# US 10,441,673 B2 · Method and apparatus for controlling sterilization chambers

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- Number: US 10,441,673 B2
- Document ID: US10441673B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/297,816
- Filed: 2016-10-19
- Published: 2018-04-19
- Granted: 2019-10-15
- Earliest claimed: 2016-10-19
- Assignees: Konnexis Inc.
- Applicants: Konnexis Inc.
- Inventors: Peter Veselovsky; Michael Omatsu; Ahmad Juqqa; Nader Hijazi
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10441673B2

## CPC

- A61L 2/24: Apparatus using programmed or automatic operation
- A61L 2/206: Ethylene oxide
- G06F 17/00: Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions (information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00)
- A61L 2103/15: Laboratory, medical or dentistry appliances, e.g. catheters or sharps
- A61L 2202/14: Means for controlling sterilisation processes, data processing, presentation and storage means, e.g. sensors, controllers, programs
- G06F 3/0482: Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
- A61L: METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR STERILISING MATERIALS OR OBJECTS IN GENERAL; DISINFECTION, STERILISATION OR DEODORISATION OF AIR; CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES; MATERIALS FOR BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES (preservation of bodies or disinfecting characterised by the agents employed A01N; preserving, e.g. sterilising, food or foodstuffs A23; preparations for medical, dental or toiletry purposes A61K)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

There is provided a method and apparatus for operating a sterilization chamber such that one version of Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) software is compatible with any number of hardware configurations of the sterilization chamber. The PLC software is divided into a core module for operations which are the same across all hardware configurations, and a template module for hardware specific operations. Configuration data, state data, and live data are segregated from each other.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of operating a sterilization chamber having a plurality of subsystems from a computing device, comprising:
receiving configuration data for the chamber at the computing device, the configuration data indicating an identity of devices and sensors comprised in each of the plurality of subsystems;
reading phase information from a sterilization cycle specification; and
invoking a subsystem of the sterilization chamber corresponding to the phase information using a standard interface of the subsystem;
wherein the subsystem executes a phase using the phase information and the configuration data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration data comprises a selected template from a plurality of templates for each subsystem.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration data further comprises a plurality of values corresponding to a plurality of template parameters.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the selected template defines software for controlling a device or a sensor of the subsystem.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the device is selected from the group comprising a valve and a pump, and the sensor is selected from the group comprising a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, and a humidity sensor.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the computing device is programmed with software for a plurality of device and sensor models, and wherein the selected template identifies at least one of the plurality of device and sensor models.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising state data stored in a first segregated area of a memory of the computing device.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the state data to a remote storage device.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein said transmitting occurs after at least one of:
a) a time interval; and
b) the execution of the phase.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the configuration data is stored in a second segregated area of the memory of the computing device.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
retrieving the state data from the external storage device;
storing the state data in the first segregated memory area.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising:
reading the state data from the first segregated memory area;
determining a next phase to be executed based on the state data.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the subsystem is selected from a group comprising a gas injection subsystem, a vacuum subsystem, an exhaust subsystem, a vacuum pump subsystem, an atmospheric exhaust subsystem, a condenser subsystem, a back-vent subsystem, a door subsystem, and a heating and cooling subsystem.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the sterilization chamber is an Ethylene Oxide (EtO) chamber.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC).

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration data is received from an external storage device or application server.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration data is in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format.