Autoclave with autonomous internal sterilising chambers for sterilising sanitary waste and medical instruments

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pressurised-vapour autoclave characterised in that, in addition to sterilising instruments in a main chamber, it allows a second or third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber to be housed inside the autoclave and connected, by means of a quick connection, to the main sterilising chamber, thus allowing access to the internal components of the autoclave such as compressors, water heaters, solenoid valves, etc., in order to sterilise sanitary waste without contaminating the main chamber with steam or ozone gas, thereby producing two or three completely autonomous and separate chambers. The present invention also relates to a method for operating the autoclave, wherein the autoclave reports the number of kilos treated by means of weight sensors on the feet of same, as well as all the internal parameters thereof by means of a GPRS-SIM circuit board.

Claims

1. An autoclave, comprising: a main sterilising chamber; at least one female quick-connection housed inside the main sterilising chamber that has a system of independent inlets and outlets which connect to internal components of the autoclave; a second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber with a male quick-connection, which is configured to connect to the female quick-connection inside the main sterilising chamber; a third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber with a male quick-connection configured to connect to the female quick-connection inside the main sterilising chamber and having a diameter smaller than a central shaft thereof so that the female quick-connection of the main sterilizing chamber detects a presence of the male quick-connection through a diameter sensor present in the female quick-connection to indicate that the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber is present; at least one ozone sterilisation system configured to connect to the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber; at least one moist heat sterilisation system configured to connect to the main sterilising chamber and the second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber; at least one weight sensor, to weigh sanitary waste to be sterilised; and at least one electronic system to generate waste sterilisation reports.

2. The autoclave, according to claim 1, wherein the ozone sterilising system is configured to sterilise air of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber.

3. The autoclave, according to claim 1, wherein the electronic system for generating waste sterilisation reports has: at least one circuit board installed in a front panel of the autoclave, which enables the sterilisation statuses that the autoclave reports at the end of each cycle to be reported via general packet radio service (GPRS); at least one circuit board installed in the front panel of the autoclave, which enables the autoclave to be activated or deactivated by means of a SMS message from a SIM card thereof; at least one circuit board installed in the front panel of the autoclave, which enables the weight of rubbish inserted inside the second exchangeable sterilising chamber of the autoclave to be reported by sensors in the legs of the autoclave.

4. The autoclave, according to claim 3, wherein the electronic system for generating waste sterilisation reports enables sterilisation and handling reports to be carried out on all the functions of the autoclave by controlling a programmable logic controller (PLC) via platforms for PC, Android or IOS.

5. The autoclave, according to claim 2, wherein the ozone sterilisation system comprises a lamp generating ozone gas that has: at least some pipe conduits connected to the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber of the sanitary waste so that due to the effects of the ozone gas, the bacteria in the air are oxidised, thus preventing the air that is evacuated to the outside of the autoclave from being contaminated.

6. The autoclave, according to claim 1, wherein the male or the female quick-connection has sensors.

7. A method of sterilising the air of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber of an autoclave according to claim 1, comprising: connecting the male quick-connector of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber to the female quick-connector of the main sterilising chamber; detecting presence of the male quick-connector of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber by the diameter sensor of the female quick-connector of the main sterilising chamber, thereby indicating the presence of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber; and activating the ozone sterilization system to deliver ozone to the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber, thereby sterilising the air of the third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1. shows an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2. shows an embodiment of a second exchangeable sterilising chamber for sterilising sanitary waste according to the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3. shows the thread-shaped grooves that the chamber has on the upper and outer edge thereof.

(4) FIG. 4. shows an embodiment of the second exchangeable sterilising chamber with a male quick connection at the base thereof according to the present invention.

(5) FIG. 5. shows an embodiment of a male quick connection and a female quick connection according to the present invention.

(6) FIG. 6. shows the main sterilising chamber with the female quick connection thereof of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7. shows a second sterilising chamber housed by means of the quick connection in the main chamber of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(8) FIG. 8. shows a male quick connection for an ozone chamber and a female quick connection according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9. shows a hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber for ozone with a male quick connection in the base thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 10. shows two hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chambers according to the present invention, one being for the sterilisation of biological material and the other for sterilisation by means of ozone.

(11) FIG. 11. shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(12) FIG. 12. shows an exploded perspective view of a sensor in one of the legs of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(13) FIG. 13. shows the rear portion of the circuit board of the front panel of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(14) FIG. 14. shows the front portion of the circuit board of the front panel of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(15) FIG. 15. schematically shows the conduits, solenoid valves and other components of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(16) FIG. 16. shows a perspective view of the internal components of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(17) FIG. 17. schematically shows the conduits, solenoid valves and other components of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(18) FIG. 18. schematically shows the conduits, solenoid valves and other components of an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(19) FIG. 19. schematically shows the conduits, solenoid valves and other components for sterilisation by means of ozone in an embodiment of the autoclave according to the present invention.

(20) FIG. 20. shows a diagram of the parts that make up a weight sensor according to the present invention.

(21) FIG. 21. shows a detailed view of the weight sensor with wiring that goes to the key board.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(22) As shown schematically in FIG. 1, the autoclave has trays (25) housed in the main chamber thereof to deposit the medical instruments for their sterilisation.

1st Novelty of the Invention

(23) Second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber for pressurised-vapour sterilisation of bio-sanitary waste.

(24) Independently of this main chamber, the autoclave uses another second exchangeable sterilising chamber, FIG. 2, for sterilising bio-sanitary waste. The method for sterilising sanitary waste comprises: filling the second exchangeable sterilising chamber with sanitary waste, closing the second exchangeable sterilising chamber with a lid, which has at the ends thereof opposite the diameter, two lower tabs that will connect with the thread-shaped grooves that the chamber has on the upper and outer edge thereof, FIG. 3, turning the lid in a clockwise direction until a half turn is completed and the lid is thus hermetically closed since the lid is threaded by the downwards action of the grooves when it is turned. FIG. 3 shows the start of the half thread (100) and the end of the half thread (101) of the upper edge of the chamber.

(25) The second exchangeable sterilising chamber has at the base thereof a male quick connection (11), FIG. 4, to connect to the main chamber of the autoclave through the female quick connection (10), FIGS. 5 and 6. By means of this connection, the second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber and the autoclave communicate for the inlet and outlet of air, water and water vapour.

(26) As can be seen in FIG. 15, the autoclave has conduits and solenoid valves for the inlet and outlet of air, water and water vapour (3), which are linked with a water heater (1) and a compressor (2) to the main chamber thereof (4) for when it sterilises the medical instruments housed on the trays thereof, and independent to the conduits used by the main sterilising chamber, as shown in FIGS. 16, 17 and 18, other independent conduits for the inlet and outlet of air, water and water vapour (5 and 6), actuated by independent solenoid valves (8) and through the quick connection of the main chamber, thus enabling the content of the second exchangeable sterilising chamber of the waste to be sterilised without contaminating the main chamber of the autoclave.

(27) Once the second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber of the waste is housed by means of the quick connection to the main chamber of the autoclave, FIG. 7, the quick connection through the diameter sensor (13) thereof, the start of the sterilisation process of the autoclave for waste of the second chamber thereof is activated.

2nd Novelty of the Invention

(28) Weight sensors in the legs of the autoclave to weigh the pathological waste of the hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber.

(29) There is no autoclave for pathological waste on the market that weighs the rubbish that has been sterilised, to thus track the operation thereof, and it is for this reason that we have designed a system of weight sensors in the legs of the autoclave that will send us the information of the kilos or pounds treated by our equipment.

(30) The first parameter that the autoclave will evaluate will be the weight of the content of the second hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber through the sensors in the four legs of the autoclave, FIGS. 11 and 12. A diagram of the parts that make up the weight sensor as shown in FIG. 20.

(31) 26.—Protector of the weight sensor.

(32) 27.—Weight sensor.

(33) 28.—Reference plate.

(34) 29.—Lower support plate of the chassis of the autoclave.

(35) 30.—Leg of the autoclave.

(36) 31.—Protector for transport.

(37) 32.—Screw.

(38) 33.—Nut.

(39) The weight sensor operates due to the bending between the contact parts of the reference plate (28) and the weight sensor (27). According to the pressure exerted on the leg of the autoclave, the sensor transmits a different voltage between the two plates. FIG. 21 shows a detailed view of the weight sensor (27) with wiring that goes to the key board.

3rd Novelty of the Invention

(40) Circuit board housed in the front panel of the autoclave that reports the inner parameters of the autoclave via GPRS-SIM. Similarly, we will need a system that provides us with tracking of what the autoclave does with the waste, as this is required by law, otherwise we would not be certain that the sterilisation of the waste was carried out correctly.

(41) This information shall be reported to the circuit board of the front panel, FIGS. 13 and 14, so that through the antenna (21), GPRS module (19) and SIM card (20) thereof it transmits through the chip (22) thereof, SMS messages regarding: Weight of the waste. Calendar of the sterilisation system.—Temperatures and pressure inside the chamber. Sterilisation cycles. Sterilisation efficiency report. Possible malfunctions or incorrect operation of the autoclave.

(42) All this data can be downloaded through a specifically-designed platform on the Internet. The present invention enables sterilisation and handling reports of all the operations of the autoclave to be carried out by means of platforms for PC, Android, IOS and PLC.

4th Novelty of the Invention

(43) Third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber for cold sterilisation of medical instruments or waste with ozone.

(44) Similarly, this autoclave will have a third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber, FIG. 10, with the same closure characteristics of the lid thereof as the second chamber of the waste for housing therein medical waste or instruments to sterilise it with ozone gas.

(45) This third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber, similarly to the second chamber, will also use in the base thereof a quick connection, FIGS. 8 and 9, which unlike the quick connection of the second chamber, the male connection will have a diameter that is smaller than the central shaft (12) thereof so that the female connection housed in the main chamber detects it through the diameter sensor (13) as shown in FIG. 8; thus indicating that it is the chamber for ozone. This third chamber would also use its own internal circuit and solenoid valves (8) of the autoclave with regards to pipes and other components such as a filter (15), a valve generating ozone gas (14) and sharing the same compressor (2) as shown in FIG. 19. As such, this third chamber cold sterilises the content thereof through the rear portion (9) of the quick connection, such as solid waste or medical instruments.

(46) The internal components of the autoclave are used, such as: compressor, chassis, inner circuit, electronics, etc., for the installation of a third hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber for the cold sterilisation with ozone of waste or instruments since there are many medical pieces or objects made of a specific material (plastics, etc.) that cannot be sterilised by pressurised-vapour autoclave. Similarly, this system enables us to sterilise the air inside the hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chamber with ozone gas. Similarly, this entire sterilisation process with ozone would be transmitted by the key board described above.

(47) The hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chambers can be manufactured with aluminium. Likewise, the exchangeable sterilising chambers can receive a Teflon treatment that prevents the proliferation of microorganisms in the container or the sanitary waste from adhering to the inner portion of said container.

(48) The hermetic, exchangeable sterilising chambers can have an outer silicone cover to protect them from falls.