JPS63183063A - Sterilization apparatus - 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 [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a sterilizer that sterilizes containers, foods, human bodies, etc. using ultraviolet light.

[Conventional technology]

The bactericidal effect of ultraviolet light has been known for a long time. Since it requires a shorter treatment time than chemical or thermal sterilization and does not pollute the environment during or during the treatment, it is widely used in fields such as industry as well as medicine. For sterilization, far ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 200 to 300 nTrL are often used. This is because the DNA and proteins in bacterial cells are
This is because it has an absorption wavelength around 60 nm, and low-pressure mercury lamps have an emission line at 254 nm, so they have been widely used as germicidal lights.

Such low-pressure mercury lamps usually have a cylindrical shape like a fluorescent lamp and are bulky. For this reason, it has been impossible to use this low-pressure mercury lamp as is to sterilize the inside of containers such as bottles, complicated filling lines, or body cavities.

Therefore, the applicant has filed a separate patent application for an ultraviolet sterilization device that focuses ultraviolet light from an ultraviolet lamp onto the end face of an optical fiber or other optical transmission means, and irradiates the object to be sterilized with the ultraviolet light from the output end face. (Unpublished).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the above-mentioned sterilizer has the following problems.This will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

Figure 3 shows the main parts of the above-mentioned sterilizer.
shows the case using a high-pressure mercury lamp. As shown, a mercury lamp 1A.

The ultraviolet rays from 1B are reflected by the ellipsoidal mirror 2 and focused on the light incident end face of the optical fiber 3.

By the way, as shown in the figure, there is an ultraviolet light source (lamp 1A).

1B) is not a point light source but has a certain spread, so the intensity of the ultraviolet rays incident on the optical fiber 3 is not uniformly distributed. In particular, when the light source is a cylindrical low-pressure mercury lamp 1A, a shadow of the low-pressure mercury lamp 1A appears in the center of the incident ultraviolet rays.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of this shadow. As shown in Figure (A), the intensity distribution of the ultraviolet rays focused by the ellipsoidal mirror 2 consists of a spot portion 4A with low intensity in the center, a portion 4B with high intensity around it, and an intensity spreading outward. lower part 4
C. If there is such a distribution in the intensity of the focused ultraviolet rays, this distribution will appear in a similar shape even after being transmitted through the optical fiber 3. FIG. 4(B) shows this state.

When the ultraviolet rays are focused by the ellipsoidal mirror 2, transmitted by the optical fiber 3, and then irradiated onto the object to be sterilized and have the intensity distribution as described above, the center portion (spot portion) of the ultraviolet irradiation surface becomes A problem arises in that it is difficult to sterilize. For this reason, the utility value as a sterilization device is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sterilization device that can perform sterilization evenly even when a spot with low intensity of ultraviolet rays appears in the center of the surface irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

[Means for solving problems]

The sterilization device according to the present invention includes a light transmission means having one or more optical fibers, and an ultraviolet light source that injects ultraviolet light into the light input end face of the light transmission means, and from the light output end face of the light transmission means. A device that performs ultraviolet sterilization by irradiating an object with ultraviolet light of do.

[Effect]

Since the sterilizing device according to the present invention is configured as described above, the vibration applying means acts to give vibration to the light emitting end of the light transmission means, and therefore the spot portion at the center of the ultraviolet irradiation surface and the surrounding area thereof. It works by emitting an averaged amount of ultraviolet light.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in the description of the drawings, the same elements are given the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of the same embodiment. As shown,
A holder 6 is provided near the tip (light emitting end) of the optical fiber 3. This holder 6 is coupled to a rotating disk 8 via an arm 7. Also, a holder 6 is fixed to the upper part of the holder 6. A fixture 9 is attached to prevent the optical fiber 3 above from vibrating from this part.

When the rotating disk 8 is rotated by a motor (not shown) in this way, the tip of the optical fiber 3 vibrates in a direction perpendicular to (perpendicular to) the optical axis, as shown by solid lines and dotted lines in the figure. become. When the tip of the optical fiber 3 vibrates, the ultraviolet irradiation surface is also imaged accordingly. Therefore, the intensity of ultraviolet rays in the spot portion 4A' at the center of the irradiated surface is averaged by the high intensity ultraviolet rays in the peripheral portion 4B', and therefore the distribution of ultraviolet rays becomes uniform.

In order to confirm the effectiveness of the above embodiment, the inventor conducted the following experiment.

First, a handle fiber with a diameter of 5 m was used as the optical fiber 3, and a vibration adding device as in the above embodiment was attached to the output end of the handle fiber. Then, the amplitude is 5s, and the tJi movement is 7H.
I shot it as 2. Under these conditions, Figure 2 (A
As shown in >, the ultraviolet light intensity distribution was measured at distances H from the light emitting end face to the light irradiation surface of 100 m, 50 m, and 35 m. As a result, measured values as shown in FIG. 2(B) were obtained.

On the other hand, measurements were also conducted without any imaging. In this case as well, the distance H from the light emitting end face to the light irradiation surface was set to 100 trm, 50 rrm, and 35 m. As a result, measured values as shown in FIG. 2(C) were obtained.

As is clear from the above measurement values, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the ultraviolet intensity in the central portion (spot portion). Further, it can be seen that the spread of the ultraviolet ray distribution (spora 1 to radius r) varies greatly depending on the distance H from the light emitting end face of the optical fiber 3 to the light irradiation surface.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments and specific examples described above, and can be modified in various ways.

The size of the low-intensity spot on the irradiation surface varies depending on the shape of the low-pressure mercury lamp and the distance between the light output end face and the irradiation surface, so the frequency and amplitude of the optical fiber are determined accordingly. It may be changed as appropriate. Further, the amplitude of the vibration applied to the optical fiber may be changed depending on the line speed of the object to be sterilized and the amount of energy required for sterilization. Note that the vibration applying device is not limited to one using a mechanical vibration generation mechanism, and may be one using an ultrasonic oscillation mechanism.

Further, the optical transmission means is not limited to one composed of a single optical fiber, but may be a bundle fiber composed of a plurality of optical fibers bundled together.

Furthermore, means for reflecting ultraviolet rays are not limited to ellipsoidal mirrors.
It may be a parabolic mirror, a spherical mirror, etc.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the vibration adding means acts to give vibration to the light emitting end of the light transmission means, and therefore the vibration is averaged between the central spot part and the peripheral part of the ultraviolet irradiation surface. As the amount of ultraviolet rays will be irradiated,
A sterilizer can be obtained that can sterilize evenly even when a spot with low intensity of ultraviolet rays appears in the center of the surface irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of an ultraviolet sterilization device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an experimental example for confirming the effect of the device of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are conventional Required for technical illustrations. 1A...Low pressure mercury lamp, 1B...High pressure mercury lamp, 2...Elliptical mirror, 3...Optical fiber, 6...Holder, 7...Arm, 8...Rotating circle Board, 9...Fixing tool.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A light transmitting means having one or more optical fibers, and an ultraviolet light source that injects ultraviolet rays into a light incident end face of the light transmitting means, the ultraviolet light source emitting ultraviolet light from the light emitting end face of the light transmitting means. The sterilizing device performs ultraviolet sterilization by irradiating an object with ultraviolet rays to be sterilized. A sterilizer featuring: