Apparatus for sterilizing a liquid

Abstract

An apparatus for sterilizing a liquid comprises a container having an inlet, an outlet and an interior with an outer wall, and a light source adapted to emit radiation in the ultraviolet wavelength range through the outer wall into the interior, the outer wall being partially transparent. The inlet comprises an opening, positioned in relation to the outer wall of the interior and the light source in order, when a pressure is exerted on the liquid to be admitted through the opening and to be sterilized, to form a liquid jet directed onto the outer wall in a region of the light source, above the latter, and/or to form a liquid film there. The liquid jet impinging on the outer wall may flow down thereon as a thin liquid film in front of the light source and thereby effectively sterilized even with a low penetration depth of the UV radiation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.