US 11,851,291 B2
Method for transporting a blister strip of ophthalmic lenses into an autoclave magazine
Felix Brinckmann, Rossdorf (DE); Nils Schweizer, Bad König (DE); and Jens Wolfstädter, Kleinwallstadt (DE)
Assigned to Alcon Inc., Fribourg (CH)
Filed by ALCON INC., Fribourg (CH)
Filed on Feb. 11, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/173,461.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/975,952, filed on Feb. 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0253366 A1, Aug. 19, 2021
Int. Cl. B65G 47/90 (2006.01); A45C 11/00 (2006.01); A61F 2/16 (2006.01)
CPC B65G 47/907 (2013.01) [A45C 11/005 (2013.01); A61F 2/1691 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. Method for transporting a blister strip (1) of ophthalmic lenses, in particular contact lenses or intraocular lenses, into an autoclave magazine (2), the method comprising the steps of:
providing a first gripper (3) for gripping blister strips, the first gripper (3) comprising two gripper units (31, 32), each of the two gripper units (31, 32) being configured to separately grip one individual blister strip (1),
providing an autoclave magazine (2) comprising two magazine compartments (21, 22), each of the two magazine compartments (21, 22) being configured to contain individual blister strips (1) in a manner stacked one above the other,
at a start location (4) providing at least one blister strip (1),
picking up the at least one blister strip (1) provided at the start location (4) using the first gripper (3),
moving the first gripper (3) together with the at least one blister strip (1) picked up at the start location (4) to a destination location, and
releasing the at least one blister strip (1) from the first gripper (3) at the destination location,
wherein n is a positive integer including zero and indicates the number of blister strips actually contained in at least one of the two magazine compartments (21, 22) of the autoclave magazine (2),
wherein either the two magazine compartments (21, 22) both contain n blister strips or one magazine compartment (21, 22) contains n blister strips while the other magazine compartment (22, 21) contains n+1 blister strips,
wherein the at least one blister strip (1) is picked up at the start location (4) by the gripper units (31, 32) of the first gripper (3) and is transported to the magazine compartments (21, 22), either directly by moving the first gripper (3) to the magazine compartments (21, 22) as destination location, or indirectly by providing a hand-over station (5) and a second gripper (6) for gripping blister strips (1) and moving the first gripper (3) to the hand-over station (5) as the destination location and releasing the at least one blister strip (1) from the first gripper (3) into the hand-over station (5) and by subsequently transporting the at least one blister strip (1) from the hand-over station (5) to the magazine compartments (21, 22) using the second gripper (6),
wherein in case only one single blister strip (1) is provided at the start location (4) and one magazine compartment of the two magazine compartments (21, 22) contains n blister strips while the other magazine compartment contains n+1 blister strips,
the single blister (1) strip is picked up at the start location (4) by one of the gripper units (31, 32) of the first gripper (3) and is transported into that magazine compartment (21, 22) containing the n blister strips, either directly by moving the first gripper (3) to that magazine compartment containing the n blister strips and releasing the single blister strip (1) from the first gripper (3) into that magazine compartment, or indirectly by moving the first gripper (3) to the hand-over station (5) and releasing the single blister strip (1) from the first gripper (3) into the hand-over station (5) and subsequently transporting the single blister strip (1) from the hand-over station (5) into that magazine compartment containing the n blister strips using the second gripper (6).