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US 6,149,878 AGranted
Process for dry sterilization of medical devices and materials
AssigneeAdir Jacob
InventorsAdir Jacob, Jonathan Allen Wilder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Articles which it is intended to sterilize are placed into a confined volume and are subjected to neutral species of an electrical discharge while maintaining the volume glowless and substantially field free by interposing a barrier between the articles and the discharge, the barrier being transparent to neutral species and opaque to charged species emanating from the discharge.
Claims9
Apparatus for sterilizing articles, comprising:
- a gas-confining chamber constructed and arranged for containing an electrical discharge which includes electrically charged and electrically neutral active species;
- an article-containing zone adapted to substantially receive neutral active species from said electrical discharge;
- and
- barrier means between said zone and said discharge, said barrier means adapted to be substantially transparent to neutral active species and substantially opaque to charged species;
- said barrier means comprising a first electrode and said chamber comprising a second electrode said first and second electrodes constituting means for initiating said electrical discharge within said chamber;
- and
- a portion of said second electrode having a textured surface which is rough compared to an unaltered mill surface finish of the material from which said portion is constructed.
4 more elements
In a sterilization method wherein a load is exposed within a sterilization zone to active species of a plasma generated in a reaction zone operably associated with said sterilization zone;
- the improvement which comprises:
- contacting said plasma with a textured metal surface while contacting said load with said active species, said textured metal surface forming at least a portion of an inner surface of a gas confining chamber containing said reaction zone and said plasma generated therein, said plasma being induced by the application of RF energy within said gas-confining chamber;
- and
- wherein said chamber is defined by a surface of aluminum or stainless steel and said sterilization zone is defined by a perforated metallic electrode constructed to be substantially transparent to electrically neutral active species and substantially opaque to electrically charged species.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.