Gas sterilant system

Apparatus for treating articles with a gas comprising:

• first means for receiving a first component;
• second means for receiving a second component, said first and second components, when reacted together, forming a gas;
• means for reacting said two components together for forming said gas;
• chamber means for receiving an article to be treated with the gas;
• first valve means for supplying said gas to said chamber means to treat said article in said chamber means;
• means for measuring a plurality of measured parameters in said chamber means;
• means for removing said gas from said chamber means;
• electronic controller means for controlling said means for reacting, first valve means for supplying and means for removing comprising computer means executing a predetermined sequence of steps so as to cycle said apparatus through a series of successive states defining a cycle in which said article is treated by said gas and wherein said gas is thereafter removed from said chamber means so as to render said chamber means within acceptable standards of safety, said electronic controller means including means for aborting the operation of said apparatus to one of a plurality of defined failure states having predefined conditions in response to a failure of said apparatus, said selected failure state dependent on the state in said cycle in which the failure occurred, and further comprising means for cycling said apparatus in accordance with said predetermined sequence to a further defined state once one of said defined failure states is reached, said further defined state comprising one of the states in said cycle, said further defined state dependent on the defined failure state reached and being a state which maintains said apparatus within acceptable standards of safety.

Apparatus for treating articles with a gas comprising:

• chamber means for receiving an article to be treated;
• means for supplying a gas to the chamber means comprising valve means coupled to the chamber means for supplying the gas to the chamber means, means for removing the gas from the chamber means after a predetermined time interval, means for measuring a plurality of measured parameters in the chamber means, electronic control means receiving a plurality of electrical signals associated with ones of the measured parameters from said chamber means for controlling said valve means and said means for removing, said electronic control means comprising computer means for cycling said apparatus through a plurality of states in accordance with a predetermined sequence of instructions,
• said computer means including memory means, and further comprising means for receiving input signals from said valve means indicative of the closed or open condition of said valve means and means for transmitting output signals to said valve means to open or close selectively said valve means, image signals of said input and output signals being stored in said memory means,
• mask means being stored in said memory means, said computer means comparing respective ones of said image signals of said input and output signals with each other and generating an alarm signal if said input and output image signals do not agree in response to the setting of a bit in said mask means,
• said computer means including means for aborting the operation of said apparatus to one of a plurality of defined failure states having predefined conditions in response to a failure of said apparatus, said selected failure state dependent on the state in said cycle in which the failure occurred, and further comprising means for cycling said apparatus in accordance with said predetermined sequence to a further defined state once one of said defined failure states is reached, said further defined state comprising one of the states in accordance with said predetermined sequence of instructions, said further defined state dependent upon the defined failure state reached and being a state which maintains said apparatus within acceptable standards of safety.