The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 28, 1992
Filed:
Aug. 31, 1990
Kern A Moulton, Livermore, CA (US);
Bryant A Campbell, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Ross A Caputo, Long Grove, IL (US);
Abtox, Inc., Pleasanton, CA (US);
Abstract
A process for plasma sterilization comprising exposing an article in a sterilizing chamber to at least one cycle comprising a pulsed treatment with gaseous antimicrobial agent and a plasma treatment. The pulsed treatment comprises at least two pulse-vacuum cycles, each pulse-vacuum cycle comprising the steps of exposing the article to the gaseous antimicrobial agent at a pressure of from 4 to 18 torr and reducing the pressure in the sterilizing chamber to from 0.1 to 4 torr. The plasma treatment comprising exposing the article to a plasma generated from gases selected from the group consisting essentially of argon, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and mixtures thereof, the exposure to the plasma being carried out at a pressure of from 0.1 to 10 torr and a temperature of less than 80.degree. C. The antimicrobial agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, a peracid antimicrobial agent, and mixtures thereof, the peracid antimicrobial agent being selected from the group consisting of saturated and unsaturated peralkanoic acids having from 1 to 8 carbon atoms and halogenated derivatives thereof.