JPH0333339B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a steam sterilizer that steam-sterilizes a bottle containing water to be sterilized in a chamber filled with high-temperature, high-pressure steam to obtain a sterilizing liquid.

In this type of steam sterilizer, water to be sterilized in a bottle is heated in a chamber filled with high-temperature, high-pressure steam to obtain a sterilizing solution. Steam is sealed, but if there is residual air or unsaturated steam in the chamber during sterilization using steam heat, the desired sterilization temperature cannot be obtained, and furthermore, a temporary sterilization liquid may be produced. However, if the internal pressure of the chamber is then suddenly lowered, the sterilizing liquid in the bottle will cause a bumping phenomenon on the spot, gushing out of the bottle, and overflowing, making it impossible to obtain the desired amount of sterilizing liquid. Therefore, conventionally, as a means to reduce the internal pressure of a chamber containing this type of sterilizing liquid, the steam is sealed in the chamber by closing an on-off valve, etc., and then the high-temperature, high-pressure steam is passed through a small passage provided in the discharge pipe. I was trying to get rid of it slowly. In this case, since the small passage has an extremely small hole diameter, it tends to become clogged and the internal pressure of the chamber does not decrease forever.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above, and is capable of discharging residual air or unsaturated steam inside the chamber during the sterilization process from a discharge pipe having a small diameter flow passage connecting the inside of the chamber with the outside air, and After that, the steam was introduced into the chamber so that it could be continuously supplied, and the power supply to the electric heater in the boiler that generates high-temperature, high-pressure steam was cut off to gradually reduce the amount of steam generated, thereby lowering the chamber internal pressure. It is something.

An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a bottle 2 containing approximately 500 c.c. of water to be sterilized.
It is a chamber that forms a sterilization chamber 3 for storing... and is equipped with an opening/closing lid 4 that is closed via a gasket at the front opening, and a jacket space 5 consisting of a double wall is formed around the outer periphery of the chamber. The sterilization chamber 3 and the jacket space 5 communicate with each other through a steam supply pipe 14 having an on-off valve 13.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a steam generation boiler that generates high-temperature, high-pressure steam to fill the chamber 1 and the jacket space 5. An electric heater 7 is installed in the inner bottom of the boiler, and the generated high-temperature, high-pressure steam is sent to the jacket space 5. The steam is sent to the steam pipe 8 through the steam pipe 8. A cistern 23 is connected to the boiler 6 via a water supply pump 22, and the cistern 23 is connected to a water supply (not shown) via a check valve 24 and a regulating valve 25. Further, the boiler 6 is provided with a heat exchanger 26,
The heat exchanger 26 introduces outside air through a sterilization filter 27, an atmospheric pressure return valve 28, and a check valve 29, and blows hot air into the sterilization chamber 3. Further, drain and the like accumulated in the boiler 6 are discharged through a drain valve 30.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a discharge pipe provided on the bottom wall of the jacket space 5, which is equipped with a filter 10 and which is connected to the steam trap 1.
1 and a drain pipe 31 having a check valve 12 that opens toward the outside air. Further, the exhaust pipe 9 is connected to a vacuum exhaust pipe 15 via a jacket space vacuum valve 32, and the exhaust pipe 1
5 has a check valve 33, a vacuum pump 17, and a check valve 34 that opens toward the outside air. Reference numeral 18 denotes a discharge pipe provided on the bottom wall of the sterilization chamber 3, which connects to the filter 35.
It has a sterilization chamber vacuum valve 16 and is connected to the vacuum exhaust pipe 15. The filter 3
5 and the sterilization chamber vacuum valve 16, a high-speed exhaust path H having a high-speed exhaust valve 21 via a check valve 36;
A low speed exhaust path L having a low speed exhaust valve 19 and a low speed exhaust section 20 forming a small diameter flow path are connected to each other, and the other ends of the high speed exhaust path H and the low speed exhaust path L are connected to the drain pipe 31. .

Then, the water supply pump 22 is operated to supply water in the cistern 23 to the steam generation boiler 6, and the electric heater 7 is energized to generate steam. Then, the jacket space vacuum valve 32 is opened, the vacuum pump 17 is operated to exhaust the air in the jacket space 5, and the steam generated in the steam generation boiler 6 is allowed to flow into the jacket space 5. Drain and the like accumulated in the jacket space 5 are discharged to the outside air via a steam trap 11 and a check valve 12. At this time, the on-off valve 13 is closed, and the steam in the jacket space 5 is not sent into the sterilization chamber 3. This completes the preparation for obtaining sterile water.

Next, bottles 2 and 2 filled with water to be sterilized are placed in the sterilization chamber 3.
..., open the atmospheric pressure return valve 28 and send hot air passing through the heat exchanger 26 into the sterilization chamber 3,
The bottles 2, 2... are dried so as to evaporate impurities adhering to the surfaces of the bottles. Then, this high-temperature air during drying is sent to the sterilization room 3 through a high-speed exhaust path H.
is discharged from. After that, when the drying of the bottles 2, 2... is completed and the surfaces are cleaned, the atmospheric pressure return valve 28
and closes the high-speed exhaust valve 21. This completes the preprocessing.

Then, the sterilization chamber vacuum valve 16 is opened, the vacuum pump 17 is driven to create a negative pressure state in the sterilization chamber 3, the sterilization chamber vacuum valve 16 is closed again, and the on-off valve 13 of the steam supply pipe 14 is then closed. By opening the circuit, high-temperature, high-pressure steam flows into the sterilization chamber 3 and fills it.

However, if there is residual air in the sterilization chamber 3 or if it is filled with unsaturated steam more than necessary, even if the desired high-temperature, high-pressure steam is introduced into the sterilization chamber 3, the sterilization temperature, that is, the saturated The steam temperature will not be reached and as a result no sterilizing liquid will be obtained.

However, during steam sterilization, the low-speed exhaust valve 19 is opened for a certain period of time to exhaust residual air and unsaturated steam accumulated in the sterilization chamber 3 through the low-speed exhaust section 20 having a small-diameter flow path, thereby achieving the desired sterilization. Get the temperature. The above steps are continued for a predetermined period of time to complete the sterilization process.

Then, the low-speed exhaust valve 19 of the low-speed exhaust path L is opened again to sequentially exhaust steam from the low-speed exhaust path L, while the electric heater 7 in the steam generation boiler 6 is de-energized.

This reduces the amount of steam supplied into the sterilization chamber 3, and when the internal pressure in the sterilization chamber 3 drops to a predetermined pressure close to atmospheric pressure, the high-speed exhaust valve 21 is opened and the pressure is quickly lowered to atmospheric pressure.

Along with this, the sterilization temperature inside the bottles 2, 2... also decreases to a usable temperature.

As described above, the present invention is designed to exhaust the residual air or unsaturated steam in the chamber during steam sterilization, so that the water to be sterilized can be heated to the sterilization temperature, and the sterilizing liquid does not suffer from the bumping phenomenon as in the past. To provide an easy-to-use steam sterilizer capable of obtaining sterilized liquid in a short time without causing generation of sterilization.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a schematic cross-sectional view of a steam sterilizer according to the present invention. 1...chamber, 2...bottle, 6...steam generating boiler, 7...electric heater, 18...discharge pipe.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A chamber for storing a bottle with an open top containing water to be sterilized, a steam generating boiler connected to the chamber so as to fill the chamber with high temperature and high pressure steam, and a chamber provided in the steam generating boiler. a high-speed exhaust path that is opened and closed by a high-speed exhaust valve to exhaust air after the bottle is inserted into the chamber, and a low-speed exhaust section that forms a small-diameter flow passage; An exhaust pipe having a low-speed exhaust path that opens and closes is connected to the chamber, the low-speed exhaust valve is opened for a certain period of time during steam sterilization, and is opened after the steam sterilization is completed, and the electric heater is turned off after the steam sterilization is completed. A steam sterilizer for sterilizing bottled water, characterized in that the high-speed exhaust valve is configured to be opened when the pressure inside the chamber drops to near atmospheric pressure.