Sterilizing container for surgical instruments has a seal between the body and the cover with an inner hollow zone which is inflated by a filling medium during sterilizing and evacuated for deflation to remove the cover

摘要

The container to sterilize surgical instruments has a seal (10) between the body and the cover. A hollow zone (13), within the seal (10), has a connector (16) for the feed of a liquid or gas into the zone (13) and a connector (22) to evacuate it. The seal (10) is flexible so that it expands, when the hollow zone (13) is inflated, and returns to its original cross section when the hollow zone is emptied. The seal (10) is of an elastic stretch material. When the inner zone (13) is inflated, the seal (10) expands into recessed zones (11,12) at the cover (5) and/or body (2) so that they are not only sealed against each other, but are forced into the required relative position with each other. The recesses (11,12) are grooves, to be filled by the inflated seal (10). The seal (10) has a residual elasticity or an integrated spring to give the max. cross section on a balanced inner and external pressure. The cross section is reduced when the hollow interior is evacuated, against the effect of its natural elasticity or the spring. The connector (22) to evacuate the seal interior into the ambient atmosphere is operated by a closing valve (23). The connector (16) to fill the seal interior has a coupling (20), which links to the external filling medium supply at the container (1) when the sterilizer container (1) is in position. The filling connector (16) has a closing valve (17-19), which can have an operating control at the container (1) with an energy supply. The control generates a signal to open and close the filling connector (16) according to the sterilizing parameters. The seal (10) can have a common connector (14) for the inflation and deflation flows of the medium at the container (1), linked to a bleed (22) and a filling connector (16). The common connector (14) can contain a change over system (17-19) to link it selectively either with the ambient atmosphere or to the filling medium supply. A pressure indicator (25) displays the pressure within the hollow zone (13) of the seal (10), through a direct or indirect link with the hollow zone (13).