Monitoring of sterilant apparatus and method for monitoring sterilant
AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsBen Fryer, Debra Timm, Szu-Min Lin, Henry Hui, Sam Nutt
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Abstract
An apparatus for monitoring the concentration of an oxidative gas or vapor includes a chemical substance which reacts with the oxidative gas or vapor to produce a heat change. A temperature probe is coupled to the chemical substance and adapted to respond to the heat change. The temperature probe can be coupled to the chemical substance by a carrier, and can include a reference temperature probe. Additionally, a method of using the apparatus is described, as well as a sterilization system which utilizes the apparatus.
Claims35
An apparatus for monitoring the concentration of an oxidative gas or vapor, the apparatus comprising:
- a chemical substance which reacts with the oxidative gas or vapor to produce a heat change;
- and
- a temperature probe coupled to the chemical substance, wherein the temperature probe is adapted to respond to the heat change.
A method of monitoring the concentration of an oxidative gas or vapor, the method comprising:
- providing a chemical substance which undergoes a reaction with the oxidative gas or vapor to be monitored, thereby producing a heat change;
- providing a temperature probe coupled to the chemical substance, the temperature probe adapted to respond to the heat change produced by the reaction between the chemical substance and the oxidative gas or vapor to be monitored by producing an output signal which is a function of the concentration of the oxidative gas or vapor;
- exposing the chemical substance to the oxidative gas or vapor;
- measuring the output signal from the temperature probe;
- and
- determining the concentration of the oxidative gas or vapor based on the output signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.