JPH1094586A - Washing steriization unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve washing effect for an object to be washed and sterilized such as apparatuses and material for anesthesia or those for inspecting internal organs by incorporating a washing acfion by a jet water flow with higher washing effect and a washing action by an ultrasonic washing effective for bacterial contamination with the object to be washed immersed into a washing process. SOLUTION: A rack 2 for carrying a cage 1 for housing an object to be washed is inserted into a unit body 3 by a rail 5 for insertion or removal through an opening part with a door. Then, a water valve 7 is opened and washing water is jetted for prewashing of the object to be washed from jetting nozzles of jet water flow suppliers 10 at an upper part and on a side via a heater 8 having a temperature adjusting function. Then, a detergent is supplied from a detergent supplier 13 and circulated by a pump 38 via a three-way changeover valve 43 to perform a jet washing. Then, an ultrasonic washing is performed by an ultrasonic wave generated from ultrasonic wave generators 19 and 19' while water in a water tank is heated by steam heating or the like by a water tank heater 18 via a valve 17 from a steam pipe 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning and sterilizing medical equipment used in medical institutions such as hospitals, and a technique for providing a unit which can automatically cover almost all steps required for cleaning and sterilization with a single apparatus. It is related to.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of cleaning and disinfecting apparatus often performs necessary processes such as pre-cleaning, cleaning, disinfection, surface treatment with chemicals, and draining and drying by a single machine for each process. There were devices with a structure that sprays washing water from a nozzle in a manner similar to a dishwasher, those that immerse an object to be cleaned in a water tank and use ultrasonic waves for cleaning, and devices with some combined functions. . For example, when cleaning and disinfecting surgical equipment, these devices not only require time and labor to transport manually for each process, but also have many problems such as adhesion of various bacteria and infection of workers, and further require a large installation space. Inconvenience was noticeable.

[0003] In recent years, an apparatus has been developed in which the steps of immersion type pre-cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, rinsing, hot water sterilization, and drying are connected by a conveyor or the like for processing, but this apparatus has insufficient cleaning capability. In addition, since it uniformly treats a wide variety of sterilized materials to be cleaned, there is little room for selection of the process contents, which is inconvenient in use, and the area of the installation space, especially the length, is large and costly. Because of the high cost, only a small number of large hospitals could be set up.

Furthermore, with the recent strengthening of hygiene standards, the low level of cleaning and sterilization according to the above-mentioned conventional technology has become a problem, and even if it is processed with conventional equipment, it is hygienically regenerated using, for example, syringes, test tubes or scissors. Due to the difficulty in use, many of the equipment was discarded after a single use, causing waste of expenses.

[0005]

In the prior art devices, there are many types of devices, each of which is actually used. However, there are many problems as described above. The technical content was extremely inadequate for strengthening infection control measures.

[0006] Therefore, in addition to the improvement of the level of cleaning and sterilization, the automation of all the steps is attempted, and labor saving, space saving, prevention of secondary infection, improvement of process selectivity, reduction of equipment cost and use cost are achieved. In order to provide a cleaning and sterilizing unit that meets the purpose, a mechanism that continuously and automatically operates all processes conventionally required in a body with a relatively small installation area, and commercialized with the conventional technology It is an object of the present invention to add a powerful washing function that has not been performed, to improve the sterilization ability, and to provide a device having various selection functions according to an object.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rack for mounting a basket for accommodating articles to be cleaned, the rack being one of a main body of the cleaning and sterilizing unit. In addition to allowing the door to be freely inserted and removed from the opening having a door provided in the section, the cleaning and sterilizing unit main body has a jet water flow supply device from the top and side for processing the sterilized material to be cleaned, and a detergent for the water flow. 1 for providing a chemical supply device and submerging a rack for a predetermined selectable time
A base water tank is provided in the cleaning / sterilizing unit main body, and this water tank is configured to be capable of supplying and draining water according to a predetermined automatic work process that can be selected.When a rack is submerged, a function of generating ultrasonic waves in the water tank and a function of submersion in the water. It has a function of supplying detergents and chemicals, and a function of controlling the temperature of submerged water to 90 degrees Celsius or higher.
Pre-cleaning of the material to be cleaned with water, cleaning with a jet stream, cleaning with ultrasonic waves, heat sterilization, rinsing, and finish rinsing with clean water such as pure water from a separate supply device are necessary. For example, after finishing processes such as chemical treatment for the purpose of rust prevention and lubrication, the cleaning and sterilizing object can be dried by hot air from the hot air dryer installed in the cleaning and sterilizing unit main body, and all these processes are performed automatically. For this purpose, a sensor, an electronic control unit, and a main body having the above-mentioned functions are combined into a single body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the basket for storing the articles to be cleaned or the rack on which the basket is placed is washed from a moving carrier such as a cart or a cart on which the rack or the basket is placed. It is characterized in that a loading / unloading device such as a conveyor can be added to the unit main body so that it can be moved into and out of the processing chamber of the sterilization unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the cleaning water is supplied to the water tank for a certain period of time in parallel with or independently of the cleaning action such as ultrasonic cleaning during the submerged cleaning step of the rack. It is characterized by adding a sink washing function of draining water from an overflow pipe provided in a water tank.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, further comprising a sterilizing function enhancing device such as an ultraviolet irradiation device or an ozone or ozone water utilization device. . The invention of claim 5 is claim 1
4. The ultrasonic generator according to any one of 4), wherein the ultrasonic generator is installed in two places of a water tank for submerging the object to be cleaned so that the ultrasonic waves are transmitted in opposition to each other, and one of the ultrasonic generators is operated. During the operation, the other ultrasonic generator operates so as to stop the operation, and this operation is alternately repeated for a certain period of time.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in one of the first to fifth aspects, a door is provided on a side surface of one of the water tanks for submerging the rack for a selectable predetermined time. The rack can be taken in and out. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to sixth aspects, a device for generating a bubble or a water flow to be supplied to the water tank is added.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the jet water supply apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the rack is provided with a rotary or fixed radial jet water jet. The outlet pipe and the inlet of the injection pipe are communicated only during a necessary period, so that a jet water stream is discharged to each required stage of the rack. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to eighth aspects, the rack on which the basket for storing the articles to be washed is provided with a mechanism that moves up and down or swings according to a control program. It is characterized by the following.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a variety of sterilized materials to be washed, such as surgical equipment, anesthesia equipment, internal organ inspection equipment, slippers, etc., used in medical institutions can be used.
Efficient treatment with a single unit, cleaning action by jet water stream with high cleaning effect on relatively large deposits, and ultrasonic cleaning by immersing the object to be cleaned, which is effective for fine dirt The first feature is that both of the cleaning actions are incorporated in the cleaning step to make the cleaning effect more reliable.

Next, as a second feature, a detergent, a rinsing agent and other chemicals can be supplied to both the water for the jet stream and the water for the immersion tank, and the water used for both is city water and pure water. It is possible to automatically switch and supply the clean water according to the process, and further equipped with a water heating device, especially since the water in the immersion tank can be heated to 90 degrees Celsius or more, it is more reliable than sterilization by high temperature jet water flow , Pre-cleaning to cleaning, sterilization,
The point is that each process from rinsing to chemical treatment can be appropriately handled.

The third feature is that the main body of the apparatus and the electronic control unit are integrated so that the program and the contents of each step can be selected, and the processing can be automatically performed without any human intervention until the final drying step. Therefore, it is convenient and sanitary to treat various kinds of sterilized materials to be washed.
The selected content and the progress of the process can be displayed on a display provided in a part of the integrated device. Also,
Installation of remote control and remote display is also possible.

A fourth feature is that the water tank can be supplied and drained according to a program, so that only one water tank can be used for various cleaning, sterilization, rinsing, and chemical treatments. The apparatus is small and simple, and the installation space is small. On the point.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, as a means for carrying out the sterilized material to be washed into and out of the washing and sterilizing unit accurately and with a labor-saving hygiene, for example, a conveying tool such as a roller conveyor is washed and sterilized. It is characterized in that it has a main body configuration that can be connected to the entrance to the processing chamber in the unit.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a so-called running water washing method may be appropriate depending on the kind of the sterilized material to be washed. Therefore, an overflowing pipe is provided in the water tank so that the running water can be washed for a certain period of time. This is an effective means for preventing the contamination of other objects to be treated with respect to the treatment of deposits of special infectious disease pathogens.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when it is necessary to enhance the sterilization ability such as the adhesion of special viruses,
An ultraviolet irradiation device is added as a supplementary function of the sterilization treatment using hot water immersion and hot air, or a sterilization function using an ozone or ozone water treatment mechanism or a chemical is added.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, during the immersion cleaning by the ultrasonic wave, there are places where the ultrasonic wave does not easily reach depending on the shape of the object to be cleaned and the state of the cleaning basket, so that the cleaning effect is partially obtained. This invention aims to obtain a more effective cleaning action by attaching a number of ultrasonic generators to a cleaning water tank assuming a case where it becomes weaker, so that each operation can be individually selected. .

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the water tank is provided with a door so that the basket containing the material to be cleaned and the rack on which the basket is placed can be directly taken in and out of the water tank. Pre-washing, jet water washing, and final drying are performed without water in the water tank by jet water flow from the inner surface 2 direction. To carry out processes such as cleaning and sterilization including ultrasonic cleaning.

Therefore, there is almost no need to move according to the rack process, and the size of the unit can be reduced. In addition, since the position of the water tank itself can be provided at the top of the unit body, element members such as water supply / drainage pipes and automatic valves for the water tank can be installed at the bottom of the water tank, which not only saves space but also makes maintenance and inspection work convenient. It has the effect of becoming.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the cleaning effect in the water tank is further enhanced, and in particular, air bubbles or the pressure of the supply water is used to remove somewhat large contaminants which are difficult to remove by ultrasonic waves. The water stream is caused to collide with equipment to be cleaned by a water stream generator such as a pulsator provided in the above.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the rack is provided with a jet jet jet pipe provided with a plurality of nozzles capable of generating a rotary or fixed radial jet, and a jet jet provided on the inner surface of the unit. The outlet of the jet supply pipe and the entrance of this jet pipe are connected only for the required period by the rack moving device, so that the jet water flow is jetted to each required stage of the rack, so that complicated shapes and Even for a large amount of objects to be cleaned, a greater cleaning effect can be expected in combination with the cleaning effect in the water tank.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the rack is provided with a mechanism that moves up and down or swings in accordance with a control program depending on the position of the water tank and the shape of the sterilized material to be washed, so that immersion in the water tank is ensured. The cleaning effect can be expected to be improved by tightening and swinging.

[0026]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a front view showing a cross section of one embodiment of the cleaning / sterilizing unit of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which water is not contained in the water tank. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which water is contained in a water tank. The rack 2 on which the basket 1 for storing the articles to be washed is placed is provided with a rail 5 for insertion and removal through an opening 4 having a door 23 provided in a part of the washing and sterilizing unit main body 3.
By pressing the operation switch, the door is closed and the cleaning / sterilization process is started. The washing sterilization process and the program can be selected within a predetermined range by a selection button provided in the control unit 6, but as a typical method, first, the water supply valve 7 is opened by receiving an electronic signal, and the valve 7 and the temperature control function are opened. The water to be cleaned is pre-cleaned by the jet nozzles 12 and 12 'from the jet water flow supply device 10 on the upper side and the jet water flow supply device 11 from the side via the heater 8 provided with the heater. The water temperature at this time is appropriately set to 40 to 50 degrees Celsius in consideration of blood adhesion.

Next, washing is performed by a jet water flow. At this time, a detergent is supplied from the detergent supply device 13 by a control program, and the cleaning fluid is circulated through the three-way switching valve 43 by the pump 38. . The pre-cleaning and cleaning steps are not limited to one time, and each time the drain valve 9
To drain the sewage, but after this step, the valve 7
To supply water to the water tank 15 up to the height at which the sensor 14 operates, as shown in FIG. This water level should be at least the height at which the basket 1 containing the sterilized material to be washed is submerged. Subsequently, an ultrasonic generator 19 which can select an operation individually while heating the water in the water tank from the steam pipe 16 via a valve 17 by steam heating by a water tank heater 18 or a heating body such as an electric heater (not shown). , 19 ′ for cleaning. This ultrasonic wave usually has a frequency selection function of 28, 45, 100 HZ or the like. At that time, the detergent from the detergent supply device 13 can be automatically supplied to the water in the water tank as needed. In some cases, one ultrasonic generator may be used.

It is also possible to carry out the above-mentioned water tank cleaning without raising the water temperature by setting a program.
After the cleaning in the water tank is completed, the drain valve 9 is opened, the water is once drained, and the operation of supplying the water to the water tank again and a part or all of the cleaning process are used for rinsing two to three times. In the last step, it is preferable to open the valve 20 and supply clean water such as pure water to perform rinsing. At this time, a chemical for improving sterilization and lubrication and rust prevention can be introduced from the chemical supply device 21. After that, the sterilization process is performed for 3 to 5 minutes by heating while controlling the water temperature of the water tank to be 90 degrees Celsius or higher, usually 97 degrees Celsius. After this process is completed, the valve 9 is opened to drain water, and then hot air is generated. Hot air is sent from the vessel 22 and the process proceeds to the drying step. If the rinsing in the water tank is insufficient, it is possible to set a program in advance, rinse in a high-temperature jet stream in the state shown in FIG. 2 and dry with hot air,
It is also possible to mix and supply the above chemicals to clean water such as pure water for rinsing at that time. When all processes are completed, the door opens and the basket is taken out.

In FIG. 2, the door 23 has a water tank at the upper part of the unit main body as shown in the figure, and in the case of the structure of claim 6, the water tank 15 has a water seal structure when the door is closed. However, even if a small amount of water leaks from the door during an operation such as washing, the water can be discharged from a lower water receiving pan (not shown) to the sewage communicating with the drain pipe. Further, although not shown, a water tank is provided at the lower part of the unit body, and when the rack is moved downward to be submerged in the water tank after the treatment with the jet water flow as in the configuration of claim 9, the door 23 is provided with the jet water flow. Has the function of suppressing water leakage to the outside, and the water attached to the inner surface of the door is configured to be dropped into the water tank together with the water from the jet water flow. After the submerged washing / sterilizing operation is completed, the rack moves upward, and it is also possible to perform rinsing, chemical treatment and drying operations. The rack is a swinging device 2
A configuration is also conceivable in which the device 4 can swing during the cleaning operation.

When the rack is taken in and out of the processing chamber, the door 23 must be opened and closed, but the conveyor 25 shown in FIG. 2 can be added to the unit main body so as to be positionally compatible with the rail 5 of the rack. Is also possible. Door 2
The configuration in which the door 3 and the conveyor 25 are not limited to a single location in front as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the washing method in the water tank is as follows.
Depending on the application, the flushing described in claim 3 is selected by a program, and during this operation, it is possible to constantly supply water and drain the water from the overflow pipe 26 at the top of the water tank. Further, the ultraviolet irradiation tube 27, the ozone generator 28, and the ozone water supply device 29 shown in claim 4 can be installed as required.

According to the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention,
This has already been made clear by the configuration described above. Further, the embodiment of the invention of claim 7 can be effectively implemented by the water flow generation unit 30 and the bubble generation unit 31 shown in FIGS.

The embodiment of the invention according to claim 8 can be realized by a configuration in which the jet water jet pipe 32 of FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 34 denotes an exhaust pipe, 35 denotes an air filter, 36 denotes a switching valve for enabling circulation of hot air, and 37 denotes a blower. 39 is a clean water supply pipe such as pure water, 40 is an air supply pipe for generating bubbles, 41 is a filter, 42 is a bubble opening / closing valve, 44 is an intermediate valve, 45 is an opening / closing valve for supplying ozone water, and 46 is a water tank. , 47 is a drain pipe, and 48 is a water supply pipe.

The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various embodiments can be considered within the scope of the concept described in the claims. For example, the rack is not limited to two stages, but can be configured in one to multiple stages, and the form of the basket for storing the sterilized material to be cleaned may be changed from the illustrated one. Further, the type of water used for washing, sterilization, and rinsing, the content of the process, and the program of the process can be appropriately selected as needed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a cross section of a cleaning and disinfecting unit.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a cross section of the cleaning / sterilizing unit.

FIG. 3 is a side view mainly showing a cross section of a water tank part of the cleaning / sterilizing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Basket which puts in a sterilization thing to be washed 2 ... Rack 3 ... Cleaning and sterilization unit main body 6 ... Control part 8 ... Heater 14 ... Water level sensor 15 ... Water tank 19, 19 '... Ultrasonic generator 22 ... Hot air generator 23 ... Door 24 ... Rack swinging device 25 ... Conveyer 26 ... Overflow pipe 28 ... Ozone generator 30 ... Water flow generation part 31 ... Bubble generation part 32 ... Jet water flow jet pipe 33 ... Jet water flow supply pipe

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI B08B 3/02 B08B 3/02 A 3/12 3/12 A

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning / sterilization unit, comprising: a rack on which a basket for storing a cleaning / sterilization object is placed, wherein the rack is freely inserted into and removed from an opening having a door provided in a part of the cleaning / sterilization unit body. The main body is provided with a jet water flow supply device from the top and the side for treating sterilized materials to be washed, and a supply device for detergents and chemicals to this water flow, for submerging the rack for a selectable predetermined time. One water tank is provided in the cleaning / sterilizing unit main body, and this water tank is configured to be capable of supplying and draining water according to a selectable predetermined automatic operation process,
When the rack is submerged, it has a function to generate ultrasonic waves in the water tank, a function to supply detergents and chemicals to the submerged water, and a function to control the temperature of the submerged water to 90 degrees Celsius or more. Cleaning and sterilization process, that is, pre-cleaning of the material to be cleaned with water, cleaning with a jet stream, cleaning with ultrasonic waves, heat sterilization, and rinsing, and finish rinsing with pure water or the like from a separately provided supply device. After finishing the steps such as chemical treatment for the purpose of rust prevention and lubrication, if necessary, the object to be cleaned and sterilized can be dried by hot air from a hot air dryer installed in the cleaning and sterilizing unit body. A cleaning and sterilizing unit comprising a sensor and an electronic control device for automatically performing all processes and a main body having the above-described functions in a single body. 2. A cleaning and sterilizing unit according to claim 1, wherein the basket for storing the sterilized material to be cleaned or the rack on which the basket is mounted is moved from a moving carrier such as a cart or the like on which the rack or the basket is mounted. A cleaning and disinfecting unit characterized in that a carrying-in / out device such as a conveyor can be added to the unit main body so that the device can be moved into and out of the unit. 3. The overflow tank according to claim 1, wherein the washing water is fed into the water tank for a certain period of time or independently of the washing action such as ultrasonic cleaning during the submerged washing step of the rack. A washing and sterilizing unit characterized by adding a sink washing function to drain water from a water pipe. 4. A cleaning and sterilizing unit according to claim 1, further comprising a sterilizing function enhancing device such as an ultraviolet irradiation device, an ozone or ozone water utilizing device. 5. The ultrasonic generator according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic generator is installed in at least two places of a water tank for submerging the object to be cleaned so that ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the water in the water tank. A cleaning and sterilizing unit characterized in that the operating state of each ultrasonic generator can be individually selected. 6. The rack according to claim 1, wherein one of the water tanks for submerging the rack for a predetermined selectable time is provided with a door on a side surface so that the rack can be taken in and out. A cleaning and disinfecting unit characterized in that: 7. A cleaning and sterilizing unit according to claim 1, further comprising a device for generating a bubble or a water flow to be supplied to said water tank. 8. A water jet pipe of a jet water flow supply device according to claim 1, wherein said rack is provided with a rotary or fixed radial jet water jet pipe. A washing and disinfecting unit characterized in that an inlet of an injection pipe is communicated only during a necessary period and a jet stream is discharged to each required stage of a rack. 9. The rack according to claim 1, wherein the rack on which the basket for storing the articles to be cleaned is placed has a mechanism that moves up and down or swings according to a control program. And cleaning and sterilizing unit.