Ozonator for sterilizing, decontaminating, disinfecting, and/or sanitizing surgical instruments

摘要

An apparatus and method for the use of ozone as a sterilant for many classes of surgical instruments which are at least partially metallic. Three features are the connection of a voltage carrying part of the instrument to be sterilized as the electrode of an ozone generating cell, which employs a glow discharge and maintaining the temperature of this electrode below 500 C., and that no solid dielectric exists between opposed electrodes in the ozone generating cell. Ozone is thereby localized about voltage carrying and any non-voltage carrying parts of the electrode connected instrument. The control of electrode heating helps to maintain the increasing atmospheric concentration of the ozone, which will however eventually reach a natural limit. Local heating of the electrode configuration is controlled where the instrument to be sterilized is connected at least periodically as the negative electrode. This helps to avoid the avalanche of the ozone generating glow discharge into an unproductive arc. There is no tendency for a glow to arc transition to occur from a field enhancement at an irregular surface. The glow discharge is rendered more stable when no solid dielectric exists between opposed electrodes in the ozone generating cell and a smooth surfaced plate acts as an anode, the electric field distribution provides the necessary accelerating field everywhere over a cathode object for production of ultraviolet light, soft x-rays and charged particles with energies sufficient to sterilize on impact with the surface. The slightly enhanced field at a surface irregularity caused by a contaminating microbe will rapidly disappear as the enhanced field destroys the microbe.