JPH0731661A - Sterilization apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dry effectively an object to be sterilized in a short time. CONSTITUTION:In a strilization apparatus provided with a stage 15 on which an object to by sterilized is placed and a sterilization room 1 storing this stage 15, a heat pipe 19 mounted on the stage 15 and an induction heating apparatus 21 heating inductively an evaporation part 19A of this heat pipe 19 for drying are installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sterilizer for sterilizing an object to be sterilized such as medical equipment with high temperature steam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a sterilizer of this type, an outer heating chamber is provided outside a steam sterilization inner chamber (sterilization chamber), and an object to be sterilized is placed on a mounting table and carried into the inner chamber for preheating. -Vacuum-Sterilization-
It is known that each step of exhaust-drying is performed. The preheating process is a process of supplying high temperature steam to the outer chamber to heat the inner chamber from the outside, the vacuum process is a process of discharging air in the inner chamber, and the sterilization process is a high temperature steam of the inner chamber. Is a step of sterilizing the object to be sterilized with steam, the exhaust step is a step of discharging the steam in the inner chamber, and the drying step is a low pressure in the inner chamber, and the steam is supplied to the outer chamber to move the inner chamber. It is a process of drying the sterilized object by heating from the outside.

[0003]

In such a conventional sterilizer, there is a problem in the drying process. That is, the main heat transfer to the object to be sterilized is radiant heat from the inner chamber wall, and since drying is performed under low pressure, there is little convection and heating by convection is insufficient, so it is effective in a short time. There is a problem that it is difficult to dry the sterilized object.
As a method for solving these problems, Solution 1 in which high temperature air is introduced into the inner chamber during the drying process, an electric heater or an oil circulation heater using the electric heater as a heat source is incorporated into the mounting table, and the mounting table is inserted into the inner chamber. Solution 2 in which the connector on the heater side and the connector on the power source side are connected at this time, the mounting table is heated by this electric heater or oil circulation heater during the drying process, and the material to be sterilized is heated and dried by heat conduction, A pipe that allows steam to circulate is installed in the mounting table, and when the mounting table is inserted into the inner chamber, the steam connector on the pipe side and the steam connector on the inner chamber side connected to the steam source are connected, and the steam flowing through the pipe Therefore, Solution 3 or the like in which the mounting table is heated and the sterilized object is heated and dried by heat conduction can be considered. However, according to Solution 1, there are problems that the heat capacity of air is small and the heat transfer rate is low, and the heat resistance of the sterilization filter is present. According to Solutions 2 and 3, the heat resistance of the connectors and the insulation / There is a problem of sealing property. An object of the present invention is to provide a sterilizing apparatus which can solve the above-mentioned problems of the solution while paying attention to such problems, and which can effectively dry an object to be sterilized in a short time.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a sterilizing apparatus comprising a mounting table for mounting an object to be sterilized and a sterilization chamber for accommodating the mounting table. An induction heating device for induction heating the evaporation part of the pipe during drying is provided.

[0005]

According to the above means, the evaporation part of the heat pipe is non-contact heated by the induction heating device during the drying, the temperature of the mounting table is raised by the condensing part of the heat pipe, and the sterilization on the mounting table is caused by heat conduction. The product is heated and dried.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a steam sterilization type sterilizer of the same embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes a sterilized inner chamber having an opening 2 on the front surface, and the front opening 2 is airtightly opened and closed by a door 3. As the wall material of the inner chamber 1, a material having good thermal conductivity, for example, a metal is used. Then, a first air supply port 5 to which the air supply passage 4 is connected to the inner chamber 1 and a first steam supply passage 6 which is a passage of high temperature steam supplied from a steam generator (not shown) are connected. A steam outlet 7 and an exhaust port 9 to which an exhaust passage 8 for discharging steam or the like is connected are provided.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a sterilized outer chamber which is provided outside the inner chamber 1 with a space therebetween so as to surround the inner chamber 1, and a second steam supply line to which a second steam supply line 11 to which high temperature steam is supplied is connected. Mouth 12
A drain discharge port 14 to which a drain discharge path 13 for discharging drain is connected is provided.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a metal, for example, stainless steel sterilization object mounting base on which the sterilization object M is mounted.
6 and 17, and casters 23, 23 on the lower surface
Is provided to form a movable cart type. The mounting table 15 is provided with, for example, ventilation openings 18 and 18 so that the supplied steam can reach the object M to be sterilized quickly. In addition, the mounting table 15 includes a mounting shelf 16
The heat pipe 19 for heating and the heat pipe 20 for heating the mounting shelf 17 are mounted. Each heat pipe 19, 2
Although not shown in the drawing, 0 is provided in pairs on the left and right when viewed from the front of the mounting table 15 so that each shelf can be heated from both the left and right ends. Evaporating parts 19A, 2 of each heat pipe 19, 20
0A is provided at the lower end of the back surface of the mounting table 15 in a state of being displaced in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, and is projected rearward so that the condensing units 19B and 20B heat the mounting shelves 16 and 17. It is provided. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, the heat pipe 19,
Although the mounting state of the mounting table 20 is schematically shown, the mounting table 15 may be mounted to the frame or the shelves 16 and 17 constituting the mounting table 15 in a heat conductive manner, or the heat pipe itself may be mounted on the mounting table 15. It may be a frame. In any case, it suffices that the heat released from the condensers 19B and 20B of the heat pipes 19 and 20 is conducted to the mounting shelves 16 and 17.

On the other hand, on the inner chamber 1 side, an induction heating unit 21A into which the evaporating unit 19A of the heat pipe 19 is inserted while the mounting table 15 is housed at a predetermined position in the inner chamber 1 is provided. The induction heating unit 21A has a recess 24 for receiving the evaporation unit 19A,
It includes an induction heating coil 22 for induction heating the evaporation section 19A. Electric power is supplied to the coil 22 from the power supply unit 21B during the drying process to heat the heat pipe evaporation unit 19A in a non-contact manner. The induction heating unit 21 is configured by the induction heating unit 21A and the power feeding unit 21B. Although not shown, the heat pipe 20 is also provided separately with an induction heating unit (not shown) similar to the induction heating unit 21A of the heat pipe 19 in a state in which the position is vertically shifted from the paper surface of FIG. There is. The power feeding unit of this induction heating unit can be shared with the power feeding unit 21B of the induction heating device 21.

How to sterilize the object M to be sterilized in the above configuration will be described. After the object M to be sterilized is placed on the mounting table 15, the mounting table 15 is moved to a predetermined position in the inner chamber 1 and stored. Then, the heat pipe evaporation unit 19A is inserted into the recess 24 of the induction heating unit 21A, and the heat pipe evaporation unit 20A is inserted into the recess of the corresponding induction heating unit. Then, the sterilization is performed by sequentially performing the steps of preheating-vacuum-sterilization-exhaust-drying with the door 3 closed.

First, in the preheating step, high temperature steam is supplied into the outer chamber 12 through the second steam supply passage 11. As a result, heat is transferred through the wall surface of the inner chamber 1, the inside of the inner chamber 1 is heated, and preheating is performed.

In the next vacuum step, the air in the inner chamber 1 is sucked and exhausted through the exhaust passage 8 by a vacuum pump (not shown). By such exhaust, the contaminated air in the inner chamber 1 and the object to be sterilized M is discharged to the outside of the inner chamber 1. When the pressure in the inner chamber 1 drops to a predetermined low pressure due to this exhaust, high temperature steam is supplied through the first steam supply passage 6, and when the pressure rises to a predetermined pressure, exhaust is performed again such that exhaust is performed again. It is desirable that the contaminated air is discharged and the object M to be sterilized is preheated by repeating the above.

In the sterilization step, steam having a steam pressure of 2 kg / square cm (temperature 132 ° C.) is supplied into the inner chamber 1 through the first steam supply passage 6. Then, sterilization is performed by high temperature steam for a predetermined sterilization time, and the process goes to the next exhaust step.

Next, in the evacuation process, the vapor in the inner chamber 1 is evacuated through the evacuation passage 8 and the process proceeds to the next drying process.

In the drying step, while maintaining the internal pressure of the inner chamber 1 at a predetermined low pressure, high temperature steam is supplied to the outer chamber 12 to heat the inner chamber 1 from the outside to perform drying. At this time, the induction heating coil 22 for heating the heat pipe 19 and the induction heating coil for heating the heat pipe 20 are energized to inductively heat the heat pipe evaporation units 19A, 20A, and the mounting table 15 is condensed by the heat pipe. The parts 19A and 20A are heated by the heat radiation effect to raise the temperature. And by heat conduction,
The temperature of the object M to be sterilized rises and the drying is promoted. After this drying, a cycle is repeated in which the outside air is drawn into the inner chamber 1 through the sterilizing filter (not shown) through the air supply passage 4, and then the vacuum is drawn. Induction heating continues throughout this cycle. After such drying, a sterile air valve (not shown) is opened to introduce the outside air to increase the pressure of the inner chamber 1, and then the door 3 is opened to pull out the mounting table 15 to the outside of the inner chamber 1 and to be sterilized. Take out M.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but the mounting table 15 can be variously modified.
Further, the sterilization process can be changed in various ways, that is, any process including a steam sterilization process and a subsequent drying process may be used.
Further, the number and arrangement of the heat pipes are not limited to those shown in the drawings, but it is preferable to arrange the condensing portion of the heat pipes on the placing portion (placement shelf) of the object to be sterilized or in the vicinity thereof.

According to the present invention configured as described above, in addition to heating from the inside and outside of the room at the time of drying, the mounting table is heated by the heat pipe which is heated by induction, and the non-sterile material is heated and dried by heat conduction. Therefore, the material to be sterilized can be dried efficiently in a short time. Further, since the mounting table is heated by non-contact heating without using the connectors, there are great effects such as no problem of insulation and sealing of the connectors.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a sterilizer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inner chamber 7 1st steam supply port 9 Exhaust port 16 Mounting table 19 Heat pipe 19A Evaporating part 19B Condensing part 20 Heat pipe 20B Condensing part 21 Induction heating device 21A Induction heating part 21B Power supply part M Sterilized material

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sterilizing apparatus comprising a mounting table for mounting an object to be sterilized and a sterilization chamber for accommodating the mounting table, wherein a heat pipe mounted on the mounting table and an evaporation part of the heat pipe are guided during drying. A sterilization device comprising an induction heating device for heating.