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:
Oct. 07, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2001
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
3M Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61L 2/00 ; A61L 2/26 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
A61L 2/00 ; A61L 2/26 ;
Abstract
A sterilant challenge device ( ), for use in testing the efficiency of the air removal stage of a sterilization cycle in a sterilizer, includes a tube ( ) of thermally-insulating material, the bore of which is closed at one end ( ) and open at the other for the entry of sterilant. A plurality of thermally-conductive masses ( ) is located around the tube ( ) and thermally-separated from one another by air gaps ( ), and a temperature sensor is located in an opening ( ) in one of the masses adjacent the closed end of the tube. An outer casing ( ) defines an air space around the thermally-conductive masses and thermally insulates the masses from the heat in the sterilizer.