JP2002102316A - High-pressure steam sterilizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high-pressure steam sterilizing device capable of speedily starting the high-pressure steam sterilizing device, with which operation is stopped, in the morning or after a break and attaining energy saving. SOLUTION: In the high-pressure steam sterilizing device composed of an inner cylinder 11 forming a sterilizing chamber 14, an outer cylinder 12 formed outside the inner cylinder 11 and a jacket part 13 formed between the inner cylinder 11 and the outer cylinder 12, inside a heat storage member 17 sealed in the jacket part 13, an electric heater 15 is equipped for heating the heat storage member 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high-pressure steam sterilizer, and more particularly to a high-pressure steam sterilizer for sterilizing objects to be sterilized such as instruments used in hospitals and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In hospitals and the like, it is possible to reliably and simply sterilize articles to be sterilized such as bandages, scalpels, forceps, surgical gowns and the like used for treatment.
In addition, high-pressure steam sterilizers are widely used because they have a wide range of application.

FIG. 4 shows this high-pressure steam sterilizer. FIG.
The main body 10 of the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 1 includes an inner cylinder 11 having a sterilization chamber 14 for accommodating an object to be sterilized, an outer cylinder 12 formed outside the inner cylinder 11, an inner cylinder 11 and an outer cylinder 12. And a jacket portion 13 formed therebetween. Steam is introduced into the jacket 13 by a pipe 21 provided with a control valve 31, and the steam introduced into the jacket 13 is introduced into the sterilization chamber 14 via a pipe 22 provided with a control valve 32. You. Further, a filter 51 is provided at one end of the sterilization chamber 14, and a pipe 23 provided with a control valve 33 in the middle is connected thereto. A heater 61 is provided in the middle of the pipe 23 to heat air introduced into the sterilization chamber 14. The portion of the heater 61 is a pipe 23
Is wrapped around the outer wall surface of the outer cylinder 12 which is heated by the steam supplied to the jacket portion 13.
A part of the steam introduced into the jacket 13 is
The condensed water is condensed by heat radiation from the outer wall surface of the outer cylinder 12 and the inner wall surface of the inner cylinder 11 to form condensed water.
The gas is discharged through the drain trap 41 of the pipe 26 connected to the pipe 3. Further, the condensed water in which the water vapor introduced into the sterilization chamber 14 is condensed is discharged via a drain trap 42 of the pipe 24 having one end connected to the sterilization chamber 14.
A water ring vacuum pump 62 is provided at one end of the pipe 24 between the sterilization chamber 14 and the drain trap 42, and a pipe 27 provided with a control valve 34 is connected thereto. Note that a pipe 25 that bypasses the drain trap 42 is also provided, and a control valve 35 is provided in the middle of the pipe 25.

FIG. 5 shows a process of steam-sterilizing an object to be sterilized using the steam sterilizer shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows the change over time in the internal pressure of the sterilization chamber. The steam sterilization process includes a conditioning process, a sterilization process, an exhaust process, a drying process,
And a completion step. First, after the sterilizing chamber 14 in which the object to be sterilized is stored is made airtight, a conditioning step is started. In this conditioning step, the jacket 1 is always connected via the pipe 21 and the control valve 31.
3. The heating operation for opening the control valve 32 of the pipe 22 and heating the object to be sterilized stored in the sterilization chamber 14 with the water vapor introduced into the pipe 3, and driving the water ring vacuum pump 62 and controlling the control valve 34
, And depressurizing operation of exhausting air and water vapor in the sterilizing chamber 14 to reduce the pressure to alternately perform the depressurizing operation. This conditioning step is for increasing the internal temperature of the object to be sterilized to approximately the same as the surface temperature when steam is introduced into the sterilization chamber 14 to sterilize the object to be sterilized. After the material to be sterilized is sufficiently heated in the conditioning step, the control valve 31 is opened in the sterilization chamber 14, steam is supplied to elevate the pressure to a predetermined pressure, and then the sterilization chamber 14 is maintained at the predetermined pressure and temperature for a predetermined time. Hold. By such holding, bacteria and the like adhering to the object to be sterilized in the sterilization chamber 14 can be sterilized.

[0005] Thereafter, the control valve 35 is opened to exhaust the pressurized steam pressurizing the sterilization chamber 14, and then the drying process for drying the material to be sterilized wet in the sterilization process is started. In this drying step, the control valve 34 is opened, and the water ring vacuum pump 62 is driven to reduce the pressure in the sterilization chamber 14 to reduce the pressure in the sterilization chamber 14 in which the pressurized steam is exhausted to atmospheric pressure. Evaporate the moisture retained in the sterile material. However, the temperature of the object to be sterilized becomes low with the evaporation of the retained water, and the amount of evaporation of the water from the object to be sterilized decreases. For this reason, in order to easily evaporate the water from the object to be sterilized, the control valve 33 is opened, heated clean air is introduced into the sterilization chamber 14, and the pressure in the sterilization chamber 14 is increased to near the atmospheric pressure. The material to be sterilized is heated. Further, in order to evaporate and dry the water content of the object to be sterilized whose temperature has been raised by this temperature raising operation, the pressure in the sterilization chamber 14 is reduced again. This temperature raising operation and the pressure reducing operation are repeated a plurality of times, and the material to be sterilized is sufficiently dried. This is because if the material to be sterilized is insufficiently dried, when the material to be sterilized is taken out of the sterilization chamber 14, bacteria in the air may adhere to the material to be sterilized and start growing. When the drying step is completed, the control valve 33 is opened in the sterilization chamber 14 and clean air is introduced to complete the sterilization. In addition, the steam to the jacket part 13 is supplied through each process of steam sterilization, and always heats the sterilization chamber.

[0006]

In the conventional high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 4, the sterilization chamber 14 is operated even when the high-pressure steam sterilizer is in a standby state so that the process shown in FIG. 5 can be started immediately. Is always in a heated state. For this reason, steam is always supplied to the jacket portion. However, the heat radiation from the jacket portion 13 and the pipe 21 reaching the jacket portion is large, and a large amount of steam is required. Also,
The steam introduced into the jacket portion 13 is often supplied from a boiler provided as a common heat source in hospitals and the like.
Normally, the capacity of the boiler is reduced as much as possible at night or on holidays. For this reason, the steam introduced into the jacket portion 13 must be stopped at night or during a time when the operation of the high-pressure steam sterilizer is stopped. The main body 10 of the sterilizer has cooled completely. Thus, the main body 1
In order to start the high-pressure steam sterilizer in which the temperature has been completely cooled, steam must be supplied to the jacket portion 13 and waited until the jacket portion 13 is heated to a predetermined temperature. If it takes a long time to perform the process, the number of steps per day for steam sterilizing the object to be sterilized may be limited.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a high-pressure steam sterilizer capable of starting up a high-pressure steam sterilizer whose operation has been stopped in the morning or after a break as soon as possible and saving energy. To provide.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have studied a high-pressure steam sterilizer capable of maintaining a sterilized chamber in a heated state without continuously supplying steam to a jacket portion. As a result, by enclosing the heat storage material in the jacket portion and disposing the heater in the heat storage material, the heat storage material that has been heated and stored by the heater radiates heat even when the heating by the heater is stopped. The present inventors have found that the sterilization chamber formed in the above can be heated, and arrived at the present invention. That is, the present invention provides an inner cylinder that forms a sterilization chamber that sterilizes stored articles with introduced steam, an outer cylinder formed outside the inner cylinder, the inner cylinder, and the outer cylinder. A high-pressure steam sterilizer comprising a jacket formed between a cylinder and a cylinder, wherein a heater for heating the heat storage material is provided in the heat storage material sealed in the jacket. In the sterilizer. In the present invention, when an electric heater is used as the heater,
Heat can be stored in the heat storage material using inexpensive midnight power. Further, when a heater that supplies a heat medium to a heat transfer tube provided in the heat storage material is used as the heater, heat can be stored in the heat storage material by using waste heat of a boiler or the like. Further, when a part of the pipe for introducing the warmed air into the sterilization chamber is provided in the heat storage material, the sufficiently heated air can be quickly supplied to the sterilization chamber.

Since the heat storage material is composed of the solid heat storage material and the liquid heat storage material, the space between the solid heat storage materials is filled with the liquid heat storage material, so that the heat storage amount can be increased.
By using two or more types of solid heat storage materials having different particle sizes as such solid heat storage materials, the packing density of the heat storage materials can be further increased, and the heat storage amount can be further increased. In particular, as the solid heat storage material, it is preferable to use one or two or more kinds of particles selected from magnesia, magnetite, silica, and alumina. Further, it is preferable to use a nitrate as the liquid heat storage material.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a high-pressure steam sterilizer according to the present invention.
Heat storage material 1 in a jacket 13 provided between
7 is enclosed. As shown in FIG. 3, the heat storage material 17 is composed of two or more types of solid heat storage materials having different particle diameters and a liquid heat storage material, and has a small particle size solid heat storage material in a gap between the large particle size solid heat storage materials 17a. Jacket part 13 so that 17b enters
It is enclosed in. Furthermore, these solid thermal storage materials 17a, 1
The gap 7b is filled with a liquid heat storage material 17e. FIG. 3A shows a case where solid heat storage materials having two types of particle sizes, large and small, are used. A small-diameter solid heat storage material 17b enters the gap between the large-diameter solid heat storage materials 17a, and a liquid heat storage material 17e is filled into the gap between the solid-heat storage materials. FIG. 3B shows the case of three types of solid heat storage materials, and a large particle size solid heat storage material 17.
The gap of a is filled with a medium-sized solid heat storage material 17c, and the gap between the medium-sized solid heat storage materials 17c is filled with a small-sized solid heat storage material 17b. Also in this case, the liquid heat storage material 17e is provided between the three types of solid heat storage materials.
Is filled. As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), when the particle size of the solid heat storage material is two or more, the solid heat storage material having a small particle size enters the gap between the heat storage materials having a large particle size. The packing density can be increased and the heat storage amount can be increased as compared with a combination of a solid heat storage material having one particle size and a liquid heat storage material. Solid heat storage material 1 used in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b)
One or more kinds of particles selected from magnesia, magnetite, silica and alumina can be used as 7a and 17b, and nitrate can be used as the liquid heat storage material 17e. Nitrate is solid at room temperature
Melts above 42 ° C. to become liquid. As a combination of the heat storage material 17, as the solid heat storage material 17a having a large particle diameter, magnesia having a particle diameter of 7 to 10 mm and a solid heat storage material 17b having a small particle diameter are used.
For example, magnesia having a particle diameter of 1 mm or less and nitrate as a liquid heat storage material 17e are sealed in a jacket portion. The composition is preferably 55% for large particle size magnesia, 25% for small particle size magnesia, and 20% nitrate. The heat storage material 17 may be filled so as to fill the entire jacket portion 13 or may be half of the jacket portion, and the amount thereof is designed according to another situation such as a heater disposed in the heat storage material 17. Preferably, a heat insulating material or the like having a microporous structure whose main component is silicon oxide and titanium oxide is wound around the outer cylinder 12 in order to improve the heat retention.

As a heater disposed in the heat storage material 17, an electric heater 15 can be used as shown in FIG. By using the electric heater 15, the heat storage material 1
Inexpensive late-night power can be used for heating of 7. For example, when the 27 kW electric heater 15 is energized for 10 hours, the heat storage material 17 can be heated to a high temperature up to 500 ° C. Therefore, by sufficiently storing heat in the heat storage material 17 at night, the main body 10 of the high-pressure steam sterilizer is sufficiently heated, and the high-pressure steam sterilizer can be started immediately in the morning or after a break. Further, even after the energization of the electric heater 15 is completed, the heat storage material 17 gradually releases the stored heat,
The inner cylinder 11 can be heated, and it is not necessary to introduce steam into the jacket 13 as in the conventional high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. Therefore, it is not necessary to form the outer cylinder 12 in a pressurized container, and the manufacturing cost of the high-pressure steam sterilizer can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 1, a main body 10 in which an electric heater 15 is disposed in a heat storage material 17 enclosed in a jacket 13 formed between an inner cylinder 11 and an outer cylinder 12 is provided. In the high-pressure steam sterilizer, steam is introduced into a sterilization chamber 14 formed in the inner cylinder 11 by a pipe 21 provided with a control valve 31. Further, a filter 51 is provided at one end of the pipe 28, and a control valve 33 is provided on the way, and is connected to the sterilization chamber 14. This pipe 2
As shown in FIG. 1, a part of 8 is disposed in the heat storage material 17 to form a heater 61. For this reason, the air supplied to the pipe 28 is heated, and the heated clean air can be introduced into the sterilization chamber 14. As shown in FIG. 1, when a part of the pipe 28 is not disposed in the heat storage material 17, an electric heater may be provided in a part of the pipe 28, and the heated outer cylinder 1 may be provided.
It may be wrapped around 2 or along it. The condensed water in which the water vapor introduced into the sterilization chamber 14 is condensed flows into the drain trap 4 of the pipe 24 having one end connected to the sterilization chamber 14.
2 to be discharged. A water ring vacuum pump 62 is provided between the sterilization chamber 14 and the drain trap 42 of the pipe 24.
Is provided at one end, and the pipe 27 provided with the control valve 34 is connected thereto. Note that a pipe 25 that bypasses the drain trap 42 is also provided, and a control valve 35 is provided in the middle of the pipe 25.

In the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 1, the temperature of the sterilizing chamber 14 is controlled by heating the heat storage material 1 sealed in the jacket 13.
7 is performed by heat radiation. Therefore, it is necessary to store heat in the heat storage material 17. This heat storage is performed by supplying electricity to the electric heater 15 at midnight during the night when the high-pressure steam sterilizer is stopped. Once heat is stored in the heat storage material 17 by the electric heater 15, the heat storage material 17 gradually releases heat and heats the sterilization chamber 14, so that the sterilization chamber 14 is heated in the morning or after a break, A steam sterilizer can be set up. Further, once the sterilization chamber 14 has been heated, it is sufficient to supplement the heat quantity of the heat radiation from the sterilization chamber 14. Therefore, the heat of the heat storage material 17 is used to heat the sterilization chamber 14 through the steam sterilization steps. You can warm up.

After the sterilization chamber 14 in which the objects to be sterilized are housed is made airtight, a conditioning step is started. In the conditioning step, a heating operation for heating the object to be sterilized and a decompression operation for putting the sterilization chamber 14 in a reduced pressure state are alternately repeated. The heating operation is performed by opening the control valve 31 and introducing steam into the sterilization chamber 14 via the pipe 21. On the other hand, the decompression operation is performed by driving the water ring vacuum pump 62 and opening the control valve 34 to reduce the pressure of the air or steam in the sterilization chamber 14. This conditioning step ensures that the air inside the object to be sterilized is eliminated, and when the object to be sterilized is heated to the sterilization temperature, the internal temperature of the object to be sterilized is also raised to the same level as the surface temperature. Done. After the material to be sterilized is sufficiently heated in the conditioning step, the control valve 31 is opened in the sterilization chamber 14 and steam is supplied to increase the pressure to a predetermined pressure. The sterilization process is performed by maintaining the sterilization chamber 14 at the pressure, temperature, and time necessary for sterilization determined by the material to be sterilized.

Then, after the steam which has pressurized the sterilization chamber 14 to a predetermined pressure is exhausted by opening the control valve 35, the process enters a drying step of drying the material to be sterilized wet in the sterilization step. In the drying step, the control valve 34 is opened and the water ring type vacuum pump 62 is driven in the sterilization chamber 14 in which the water vapor has been exhausted to the atmospheric pressure. Promotes evaporation. However, the temperature of the object to be sterilized decreases with the evaporation of water, and the amount of evaporation decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce clean heated air into the sterilization chamber 14 to raise the temperature of the object to be sterilized. Therefore, the control valve 33 is opened, the air that has passed through the filter 51 is heated in the pipe 28 that is partially disposed in the heat storage material 17, and is introduced into the sterilization chamber 14.
Since the sterilization chamber 14 is sufficiently heated by the heat storage material 17, drying can be quickly performed even with a small amount of air. The temperature raising operation and the pressure reducing operation are repeated a plurality of times, and the object to be sterilized is sufficiently dried. When the drying step is completed, the control valve 33 is opened in the sterilization chamber 14 to introduce clean air to complete the sterilization process.

In the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 1, an electric heater 15 is used as a heater for heating the heat storage material 17, but the heat transfer tube 16 provided in the heat storage material 17 has a heat transfer tube as shown in FIG. A heater for supplying steam as a medium may be used. As described above, when steam is used as the heat medium for heating the heat storage material 17, the steam is usually supplied from a boiler that supplies the entirety of a hospital or the like.
In order to reduce the output of the boiler, the steam supplied to the heat transfer tubes 16 must be stopped. However, once the heat storage material 17 is temporarily stored by the steam, even if the supply of the steam is stopped, the heat is gradually released from the heat storage material 17 and the sterilization chamber 14 is stopped.
Can be heated. Therefore, even in the morning or after a break, the sterilization chamber 14 is not completely cooled, and the high-pressure steam sterilizer can be started up smoothly. Further, as a heat medium supplied to the heat transfer tube 16, in a central supply system for water vapor employed in hospitals and the like, exhaust heat such as drain from a terminal trap can be used. Note that, with regard to each member of the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 2, the same members as those constituting the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted. As described above, the description has been made with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. However, the thickness of the jacket portion 13 can be reduced as required, and the panel portion can be formed into a panel shape. Can be variously changed.

[0017]

According to the high-pressure steam sterilizer according to the present invention, even if the operation is stopped at night or at rest, the sterilization chamber can be heated by heat radiation from the heat storage material sealed in the jacket, and the morning or rest can be achieved. It is possible to prevent the sterilization chamber from cooling down later. Therefore, the high-pressure steam sterilizer can be quickly started up in the morning or after a break, and a predetermined number of steps can be performed. In addition, since it is not necessary to supply steam to the jacket portion, it is necessary to set the inner cylinder into which steam for sterilization is introduced as a pressure-resistant container among the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder constituting the main body of the high-pressure steam sterilizer. However, the manufacturing cost of the high-pressure steam sterilizer can be reduced without requiring the outer cylinder to be a pressure-resistant container.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a high-pressure steam sterilizer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining another example of the high-pressure steam sterilizer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a heat storage material in a jacket portion.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional high-pressure steam sterilizer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view for explaining a steam sterilization step of an object to be sterilized by the high-pressure steam sterilizer shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 High-pressure steam sterilizer main body part 11 Inner cylinder 12 Outer cylinder 13 Jacket part 14 Sterilization chamber 15 Electric heater 16 Heat transfer tube 17 Heat storage material 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Piping 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 Control valve 41, 42, 43 Drain trap 51 Filter 61 Heater 62 Water ring vacuum pump

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An inner cylinder forming a sterilization chamber for sterilizing a stored object with introduced steam, an outer cylinder formed outside the inner cylinder, the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. A high-pressure steam sterilizer comprising a jacket portion formed between the heat storage material and a heat storage material sealed in the jacket portion, wherein a heater for heating the heat storage material is provided. apparatus. 2. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the heater is an electric heater. 3. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the heater is a heater for supplying a heat medium to a heat transfer tube provided in a heat storage material. 4. The high-pressure steam according to claim 1, wherein a part of a pipe for introducing heated air into the sterilization chamber is provided in the heat storage material. Sterilizer. 5. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 1, wherein the heat storage material comprises a solid heat storage material and a liquid heat storage material. 6. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 5, wherein the solid heat storage material comprises two or more types of solid heat storage materials having different particle sizes. 7. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 5, wherein the solid heat storage material is one or more particles selected from magnesia, magnetite, silica, and alumina. 8. The high-pressure steam sterilizer according to claim 5, wherein the liquid heat storage material is a nitrate.