Patent ID: 8756826

Claim:
A drying method comprising: removing a container of items to be dried from a liquid; drawing air through the items in the container from top to bottom to coalesce and remove liquid from the items in the container during a first drying step; thereafter subjecting the container of items to a vacuum to produce dry items in the container during a second drying step; removing the container of items from the vacuum; and determining a target time for the second drying step that results in producing substantially dry items in the container upon completion of the second drying step when drying a container of items having the maximum amount of liquid of a plurality of containers of items to be processed sequentially, the method comprising establishing a duration of the first drying step such that sufficient liquid is removed from the items in the container during the first drying step so that all of the plurality of containers of items processed during the second drying step will be substantially dry upon completion of a second drying step that does not exceed the target time.