WO2010116056A1

WO2010116056A1 - Method and system for decontaminating a set of spaces

Info

Publication number: WO2010116056A1
Application number: PCT/FR2010/000288
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frédéric GOESSENS
Original assignee: Gloster Europe
Priority date: 2009-04-06
Filing date: 2010-04-06
Publication date: 2010-10-14
Also published as: FR2943916A1; FR2943917A1; FR2943917B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for decontaminating a set of spaces (3, 4), in particular consisting of the rooms of a premises, by spraying the latter with a mist of a liquid treatment material. Said method is characterised in that it includes the steps of: selecting a treatment sector (A, B, C, D) consisting of a series of adjacent spaces (3, 4), placing at least one treatment device (7) in each space (3, 4) of the treatment sector (A, B, C, D), performing, in an at least partially simultaneous fashion, in each one of said spaces (3, 4) of the sector (A, B, C, D), a specific treatment suitable for the latter, repeating said various phases until achieving complete treatment of the spaces of said group, the selection of every new treatment sector being such that the latter is adjacent to the previously treated sector.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DECONTAMINATION OF A SET OF

VOLUMES

The present invention relates to a method of decontaminating a set of volumes distributed in a given sector, such as parts of a room, and in particular, in the hospital field, sick rooms and corridors serving them. It also relates to a decontamination system implementing said method.

It is known that the bacterial agents that cause the contamination and are suspended in the air of a room tend to sediment on the various surfaces and objects contained therein. We also know that, conversely, bacterial agents that develop on the objects and on the walls of a room, (for example operating rooms, clean rooms or various care etc. ..) tend to suspend in the atmosphere. These premises are thus in a situation of permanent exchange between the walls and objects on the one hand and the atmosphere on the other hand.

It has been proposed to ensure the overall decontamination, that is to say of both the atmosphere and the walls and various objects of a room, by spraying in the volume of the latter a disinfectant product. This type of projection treatment has been found to have several disadvantages.

Firstly, the size of the drops formed is relatively high (of the order of 80 to 200 microns for an air flow rate of 3 to 5 ml of air per minute), so that these drops are deposited by simple effect of gravity on the surfaces close to their place of spraying, which, of course, is not satisfactory to the extent that surfaces remote from the spray nozzle are untreated.

Secondly, because of the size of the drops, they tend to cluster and form on the surface of the walls and objects of the local a wet film, or even puddles of liquid.

It has been proposed in the patent FR 2 859 650 in the name of the applicant, to improve the splitting of sprayed drops by using an injection device for obtaining fine droplets whose dimensions are of the order of 2 micrometers to 20 microns and thus have the property of being suspended in the entire volume of the room and to be deposited on the walls and objects contained therein without agglomerating them so that they form a continuous film; the fog thus generated being called "dry fog".

The Applicant has also proposed in the patent application No. FR 09.00134 an injector to ensure an even further fractionation of the sprayed droplets in the room.

It is also known that the decontamination of the various rooms of a room is usually done by individual and successive treatment thereof. Thus, in the case of a place of hospitalization, one after the other is treated each of the rooms of a floor, then one passes then to the rooms of a following floor.

Such a treatment process has significant disadvantages. First of all, it implies the simultaneous presence of several operators who must agree among themselves in order to coordinate their actions.

Another disadvantage is that it is rare that a room is contaminated in isolation and that generally, all the rooms as well as the corridor serving them are the object of the contamination. It is understood in these conditions that when, after having treated a specific chamber, the treatment apparatus is removed from it, the propagation by air of the eventual contamination of the passageway may pollute the already treated chamber.

In addition, during a malfunction of a treatment device, the intervention of an operator in a partially treated premises forced to resume the treatment process at its beginning.

WO 2005/016391 proposes an installation for performing an overall and simultaneous decontamination of several parts of the same building. This installation consists of a central generator of hydrogen peroxide which is connected by fixed pipes, controlled by registers, with each building premises. The hydrogen peroxide vapors are thus blown by said pipes in the premises to be treated. This is a fixed installation, permanently in a building which, in addition to a high realization cost, does not have the flexibility of use of the treatment system according to the invention to the extent that it is not used only occasionally and periodically. In addition, such a system does not make it possible to ensure an appropriate specific treatment of each of the volumes treated.

The system according to the invention also allows a global and simultaneous treatment of different volumes of a local while allowing to customize the processing of each of the volumes treated according to their own particularities. Moreover, it can be used permanently since, a treatment once finished in a room can be immediately used for a other treatment in another room which makes it possible to increase its profitability.

The present invention thus aims to overcome the aforementioned multiple drawbacks by proposing a method and a system for performing a global treatment, fast, effective and with a minimum of personnel, a series of contaminated premises and this by means of a system particularly able to be adapted to any specific configuration of the premises to be treated. The subject of the present invention is thus a process for decontaminating a set of volumes, in particular made up of parts of a room, by misting them in a liquid treatment product, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: - selecting a processing area consisting of a series of adjacent volumes,

disposing in each volume of the treatment area at least one treatment device,

performing, at least partially simultaneously, in each of said sector volumes, a specific treatment appropriate thereto, repeating these different phases until the complete processing of the volumes of said set, the selection of any new treatment sector being such that it is adjacent to the previously treated area.

Preferably, according to the invention, the means of access to the different volumes will be processed simultaneously with the processing of the latter.

In addition, the step during which a treatment area is selected will consist in starting treatment at one end of said set of volumes and then progressing backwards, so as to leave only volumes that have undergone decontamination. The subject of the present invention is also a system for decontaminating a set of volumes, in particular made up of parts of a room, by misting them with a liquid treatment product, which makes it possible to implement the present process. . This system is characterized in that it comprises a set of at least two processing devices able to be controlled by the same remote control unit which is disposed outside said set of volumes to be processed, at least one of these processing devices being disposed in each of said volumes to be treated.

The means of remote communication may preferentially use means for transmitting radio waves, in particular of the so-called "blue-tooth" type. They may also be of the type known as carrier currents or be of wired type.

The control box may include means for selecting the treatment devices that are to be used during a treatment session. In an interesting embodiment of the invention, the control box and the processing apparatus will be provided with control panels of similar constitution.

In another embodiment of the invention, the processing apparatus will be devoid of a control panel, the latter being offset on the control box.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example of a hospital environment showing the different steps of the decontamination process according to the invention, in a configuration using three processors,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an example of a hospital environment showing the various steps of the decontamination process according to the invention, in a configuration using eight treatment devices,

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic and detailed view of FIG. 2 showing a step of the decontamination process according to the invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a decontamination apparatus according to the invention and main control circuits. equipping this one,

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a control box according to the invention and of the main control circuits fitted to it,

FIG. 6 is a logic diagram showing an example of a menu of the connection function used in the control logic of the microcontroller managing the control box; FIGS. 7 and 8 are schematic views of a hospital environment in which respectively implement two variants of a decontamination system according to the invention.

There is shown in Figure 1 a series of rooms 3 of a hospital environment which are distributed on either side of a corridor 5 which ends with a service room 4.

It is desired to decontaminate in a global and simultaneous manner all the volumes constituted by these chambers 3 and by the service part 4 and, for this purpose, it has in certain of these, which are selected according to the invention, a device treatment. This will result in a number of processing operations that are depending on the number of rooms to be treated and the number of treatment devices available.

In a first step of the decontamination process according to the invention, the operator thus determines the treatment area, by applying a method referred to hereinafter as "retrograde", in that it starts a global treatment with one end and that he then progresses while retreating, leaving before him a set of volumes which have all undergone a decontamination. For example, if the operator wishes to treat the processing area comprising the thirteen rooms 3 and the service room 4 shown in Figure 1 and that it has only a limited number of three devices for this purpose , it selects a first processing sector (whose volumes are marked by the letter A in Figure 1) consisting of the service room 4, a chamber 3 adjacent thereto, and the beginning of the corridor 5, and after performing the processing operation, he selects a second processing sector. This new treatment area will be adjacent to the area already treated, that is, it will be adjacent to it and no untreated room 3 can be included between them. This sector will consist of the continuation of the corridor 5 and two rooms 3 adjacent to those already treated (marked by the letter B on the drawing). The operator thus progresses step by step towards the landing 6 and leaving behind him only 3 rooms treated.

FIG. 2 shows a half of a stage of a hospital environment consisting in this example of two series of thirteen chambers 3 which are distributed on either side of a corridor 5 which ends with a piece of 4. In this example the operator has a set of eight processing devices. It proceeds by selecting, in a first step, a first processing sector consisting of eight adjacent volumes (each of which is indicated by the letter A in FIG. 2) comprising six chambers 3, the service room 4 and the corridor 5. After processing, the operator then progresses, defining a second processing area adjacent to the first (whose volumes are adjacent and are marked by the letter B in Figure 2), comprising seven chambers 3, and the corridor 5. After treatment l The operator then arrives on the landing 6 and then has behind him only 3 rooms treated.

The operator proceeds in the same manner for the other chambers 3 and the other service room 4 associated with the second corridor 5 and performs two processing operations in adjacent sectors (whose volumes are respectively adjacent and marked by the letters C and D in Figure 2).

To implement the second step of the method according to the invention the operator has in each of the selected volumes, a processing apparatus 7. The various devices used are in connection with remote control means that allow the operator to check their operation.

In an exemplary implementation, which is represented in FIG. 3, the decontamination system according to the invention comprises a remote control unit 9 which is disposed at the outlet of the corridor 5 outside the volumes to be treated, constituted here by the rooms 3. The operator is thus able to control and monitor remotely without it being necessary to view them, the proper operation of the various treatment devices 7, as explained below.

The operator then initiates a treatment operation by simultaneously activating the different devices 7 by means of 9. After the appropriate treatment cycle (s) has been completed, the operator shall, in particular from the latter, verify the quality of the treatment carried out and, if this does not reach the desired eradication rate, it has the possibility of remotely controlling the implementation of a new cycle of treatment of the apparatus stationed in the room concerned, without it being necessary for it to enter it and thus avoiding the risks recontamination of an area already treated.

As shown in FIG. 4, each of the processing apparatuses 7 is provided with electronic control means, preferentially assembled on an electronic card 8 which is able to act on an interface, not shown in the drawing, which controls the various control devices. the device.

The control card 8 comprises in particular a central element consisting of a microprocessor or a microcontroller 10 which is provided with an internal memory 12 enclosing a process management software, and a flash memory 14 able to record data that can be modified by the user. This card 8 also comprises a connection module 16 which is adapted to enable it to communicate with a complementary adapted connection module 16a which is arranged on a card 8a in the control box 9 as shown in FIG. Connection 16 and 16a are capable of establishing a known type of communication, such as a so-called "bluetooth" link between the processing devices 7 and the control box 9.

The electronic card 8, via its microcontroller 10, is able to address a display screen 18 and control buttons 20 arranged on a control panel 21 by which the user has the possibility of dialogue, in known manner, with the microcontroller 10.

As shown in FIG. 5, the control box 9 has an electronic card 8a of a constitution similar to that of the processing apparatus and is thus controlled by a microcontroller or a microprocessor 10a which is in connection with the connection module 16a. and with an internal memory 12a containing process management software and a flash memory 14a. The control box 9 further comprises a control panel 21a provided with control buttons 20a, preferably of the same type as that used on the apparatuses 7, so that the user via the connection means 16 and 16a has the possibility of communicating with each of the devices 7 arranged in the various rooms 3 in order to control them as well as it would from each of the own control means of the apparatus 7. The user thus has the possibility, particularly via the housing of remote control 9 to specifically control each of the devices 7 and this according to processing conditions that may be different from one volume to another.

In the embodiment shown, the control panel 21a thus comprises a display screen 18a, in particular constituted by a low-power LCD matrix that makes it possible to display both the instructions that are addressed to the different processing devices 7 in operation than the information from them. On the screen 18a of the control box 9 the microcontroller 10a is able to display several control menus. By way of example, FIG. 6 shows the logic diagram relating to the "Connection" menu by means of which the user has at his disposal several subsets. menus it can select with the buttons 20a of the control box 9, namely "New device", "Device modification", "Device connection", "Device disconnection", before carrying out the actual processing.

Thus the user, if he wants to simultaneously control n devices, will make their connection through the sub-menu "Device connection".

Next it chooses the reference of this device, which can be a code number and / or a name that will have been given to it by the sub-menu "New device" as explained below, then he registers his connection. This is confirmed by the display "Device n ° connected". If this is not the case, the user resumes the operation.

If the device 7 is a new device not yet registered, the user assigns a reference to it by the sub-menu "New device" then, this step once completed, the microcontroller program asks if it is desired to perform a connection test . If it is correct we return to the main menu, otherwise we assign a new reference.

The user has the possibility, through the sub-menu "Modification device", to modify, especially for the needs of a particular treatment, the reference of a given device by first entering the old reference of this one so to recognize it then, once it is selected, to enter the new reference assigned to this new device. If, for example, before starting a processing process, the user wishes to disconnect one of the devices, this operation will be performed by the subprogram "Device disconnection". To do this, after having entered the reference of the device to be disconnected, the user has the possibility to validate or invalidate his choice.

The user then returns to the general menu or by choosing a treatment menu he then has the possibility to enter the processing parameters.

Of course the remote communication means for connecting the control box 9 to the apparatus 7 may be constituted by a connection other than Bluetooth. They can thus be constituted by a power line connection, as shown in FIG. 7, in which each of the processing devices 7 is provided with a suitable power-line communication module which is connected to the sector. Similarly, the control unit 9 is provided with such a communication module as well as connection means 23 with the sector.

In a simplified variant of the invention shown in FIG. 8, the remote communication means between the control unit 9 and the units 7 may consist of a simple wired connection. For this purpose each of the chambers 3 may for example be provided with a connector 25 on which each apparatus 7 will be connected by a wire connection 27 and the control box 9 may also be connected to each of these connectors also by a wired connection 28 , preferably through multiplexing means 29.

Claims

1.- Method for decontaminating a set of volumes

(3,4), in particular consisting of parts of a room, by misting therein with a liquid treatment product, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: selecting a treatment area (A, B , C, D) consisting of a series of adjacent volumes (3,4), - placing in each volume (3,4) of the treatment area (A, B, C, D) at least one treatment device (7) )

performing, at least partially simultaneously, in each of said volumes (3,4) of the sector (A, B, C, D), a specific treatment appropriate thereto,

- Repeat these phases until the complete processing of the volumes of said set, the selection of any new treatment area being such that it is adjacent to the previously treated sector.

2.- decontamination process according to claim 1, characterized in that one proceeds to the treatment of the access means (5,6) to the different volumes (3,4) simultaneously to the treatment of the latter.

3.- decontamination process according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the step during which is selected a treatment area (A, B, C, D) is to start a treatment by one end said set of volumes and then progressing backward, so as to leave only volumes that have been decontaminated.

4.- Decontamination system for a set of volumes

(3,4), in particular consisting of parts of a room, by misting therein with a liquid treatment product, characterized in that it comprises a set at least two processing devices adapted to be controlled by the same remote control unit which is disposed outside said set of volumes to be processed, at least one of these processors being disposed in each of said volumes to be treated .

5. Decontamination system according to claim 4, characterized in that the remote communication means use radio transmission means (16,16a), in particular of the type called "blue-tooth".

6. Decontamination system according to claim 4, characterized in that the remote communication means use the power line transmission means (23).

7. Decontamination system according to claim 4, characterized in that the remote communication means consist of wire means (28).

8. Decontamination system according to one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the control unit (9) comprises means (20a) for selecting the treatment apparatus (7) which is to be used during the treatment. a treatment session.

9. Decontamination system according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that the processing devices (7) are devoid of a control panel, the latter being offset on the control unit (9).

10. Decontamination system according to one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that the control box (9) and the treatment apparatus (7) comprise control panels (21,21a) provided with elements control (20,20a) of the same type.