JPS62292164A - Operation of steam sterilizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention 3. Detailed Description of the Invention a0 Purpose of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The method of operating a steam sterilizer according to the present invention is used when sterilizing patient clothes and surgical gowns. I can do it.

(Prior art) In hospitals, etc., in order to prevent infections caused by bacteria adhering to patients' used clothes and surgical tools, these items are widely sterilized using high-temperature steam in sterilizers. It is being done. FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a steam sterilizer used in such a case.

A sterilization container 3 consists of an inner cylinder 1 with a door (not shown) that allows objects to be sterilized to be put in and taken out, and an outer cylinder 2 surrounding the inner cylinder 1. The other end of the air pipe 14 is connected to the air filter 11 provided for sending clean air into the inner cylinder 1 after sterilization.

Further, one end of a steam supply pipe 7 for supplying steam produced by a steam generator 6 is connected to the outer cylinder 2, and a pipe 8 is connected to the outer cylinder 2 for feeding the steam stored inside the outer cylinder 2 into the inner cylinder 1. One end of the inner cylinder 1
and the other end is connected to this outer cylinder 2, respectively.

The method of operating the steam sterilizer constructed as described above is as described below.

The steam chamber 20 between the outer cylinder 2 and the inner cylinder 1 is always filled with high-temperature steam supplied from a steam generator,
After heating the air (steam) and the object to be sterilized in the inner cylinder 1, the air in the inner cylinder 1 is discharged by driving the vacuum pump 4, and then the opening/closing mechanism provided in the middle of the pipe 8 valve 18
The operation of opening the water vapor for a short period of time to feed high-temperature steam filling the outer cylinder 2 into the inner cylinder 1 is repeated, and the objects to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1 and the objects to be sterilized are fed into the inner cylinder 1 during the sterilization process. A vacuum process is performed to improve staining with water vapor.

After this vacuum stroke is completed, by opening the valve 18 in the middle of the pipe 8, high-temperature, high-pressure steam stored in the steam chamber 20 between the outer cylinder 2 and the inner cylinder 1 is sent into the inner cylinder 1. The inner cylinder 1 is filled with high-temperature, high-pressure water vapor.
A sterilization process is performed to sterilize the objects to be sterilized stored inside.

After the sterilization process is completed, the valve 18 in the middle of the tube 8 is closed, and the water vapor filled in the inner cylinder 1 is discharged.Then, the inner cylinder 1 is evacuated, and the high-temperature water vapor filled in the outer cylinder 2 is removed. By repeatedly feeding clean air that has passed through the air filter 11 into the inner cylinder 1 while heating the inside of the inner cylinder 1 with heat,
A drying process is performed to dry the objects to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when operating a steam sterilizer as described above, conventionally there have been problems as described below.

That is, the objects to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1 become wet due to the high temperature and high pressure saturated steam fed into the inner cylinder 1 during the sterilization process. As mentioned above, after the sterilization process is complete, there is a drying process to dry the objects to be sterilized that have been wet with steam, but this is not normally performed when fibrous objects to be sterilized, such as surgical gowns and bandages, become extremely wet. It is not possible to dry the product sufficiently with the drying process.

In order to prevent the objects to be sterilized from becoming severely wetted by the saturated steam sent into the inner cylinder 1 during the sterilization process, it is possible to prevent the objects to be sterilized from getting wet due to the saturated steam sent into the inner cylinder 1 by heating the objects to be sterilized before sending the steam into the inner cylinder 1. It is effective to prevent water vapor from condensing when it comes into contact with low-temperature objects to be sterilized.

For this reason, conventionally, the steam chamber 2 between the inner cylinder 1 and the outer cylinder 2
The object to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1 is heated by filling the inside of the inner cylinder 1 with high-temperature steam and heating the air inside the inner cylinder 1 (
(preheating process) is being carried out.

However, fibrous items to be sterilized, such as bandages, are often stored in the inner tube 1 in a metal container called a cast, and in this case, simply heating the air inside the inner tube 1 is not sufficient. , the objects to be sterilized inside the cast are not sufficiently heated.

Of course, if the heating time is increased, the object to be sterilized inside the cast can be sufficiently heated, but this is not preferable because the time required for the sterilization process becomes unnecessarily long.

The method of operating a steam sterilizer according to the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages.

b1 Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problem) The operating method of the steam sterilizer of the present invention is similar to the conventional operating method described above. A vacuum process that evacuates the container, a sterilization process that sends high-temperature steam into the sterilized container following this vacuum process, and a sterilization process that evacuates the sterilization chamber again and then pumps the heated air into the sterilized container. It has a drying process in which it is sent to

Furthermore, the method for operating a steam sterilizer of the present invention is characterized in that, before the vacuum step, a preheating step is added in which the inside of the sterilization container is evacuated and heated air is fed into the sterilization container. It is said that

By adding such a preheating process, the objects to be sterilized stored in the sterilization container are sufficiently warmed before the saturated steam for sterilization is sent into the sterilization container, and the saturated steam is used to heat the objects to be sterilized at low temperature. This eliminates the possibility of condensation on contact and making the object to be sterilized extremely wet.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of a steam sterilization apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention.

A cover tube 9 is further provided surrounding the outer periphery of the outer tube 2 which together with the inner tube 1 constitutes a sterile container, and the other end of an air pipe 14 having an air filter 11 provided at one end is connected to the cover tube 9. Clean air can be freely fed into the air chamber 21 between the cover tube 9 and the outer tube 2.

Further, the air chamber 21 inside the cover tube 9 and the inner tube 1 are connected by a pipe 8 having an on-off valve 18 in the middle.

When sterilizing objects to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1 using the steam sterilizer configured in this way, the outer cylinder 2 and the inner cylinder 1 are
The steam chamber 20 between the cover tube 9 and the outer tube 2 is filled with high-temperature steam supplied from the steam generator 6 to heat the inside of the inner tube 1, and the air between the cover tube 9 and the outer tube 2 is passed through the air filter 11. The clean air filled in the chamber 21 is also heated.

The clean air heated in the air chamber 21 in this way is
After operating the vacuum pump 4 to create a vacuum inside the inner tube 1, the tube 8
The inside of the inner cylinder 1 is evacuated before the warmed air is fed into the inner cylinder 1 by opening the valve 18 in the middle of the air and heating the object to be sterilized stored in the inner cylinder 1. Therefore, this heated air efficiently enters areas where gas normally cannot enter, such as the inside of the fibrous object to be sterilized housed in the cast, and evenly heats the object to be sterilized. The clean air heated within the air chamber 21 is also used in the drying process following the sterilization process, so that the objects to be sterilized can be efficiently dried.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of a steam sterilization apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention.

A heat exchanger tube 15 having an air filter 11 at one end is disposed on the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 2 or inside the steam chamber 20, and the clean air flowing inside the heat exchanger tube 15 is transferred to the steam inside the outer cylinder 2. The chamber 20 can be heated freely by water vapor. The other end of the heat transfer tube 15 is connected to the inner cylinder 1 for storing objects to be sterilized, so that warmed clean air can be freely fed into the inner cylinder 1. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, as well as in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. heat tube 15
The air inside is sent in during the preheating process.

Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of a steam sterilization apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention.

An air pipe 14 is provided with an air filter 11 at one end and connected to the inner cylinder 1 at the other end.
2 is provided so that the clean air flowing through the air pipe 14 can be heated freely. In this third embodiment, the air led from the air filter 11 is passed around the heater 13 which generates heat by being energized, thereby heating the air and using it as preheated air E. Heater 3 like this
This method is effective when the sterile container has a single wall.

In any of the embodiments, if the heating operation of feeding preheated air after evacuating the interior of the inner cylinder 1 is insufficient once, this operation is repeated a plurality of times.

C1 Effects of the invention As described above, the method of operating the steam sterilizer of the invention is as follows:
Prior to sending steam, a preheating process is performed to sufficiently warm the object to be sterilized, so the saturated steam sent during the sterilization process does not condense on the surface of the object to be sterilized.
Since the object to be sterilized does not get heavily wet, the drying process does not require much time, and the object to be sterilized after sterilization can be immediately dried to the extent that it can be reused.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional steam sterilizer, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are circuit diagrams of a steam sterilizer used in carrying out the present invention. 1: Inner cylinder, 2: Outer cylinder, 3: Sterile container, 4: Vacuum pump,
5: Exhaust pipe, 6: Steam generator, 7: Steam supply pipe, 8; Pipe, 9
Cover tube, 10; Tube, 11: Air filter, 12: Warmer, 13: Heater, 14: Air tube, 15: Heat transfer tube, 16.
17.18.19 Two on-off valves, 20: Steam chamber, 21
:Air chamber.

Claims (1)

[Claims] After storing the object to be sterilized in a sterilization container, there is a vacuum process in which the sterilization container is evacuated, a sterilization process in which high-temperature steam is sent into the sterilization container following this vacuum process, and a sterilization room is returned to the sterilization room after the sterilization process. In a method of operating a steam sterilizer that includes a drying process in which heated air is evacuated into a sterilized container, the sterilized container is evacuated before the vacuum step, and then the sterilized container is evacuated. A method of operating a steam sterilizer characterized by adding a preheating process in which heated air is sent inside the steam sterilizer.