Patent ID: 7096896

Claim:
An apparatus for needle filling and thermally resealing containers having stoppers that are needle penetrable for filling the containers with a substance, and are thermally resealable for thermally sealing a needle hole in the stopper upon withdrawal of a needle therefrom, the apparatus comprising: a container support for supporting at least one container having a resealable stopper in a substantially fixed position during at least one of needle filling and thermally resealing a needle hole in the stopper upon withdrawal of a needle therefrom; a robotic arm drivingly mounted adjacent to the container support and movable relative thereto; and a manifold drivingly mounted on the robotic arm and including at least one of (1) a needle for penetrating the resealable stopper and introducing a substance through the needle and into the container; (2) a thermal source for heating a needle penetrated region of the stopper and, in turn, sealing a needle hole in the stopper; and (3) a temperature sensor for sensing the temperate of a needle penetrated region of the stopper to determine whether a needle hole therein is sealed; wherein the manifold is movable laterally relative to the container on the container support to position the manifold relative to a needle penetrable region of the stopper of the container.