Patent ID: 8418733

Claim:
A purging apparatus for purging a container including a container body and an openable lid using a clean gas, the purging apparatus comprising: a detaching/attaching section that attaches the lid to the container body and removes the lid from the container body when it is possible to detach the lid; a moving mechanism that moves the detaching/attaching section with respect to the container; a locking member that locks the lid to the container body and releases the locked state of the lid; a drive mechanism that drives the locking member; a gas supplying-discharging mechanism; a first detector arranged to detect a position of the lid; and a control section programmed to control the moving mechanism, the drive mechanism, and the gas supplying-discharging mechanism; wherein the control section controls the gas supplying-discharging mechanism to start purging the container, based on the position of the lid detected by the first detector, while the control section controls the moving mechanism to move the detaching/attaching section and the lid toward the container body; and the control section controls the gas supplying-discharging mechanism to start purging the container before the control section controls the drive mechanism to drive the locking member to lock the lid to the container body.