4/073 (2016.01); C23C 4/129 (2016.01); C23C 24/04 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
 
1. A method to manufacture a component suitable to be installed inside a protected chamber of a machine for a production and/or packaging of pharmaceutical products, wherein said chamber is a controlled atmosphere chamber, separated from an external environment in a sealed manner, and configured to receive said component, wherein the interior of said chamber and said component are intended to be subjected to decontamination and sterilization treatments, the method comprising:
making available said component having at least one external surface and made of a first non-steel material chosen from a group comprising aluminum, magnesium, titanium, or their alloys, composite materials with a polymer matrix, carbon fibers, or combinations thereof, wherein said component is intended to be installed inside said chamber, and is provided with at least one coupling portion configured to be coupled with a corresponding and mating coupling portion provided on another component or on an internal wall of the chamber, wherein said at least one external surface, when the component in an assembled and installed condition is directly exposed to the atmosphere of the chamber;
before assembling or installing the component in said chamber, that is, before the coupling portion is stably joined to said corresponding and mating coupling portion or to said internal walls of the chamber, subjecting said at least one external surface to a thermal spray treatment using solid powders of a second material, accelerated in a supersonic gaseous jet, wherein said second material is chosen from a group comprising one or more of stainless steel, cobalt-chromium metal alloy, nickel alloy, a material with a polymer matrix, and a metal-ceramic composite material, in order to deposit a coating of said second material on said at least one external surface to make the component suitable to withstand said decontamination or sterilization treatments.