The Pelton & Crane Company

Ye Mu

Duronnie L Harrell

A device for removing air from the steam chamber of an autoclave includes a sealable sterilization chamber for receiving items to be sterilized. The chamber is sealed and the pressure and temperature therein monitored by sensors. Vapor for sterilizing items is generated in the chamber by a heater. Air is removed from the chamber through a relatively large vent and a selectively activated valve for opening and closing the vent. A digital controller receives the monitored temperature and pressure of the chamber as inputs, compares these empirical values with standard values and, on the basis of the comparison, generates a control signal to selectively open or close the valve. The vapor used in steam and the standard values are a set of coordinates, which when plotted on a pressure/temperature graph, would yield a curve characteristic of saturated steam. The standard values are stored in a memory accessible to the microprocessor. Below a given chamber temperature, venting is discontinued whenever a saturated steam condition is sensed, and above a given chamber temperature, when saturated steam is consistently achieved, the pre-conditioning stage is ended. The entire process of pre-conditioning is controlled by the digital controller, preferably a programmed microprocessor. The time period between successive monitorings of the chamber temperature and pressure is shortened as the temperature in the steam chamber increases.

Air bleeding apparatus for an autoclave

There is disclosed an autoclave system incorporating a sterilization chamber and a reservoir. The reservoir is coupled to the sterilization chamber by means of a selectively operated valve. A microcontroller in conjunction with timing means computes a time necessary to place a predetermined amount of water into the sterilization chamber to assure that a proper sterilization cycle will be implemented. The apparatus determines the amount of time required to operate the valve based on the water level in the reservoir. The system is initilized with a full reservoir of water and bases all successive computations for valve operation from this point. Thus the valve is operated according to a given time duration, which time duration is computed according to the number of sterilization cycles previously performed by the autoclave system.

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Charlotte, NC, United States of America

Ye Mu