STERILISATION CONTAINER FOR RECEIVING STERILE MEDICAL GOODS

Abstract

A sterilization container for receiving cleaned or sterilized medical goods or medical goods to be cleaned or sterilized. The container includes a sterilization container lower part forming a receiving space for the goods and a sterilization container lid that can be detachably mounted on the sterilization container lower part to seal the receiving space. At least one handle element is located on the sterilization container lower part and can be positioned between a carrying position projecting from the sterilization container lid and a locking position that locks the sterilization container lid to the sterilization container lower part. A receiving region is formed in the sterilization container lid for receiving the handle element in the locking position. The receiving region is a trough like handle recess in the form of a depression projecting into the receiving space with respect to the lid plane for receiving the entire handle element.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A sterile container for receiving cleaned or sterilized medical goods or medical goods to be cleaned or sterilized, with a lower part of the sterile container forming a receiving space and a sterile-container lid comprising a lid plane and being detachably arrangeable on the lower part of the sterile container for closing the receiving space, at least one handle element being arranged on the lower part of the sterile container, said at least one handle element being positionable between a carrying position projecting from the sterile-container lid and a locking position locking the sterile-container lid to the lower part of the sterile container, a receiving region being formed in the sterile-container lid for receiving the at least one handle element in the receiving region in the locking position, the receiving region being formed as a trough like handle recess comprising a depression projecting into the receiving space relative to the lid plane for completely receiving the at least one handle element in the receiving region, the trough like handle recess comprising at least one web formed between the sterile-container lid and the receiving region, the at least one web being perforated and fluid-permeable at least in sections, and the at least one handle element being U-shaped with two free legs and a handle piece connecting the two free legs to each other and is hinged with the two free legs to the lower part of the sterile container.

13. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein the lid plane lies in or below a virtual plane spanned by a border of the lower part of the sterile container.

14. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein the at least one handle element is hinged in a swivel bearing seat on an upper inner portion of the lower part of the sterile container.

15. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein the two free legs and the handle piece are planar and, in the locking position, are oriented parallel to the lid plane and/or, in the locking position, are arranged completely on a side of the lid plane facing the receiving space.

16. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein at least a portion of the lid is flat and conforms to the lid plane, and the depression projects inwardly into the receiving space relative to the lid plane.

17. The sterile container according to claim 16, wherein the trough like handle recess is formed by deforming the lid plane inwardly into the receiving space.

18. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein the sterile-container lid is perforated and made of a stainless steel sheet.

19. The sterile container according to claim 12, wherein the depression is formed by a sheet metal part fixed to the lid plane or by a deformed region of the lid plane.

20. The sterile container according to claim 19, wherein the deformed region is formed by slots or openings formed in the lid plane that are parallel to each other and form a rhombic grid structure after deformation.

21. The sterile container according to claim 12, further comprising a latching structure formed in the trough like handle recess for latching with the at least one handle element in the locked position.

22. The sterile container according to claim 21, wherein the latching structure is formed by a spring element fixed to the sterile-container lid.

23. A method of manufacturing the sterile container according to claim 12 comprising the following steps: providing a metal sheet; making slots in the metal sheet to provide a region for deformation between the lid plane and the receiving region to form the trough like handle recess; forming the trough like handle recess by deforming the region of the sheet metal provided with slots in a direction facing the receiving space of the lower part of the sterile container.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

[0030] Further features and advantages of the present invention result from the following exemplary and non-limiting description of the figures. These are merely schematic in nature and serve only to aid understanding of the invention. The following is shown:

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a sterile container according to a first embodiment of the invention,

[0032] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a portion of a sterile container according to a further embodiment of the invention,

[0033] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a portion of the sterile container of FIG. 1,

[0034] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a part of two stacked sterile containers according to the invention,

[0035] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a part of a die-cutting plate for a sterile-container lid of a sterile container according to the invention, and

[0036] FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the part of a die-cutting plate of FIG. 4 with formed trough like handle recesses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a sterile container 1 according to an embodiment of the invention in perspective view. The sterile container 1 is designed as a sieve tray 1, has a lower part 2 of the sterile container and a sterile-container lid 3 and serves to receive sterilized medical goods or goods to be sterilized, which are not shown in the figures. The lower part 2 of the sterile container has a bottom (not shown in the figures), two short side walls 4 arranged thereon and two long side walls 5. The short side walls 4 and the long side walls 5 together form a circumferential lower-part container border 6 and surround a receiving space 7 for the medical goods. Both the lower part 2 of the sterile container and the sterile-container lid 2 are each made of a perforated stainless sheet steel.

[0038] The sterile-container lid 3 is detachably arranged on the circumferential border 6 and serves to close the receiving space 7 in such a way that, on the one hand, the goods contained therein are protected from external damage and, on the other hand, the goods contained therein cannot accidentally fall out of the receiving space 7.

[0039] A respective handle element 8 is hinged to the lower part 2 of the sterile container on each of the two short side walls 4. This handle element can be positioned between a carrying position projecting from the sterile-container lid 3 (not shown in the figures) and a locking position locking the sterile-container lid 3 to the lower part 2 of the sterile container (shown in the figures). The handle element 8 is essentially U-shaped with two free legs 14a and 14b and a handle piece 15 connecting them. It is hinged with its free legs 14a, 14b in swivel bearing seats 27 on the upper border 6 of the lower part 2 of the sterile container.

[0040] The sterile-container lid 3 is designed as a sheet metal die-cut part. It has an essentially plane lid surface 9, which corresponds virtually to the sheet metal surface in the undeformed state. The lid surface 9 forms a contact area or bearing area for stacking a further sterile container 1 (see FIG. 4). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, when the container lid 3 is placed on the container border 6, the lid surface 9 is virtually in the plane spanned by the container border 6 or just above it, respectively. In this embodiment, the lid surface 9 is surrounded by a partially circumferential lid border 10. This surrounds the container border 6 and thereby ensures that the container lid 3 has a positionally determined seat on the lower part 2 of the container.

[0041] The embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 differs from the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 in that the lid surface 9 is substantially completely offset from the plane spanned by the container border 6 in the direction of the receiving space 7. This is caused by the fact that the lid plane 9 is surrounded by a lid border 11 projecting upward, i.e. in the direction away from the receiving space 7, whose inner side facing the container border 6 forms a receiving groove 12 for the container border 6.

[0042] In the sterile-container lid 3, more precisely in its lid surface 9, a trough like handle recess 13 is formed on both sides. As shown in particular in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the handle element 8, which is hinged to the corresponding short side wall 4 and is in the locking position, is completely received in the respective trough like handle recess 13 in such a way that no part of the handle element 8 protrudes outward beyond the lid surface 9.

[0043] In all embodiments shown in the figures, the lid surface 9 is substantially plane and the trough like handle recess 13 is in the form of a depression relative to the lid surface 9 projecting into the receiving space 7.

[0044] A further difference between the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3 on the one hand and FIG. 2 on the other hand is that in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the trough like handle recesses 13 are each formed by a sheet-metal part 16 welded to the lid surface 9, whereas in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 3, the trough like handle recesses 13 are each formed by a deformed portion 17. FIG. 2 shows that the sheet metal part 16 has a perforated trough like handle recess bottom 18 and connection pieces 19 arranged thereon, which are welded to the lid surface 9. The deformed portion 17, on the other hand, has a likewise perforated trough like handle recess bottom 20 and a likewise perforated trough like handle recess wall 21 extending between this and the lid surface 9.

[0045] In connection with the embodiment of FIG. 2, FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the manufacture of the trough like handle recess 13 from a plane sheet metal material 22. FIG. 5 shows the sheet metal material 22 in a still undeformed state, while FIG. 6 shows the trough like handle recess 13 formed by deformation. The sheet metal material 22 is provided with first perforations 24, that is in the area of the future lid surface 9 and in the area of the future trough like handle recess bottom 20. Between these two areas, a portion is formed with slot-shaped through holes 23 in the undeformed state (FIG. 5). During deformation from the state shown in FIG. 5 to the state forming the trough like handle recess 13 shown in FIG. 6, the slot-shaped through holes 23 expand to form essentially rhombic perforations 28.

[0046] Regardless of the respective embodiment, a latching structure 25 is formed in the trough like handle recess 13 for latching with the handle element 8 in the locked position, more precisely with its handle piece 15. The latching structure 25 is preferably a plastic part 25 that is attached to the sterile-container lid 3 in the trough like handle recess 13. For this purpose, it has fastening elements not shown in the figures, which engage in suitably shaped fixation recesses 26 in the trough like handle recess bottom 18, 20 and thus latch. The fixation recesses 26 are formed here in the form of through holes 26 punched into the lid material.