JP2002355296A - Gas sterilizer operation control method and gas sterilizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas sterilizer which can secure safety of sterilizing work. SOLUTION: This operation control method for a gas sterilizer 1 is constituted of closing the sterilizing tub 3 by a door 4, then reducing pressure in the sterilizing tub by a pressure reducing means 13, and guiding sterilizing gas into the sterilizing tub 3 to sterilize. When the door 4 is opened, the pressure reducing means 13 is actuated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a gas sterilizer for sterilizing medical devices and the like using a sterilizing gas and a gas sterilizer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of gas sterilizers, there is a gas sterilizer using ethylene oxide gas as a sterilizing gas. The operation of the gas sterilizer is performed by filling a high-pressure container with a sterilizing gas in advance under pressure, supplying the sterilizing gas from the high-pressure container to the sterilization tank of the gas sterilizer for each sterilization process, and covering the medical device and the like. It sterilizes the sterilized material. In this case, since the sterilizing gas used is harmful to the human body, care must be taken when handling it. That is, it is necessary to prevent the sterilizing gas from leaking into the working room, and to prevent exposure to the sterilizing gas (by sucking the sterilizing gas) when the door for sealing the sterilization tank is opened carelessly. There is a demand for a gas sterilizer that can perform this.

[0003]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to ensure the safety of the sterilization operation.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is an operation control method of a gas sterilizer, wherein a door of a sterilization tank is provided. When opened, a pressure reducing means for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank is operated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exhaust hood provided on the periphery of the opening of the sterilization tank, and connecting means for connecting the exhaust hood and a pressure reducing means for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank. It is characterized by.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that when the door of the sterilization tank is opened, the decompression means is operated to discharge sterilization gas from inside the sterilization tank and from the exhaust hood. .

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention can be embodied in a gas sterilizer for sterilizing medical devices and the like using a sterilizing gas. That is, the object to be sterilized such as for medical equipment is stored in the sterilization tank, and after the step of eliminating air in the sterilization tank,
A sterilization gas is introduced from a sterilization gas introduction pipe to perform a sterilization process.

Since the sterilizing gas is harmful to the human body, as a first embodiment, when the door for closing the sterilizing tank is opened, air in the sterilizing tank, sterilizing gas or a mixture thereof is used. This is an operation control method for preventing leakage into a room by sucking things. Here, the timing of detecting the opening of the door may be at any step of the sterilization operation, or may be detected including the timing before or after the start of the sterilization operation. Further, the suction is performed by operating a pressure reducing means for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank. Then, the sucked gas is transferred to a detoxification processing device, and is rendered harmless.

Next, as a second embodiment, an exhaust hood is provided at the periphery of the opening of the sterilization tank as a means for further preventing the sterilization gas from leaking into the room. The exhaust hood has a shape capable of receiving sterilizing gas leaking from the opening and preventing diffusion into a room. And it is a gas sterilizer provided with the said exhaust hood and the connection means which connects the said pressure reduction means. The connection means may be constituted by a duct or a piping structure, for example.

Further, as a third embodiment, when the door is opened, the sterilizing gas in the sterilizing tank is sucked by the pressure reducing means, and the sterilizing gas leaked from the sterilizing tank is also discharged from the exhaust hood. This is an operation control method in which the air is sucked by the pressure reducing means and removed from the room.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a gas sterilizer suitable for carrying out the invention of claim 1.

In FIG. 1, a gas sterilizer 1 is a gas sterilizer using ethylene oxide gas as a sterilizing gas. The detoxification processing device 2 is a device for detoxifying ethylene oxide gas. In FIG. 1, a controller for controlling each device described below and a connection line thereof are not shown.

The gas sterilizer 1 includes a sterilization tank 3 for accommodating an object to be sterilized (not shown) such as a medical tool, a door 4 for sealing the sterilization tank 3 in an airtight manner, and sterilization for introducing a sterilization gas. A gas introduction pipe 5 and an air introduction pipe 6 for introducing air into the sterilization tank 3 are provided. The air introduction pipe 6 includes an air introduction valve 7 for controlling the introduction of air and a filter 8 for removing dust and the like in the air. Further, the gas sterilizer 1 includes:
A door detector 9 for detecting the open / closed state of the door 4 and a pressure detector 10 for detecting a pressure in the sterilization tank 3 are provided.

The gas sterilizer 1 is provided with a discharge pipe 11 connected near the lower part of the back (right side in FIG. 1) of the sterilization tank 3 in order from the sterilization tank 3 side, and a reverse pipe for preventing a backflow of the sterilization gas. A stop valve 12, a pressure reducing means 13 for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank 3 and discharging the sterilizing gas, for example, a vacuum pump (hereinafter referred to as "vacuum pump 13") and a transfer pipe 14 to the detoxification processing apparatus 2; It has. That is, the sterilization tank 3
The sterilizing gas in the inside is transferred to the detoxification processing apparatus 2.

Next, an operation control method of the gas sterilizer 1 having the above configuration will be described. In this operation control method, basically, a separately disposed high-pressure container (not shown) is filled with a sterilizing gas (ethylene oxide gas) under pressure in advance, and the sterilizing tank is removed from the high-pressure container every sterilization process. 3 is supplied with a sterilizing gas. The sterilization is performed in the same manner as in the prior art, such as an air elimination step in the sterilization tank 3, a sterilization gas supply step in the sterilization tank 3, a sterilization step in the sterilization tank 3, and a sterilization gas in the sterilization tank 3. And a step of purifying the air in the sterilization tank 3 and the like.

Here, since the sterilizing gas is harmful to the human body, in this specific embodiment, when the door 4 is opened, the door detector 9 detects the opening of the door, and the controller ( (Not shown), and the controller outputs
This is an operation control method for preventing the leakage of the sterilizing gas into the room by operating the vacuum pump 13 and sucking the air, the sterilizing gas, or a mixture thereof in the sterilizing tank 3. The gas sucked by the operation of the vacuum pump 13 is transferred to the detoxification processing device 2 and detoxified.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the door 4 is opened, the suction is immediately performed by the vacuum pump 13, so that the sterilization gas can be prevented from leaking into the room.

Next, a specific embodiment of the gas sterilizer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of the gas sterilizer. In this specific embodiment, a means for preventing leakage of sterilizing gas into a room is further provided to the gas sterilizer 1 described in the specific embodiment relating to the first aspect. Therefore, the same devices as those described with reference to FIG.
Detailed description is omitted. In FIG. 2 as well, a controller for controlling each device described below and its connection line are:
Both are not shown.

The gas sterilizer 1 is, in addition to the gas sterilizer described with reference to FIG. 1, an exhaust hood 15 and a connecting means 1 for connecting the exhaust hood 15 and the vacuum pump 13.
6, for example, an exhaust duct (hereinafter referred to as "exhaust duct 16") and a first control valve 17 for controlling the opening and closing of the exhaust duct 16 are provided.

The exhaust hood 15 is provided at a peripheral portion (not shown) of an opening (not shown) of the sterilization tank 3 formed by opening the door 4. Here, the opening includes a small gap to a large gap generated in accordance with the opening degree of the door 4, and the contact surface of the door 4 on the sterilization tank 3 side and the opening of the sterilization tank 3. An opening formed between the contact surface on the side of the door 4 and a so-called gap. The exhaust hood 15 is provided outside the opening so as to surround the opening, and is made of a plate material or the like. The cross-sectional shape of the exhaust hood 15 is a shape that can receive leaked sterilizing gas. In FIG. 2, the cross-sectional shape is a square gutter shape, but may be a semicircular shape or the like. The exhaust hood 15 is provided except for the front side of the door 4 (symbols are omitted) so as not to hinder when the door 4 is fully opened.

The exhaust duct 16 is connected to the exhaust hood 1.
5 is connected to a plurality of locations of the exhaust duct 15 so as to evenly inhale the sterilizing gas from 5. The connection location is determined according to the scale of the gas sterilizer 1 and the shape of the door 4. FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which the exhaust hood 15 is connected to two upper and lower portions (reference numerals are omitted). The two exhaust ducts 16 connected to two locations
Are joined at the downstream position and connected to the inlet side of the vacuum pump 13 via the first control valve 17 provided in the exhaust duct 16 after the joining point. Here, the exhaust duct 16 is formed of, for example, a hose or a pipe made of plastic or the like.

With the above configuration, when the door 4 is opened, the sterilizer 1 operates the vacuum pump 13 and opens the first control valve 17. Then, by the operation of the vacuum pump 13, the sterilizing gas in the sterilization tank 3 is transferred to the detoxifying apparatus 2, and the sterilizing gas leaked from the opening is also transferred to the detoxifying apparatus 2. You. This makes it possible to provide a gas sterilizer that can further prevent exposure (inhalation of sterilizing gas).

Further, as an embodiment of the present invention,
A specific example of the operation control method of the gas sterilizer will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In operation in a normal sterilization process, the first control valve 17 is operated in a closed state. Here, the operation of the normal sterilization process of the gas sterilizer 1 is the same as that of the embodiment related to the first aspect, and thus the detailed description is omitted.

An operation control method for processing the sterilizing gas in the sterilizing tank 3 and the sterilizing gas leaked from the sterilizing tank 3 when the door 4 is opened will be described. When a signal is output from the door detector 9 when the door 4 is opened carelessly, that is, when there is a possibility that sterilization gas may be present in the sterilization tank 3, the first control is performed. In this control, the valve 17 is opened and the vacuum pump 13 is operated. Here, the timing of detecting the opening of the door 4 may be at any stage of the sterilization operation, or may be detected including the timing before or after the start of the sterilization operation.

That is, when the door 4 is opened, the sterilizing gas in the sterilizing tank 3 is sucked by the vacuum pump 13, and the sterilizing gas leaked from the sterilizing tank 3 is also transferred from the exhaust hood 15 to the exhaust duct. This is an operation control method in which the air is sucked by the vacuum pump 13 and removed from the room through the air pump 16. This makes it possible to more reliably prevent the sterilizing gas from leaking into the room when the door 4 is opened.

[0026]

According to the present invention, the safety of the sterilization operation can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of a gas sterilizer suitable for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of a gas sterilizer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gas sterilizer 3 Sterilization tank 4 Door 13 Vacuum pump (decompression means) 15 Exhaust hood 16 Exhaust duct (connection means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An operation control method for a gas sterilizer 1, comprising:
A method for controlling the operation of a gas sterilizer, wherein a pressure reducing means 13 for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank 3 is operated when a door 4 of the sterilization tank 3 is opened. 2. An exhaust hood 15 provided at a peripheral portion of an opening of the sterilization tank 3 and a connection means 16 for connecting the exhaust hood 15 and a pressure reducing means 13 for reducing the pressure in the sterilization tank 3 are provided. Characterized gas sterilizer. 3. The method for controlling the operation of a gas sterilizer 1 according to claim 2, wherein when the door 4 of the sterilization tank 3 is opened, the decompression means 13 is operated, and the inside of the sterilization tank 3 and the An operation control method for a gas sterilizer, comprising discharging a sterilizing gas from an exhaust hood (15).