JPS609455B2 - Formaldehyde disinfection equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for disinfecting medical instruments with formaldehyde gas.

Medical instruments such as tweezers, sharks, anchors, gauze, and woven belts,
After use, the materials are cleaned, dried, and disinfected before being reused.

Methods for sterilizing these instruments and materials include exposing them to high-pressure steam or sterilizing high-pressure gas for a predetermined period of time, but these methods cannot be used for some instruments, such as surgical microscopes.

Traditionally, to disinfect a surgical microscope, ‘a- Wipe with alcohol before use.

[b' Enclose the microscope and formaldehyde in a plastic bag, leave it there, and disinfect it with low-pressure formaldehyde gas that evaporates naturally.

It was being worked on like that.

However, in the case of {a), disinfection cannot be guaranteed because it is wiped by hand, and in the case of 'b}, disinfection takes a long time because it waits for formaldehyde to naturally evaporate. However, because the low-pressure formaldehyde gas is left alone, gas permeability is poor, and when the plastic bag is opened after disinfection, it is inevitable to inhale toxic and irritating gas, which is harmful to workers. was there. The present invention uses easy-to-handle formalin (formaldehyde aqueous solution), vaporizes it, and circulates it through a closed pipe system to ensure reliable disinfection. It also provides a means to detoxify the exhaust gas, thereby safely and reliably performing surgery. The present invention provides a formaldehyde sterilization device that can sterilize medical microscopes, laser scalpels and equipment, anesthesia machines, endoscopes, catheters, and other hospital items that can be sterilized with formalin.

The present invention will be explained below according to the illustrated embodiments. In the drawings, thick lines indicate normal thickness tubes, and thin lines indicate pongee tubes. The formalin container 1 communicates with the heating chamber 4 via a conduit 3 via a solenoid valve 2, and the ammonia water container 5 communicates with the heating chamber 4 via a conduit 7 via an electromagnetic valve 6.

The heating chamber 4 includes a heater 8 for flooding circulating air, etc. to about 5,000 liters, and a heater 8 for flooding formalin and ammonia water to 11 liters.
A vaporizing heater 9 is provided to vaporize formaldehyde and ammonia by heating to about 0 qo. The heating chamber 4 communicates with a disinfection chamber 13 via a blower 10, a conduit 11, and a flexible conduit 12. Downstream of the blower 10, a pipe line 14 branches from the pipe line 11 to form a formalin container 1,
It communicates with the upper part of the ammonia water container 5, and when a blower 10 applies low wind pressure to each container 1, 5 and the solenoid valves 2, 6 are opened, formalin and ammonia water are pushed out into the heating chamber 4. .

Air and gas are blown into the disinfection chamber 13 from a flexible pipe line 12 as described later, while air and gas in the room pass through a flexible pipe line 15, a pipe line 16, and an on-off valve 17 to the heating chamber 4. Return to

A pipe line 18 is branched from upstream of the on-off valve 17 for this flow,
It communicates with an inlet 20a of an activated carbon container 20 via an on-off valve 19. An outlet 20b of the activated carbon container 20 is open to the atmosphere. A pipe line 21 is branched downstream from the on-off valve 17 and communicated with the outlet 23a of the filter 23 via the on-off valve 22. An inlet 23b of the filter 23 is open to the atmosphere. The formaldehyde disinfection device of the present invention configured as described above completes the disinfection of objects to be disinfected by sequentially performing the steps of preparation, heating, disinfection, exhaust, neutralization, and exhaust as described below. be.

However, the preparation process is performed when the sterilization chamber is a flexible one such as a pinyl bag to inflate it, and is not necessary when the sterilization chamber maintains its shape like a box. . Furthermore, since the heating step is to prevent gas from being exposed to the surface of the object when the object to be sterilized is at a low temperature, it can be omitted if there is no concern about fog formation. The operating conditions of valves, heaters, blowers, etc. in each of the above steps are shown in the table below. In the table, the 0 mark indicates that the valve is open and the heater and blower are operating, and the x mark indicates that the valve is closed and the heater and blower are stopped. Next, each step will be explained.

The blower 10 continues to rotate during the entire process.
A Preparation process The heating heater 8 is activated, the on-off valve 17 is closed, and the on-off valves 19 and 22 are opened.

The outside air that has been purified through the filter 23 is transferred to the pipe 21,
11, enters the heating chamber 4, is heated to about 50 qo by the heater 8, passes through the pipes 11, 12, enters the disinfection chamber 13 (in this case, for example, a plastic bag), and inflates them.

The air exiting the disinfection chamber 13 passes through the pipes 15, 16, 18 and is discharged to the atmosphere via the activated carbon container 20. B: Warming process Close the on-off valves 19 and 22, and open the on-off valve 17.

The heating heater 8 continues to operate. As a result, the heating chamber 4,
The air in the disinfection chamber 13 and the pipes 11, 12, 15, and 16 is circulated by the blower 10 to raise the temperature of the object to be disinfected within the disinfection chamber 13.

C. Disinfection process As in the pre-process, only the valve 17 is opened, and the tortoise valve 2 is also opened, and the vaporization heater 9 is also operated.

As a result, formalin is sent to the heating chamber 4 through the pipe 3, formaldehyde is vaporized, and this gas is transferred to the disinfection chamber 4.
Sent to 3.

This gas returns to the heating chamber 4 through conduits 15 and 16 and circulates together with fresh formaldehyde supplied from conduit 3 and vaporized. A portion of the low pressure from the blower is applied to the formalin container 1 through the tube 14 to help the formalin flow out through the line 3 in the proper amount. Therefore, it is sufficient to use a small diameter pipe for the conduit 3, but a non-thin pipe can also be used if a flow rate adjustment mechanism is provided. Note that after an appropriate amount of formalin has been sent to the heating chamber 4, the solenoid valve 2 is closed even during the disinfection process. The amount of formalin is determined depending on the items to be disinfected and the size of the disinfection room. D: Exhaust process Stop the vaporization heater 9, close the on-off valve 17 and solenoid valve 2 if they are still open, and open the on-off valves 19 and 22.

The supply of formalin to the heating chamber 4 is stopped, and the clean air that has passed through the filter 23 is flooded by the heater 8 in the heating chamber 4 and sent to the disinfection chamber 13, where it is replaced with formaldehyde gas in the disinfection chamber 13.

The gas leaving the disinfection chamber 13 is discharged into the atmosphere through an activated carbon container 20. At this time, formaldehyde is adsorbed by activated carbon, so the gas discharged is odorless, nonirritating, and harmless. E. Neutralization process Close the on-off valves 19 and 22, open the on-off valve 17, and open the solenoid valve 6 for an appropriate time in the same way as the solenoid valve 2 in the disinfection process.

The vaporization heater 9 is also operated. As a result, an appropriate amount of ammonia aqueous solution is sent to the heating chamber 4, and the vaporized ammonia gas is circulated between the disinfection chamber 13 and the heating chamber 4 to remove formaldehyde that has adhered to the disinfection chamber, the object to be disinfected, and each pipe. Neutralize.

Since the object to be disinfected is flooded, ammonia gas does not react with residual formalin to produce urothrobin. F. Evacuation Step Ammonia gas is evacuated through activated carbon to complete the disinfection step in the same way as for formaldehyde evacuation.

The opening and closing of valves, switching of heater operations, etc. in each process are controlled by a timer set at a predetermined operating time of each part, so each process is automatically performed. If the preparation process, heating process, etc. are unnecessary depending on the condition of the object to be sterilized and the sterilization room, this process can be easily omitted by separating this process part and setting a timer. Since the formaldehyde disinfection device of the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

'11 The heater 9 actively heats formalin flowing from the formalin container 1 whose upper part is subjected to low pressure through the conduit 14, vaporizes formaldehyde, and circulates it within the disinfection chamber, allowing efficient disinfection. I can do it,
It starts up quickly, allowing for reliable disinfection in a short period of time.

2) Since the gas after disinfection is released through activated carbon, there is no need to worry about workers inhaling formaldehyde, which has a foul odor and is harmful.

Since the ammonia water is made to flow into the heating chamber 4 from the ammonia water container 5 pressurized through the '3' pipe line 14, ammonia can be efficiently and reliably supplied in the neutralization process.

[4] Even in the case of plastic bags or other flexible sterilization chambers, they are expanded during the preparation process, so sterilization can be carried out evenly.

'51 Since a heating process is provided, cold objects to be sterilized can be processed without condensation.

[61 Since the device can be configured as a relatively small and portable unit, it can be carried to a disinfection room near a cabinet-type room that can be assembled using simple plastic bags, stacking, etc., or a cubicle with locker-like boxes. Serpentine pipe line 12, 1
5 can be easily used by connecting them to these.

Of course, it can also be configured as a stationary disinfection device. In this case, the flexible pipe should be an unmanageable metal or synthetic resin pipe.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of the disinfection device of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A formalin container 1 and an ammonia water container 5 are provided to flow formalin and ammonia water into the heating chamber 4 through electromagnetic valves 2 and 6, and the heating chamber 4 is equipped with a low-temperature heating heater 8 and a high-temperature vaporizing heater 8. A heater 9 is provided, and a blower 10 and pipes 11 and 16 are provided to circulate the gas in the heating chamber 4 through the disinfection chamber 13 and into the heating chamber 4, and a formalin container 1 and an ammonia water container 5 are provided from the pipe downstream of the blower 10. The pipe line 14 leading to the upper part of the heating chamber is branched, and the pipe line 11 upstream from the heating chamber is provided with an on-off valve 17, and the pipe line upstream of the on-off valve 17 is branched to pass through the on-off valve 19 and the activated carbon container 20 to the atmosphere. The on-off valve 22 is opened, and the pipeline downstream of the on-off valve 17 is branched to open the on-off valve 22.
, a formaldehyde disinfection device that communicates with the atmosphere through a filter 23.