Automatic sterilizing apparatus

• US 5,387,403 A
• Filed: 06/15/1993
• Issued: 02/07/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: H. IKEUCHI & Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: H. IKEUCHI & Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Ikeuchi, Hiroshi, Kawayoshi, Akira, Hida, Shoji, Iwamura, Yoshinari
• Primary Examiner(s): Warden, Robert J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thornton, Krisanne M.
• Application Number:
  US08/076,849
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 422/292, 422/300, 422/305, 239/160, 239/161, 239/162, 239/172, 134/166 R, 134/200, 134/170
• US Class Current: 422/292
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/18 Liquid substances or solutions comprising solids or dissolved gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61L 2/24 Apparatus using programmed or automatic operation

Abstract

A sterilizing apparatus installed on a car includes a nozzle-installing pipe on which a plurality of nozzles are mounted at regular intervals, a driving mechanism for varying the spray angles of the nozzles, a driving mechanism for controlling the spray time periods, a supply mechanism for supplying disinfectant to a disinfectant-flowing path equipped in the nozzle-installing pipe, a plurality of tanks containing disinfectant to be supplied to the supply mechanisms and control mechanisms for controlling the operation of the driving mechanisms. The car is moved to a required place in a hospital, and the nozzles are operated by spray disinfectant particles, the diameter of which are 10 μm or less.

Claims

1. An automatic sterilizing apparatus comprising:

a cart;

a disinfectant supply tank mounted on said cart;

a compressed air supply mounted on said cart;

a support plate rotatably mounted on said cart for rotation about a vertical axis;

a pair of side plates mounted on and extending upwardly from said support plate;

a rotary casing interposed between and rotatably mounted to said side plates for rotation about a horizontal axis;

a nozzle-installing pipe mounted to and disposed in said rotary casing, said nozzle-installing pipe being operably connected with said disinfectant supply tank and said compressed air supply;

a plurality of nozzles arranged on said nozzle-installing pipe and constituting means for spraying a mixture of disinfectant supplied from said disinfectant supply tank and compressed air supplied from said compressed air supply in the form of disinfectant particles having an average diameter of 10 μ

m or less, each of said nozzles comprising twin nozzle heads;

driving means mounted on said cart for rotating said support plate about said vertical axis and for rotating said rotary casing about said horizontal axis; and

control means for controlling operation of said driving means.

2. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein

said driving means comprises a reversible motor, a first transmission means for transmitting drive of said reversible motor to said support plate to rotate said support plate about said vertical axis, and a second transmission means for transmitting drive of said reversible motor to said rotary casing to rotate said rotary casing about said horizontal axis.

3. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein

a support shaft is provided, is concentric with said vertical axis and rotatably mounts said support plate to said cart;

said first transmission means comprises a gear fixed to said support plate, and a means for transmitting rotary output of said reversible motor to said gear to rotate said support plate about said vertical axis; and

said second transmission means comprises a pin connected to said rotary casing and rotatably mounting said rotary casing to said side plates, and means for transmitting rotary output of said reversible motor to said pin to rotate said pin about said horizontal axis.

4. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein

said driving means comprises first and second reversible motors, a first transmission means for transmitting drive of said first reversible motor to said support plate to rotate said support plate about said vertical axis, and a second transmission means for transmitting drive of said second reversible motor to said rotary casing to rotate said rotary casing about said horizontal axis.

5. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein

said first transmission means comprises a first pulley mounted to said support plate and concentric with said vertical axis, a second pulley mounted to an output shaft of said first reversible motor, and a belt trained about said first and second pulleys;

and

said second transmission means comprises a third pulley mounted to said rotary casing and concentric with said horizontal axis, a fourth pulley mounted to an output shaft of said second reversible motor, and a belt trained about said third and fourth pulleys.

6. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein

said cart comprises a cart body with an enclosed inside portion and an opening into said inside portion;

said compressed air supply comprises a compressor mounted on said inside portion of said cart body, a motor for driving said compressor, a filter mounted over said opening of said cart body for filtering air passing through said opening, and a hose connecting an output of said compressor with said nozzle-installing pipe.

7. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein

said cart body comprises a frame constructed of rods, a bottom plate fixed to a bottom end of said frame, an upper plate fixed to an upper end of said frame, and a cover plate covering side portions of said frame;

said compressor is supported on said bottom plate; and

a control panel is mounted on said cover plate, said control panel accommodating said control means.

8. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising

a cleaning agent tank mounted on said support plate;

and

a hose connecting said cleaning agent tank to said nozzle-installing pipe.

9. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, further comprising

a fan mounted in said rotary casing for discharging air to scatter droplets of disinfectant sprayed from said nozzles.

10. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein

each of said nozzles comprises:

a main body having a disinfectant-introducing path and a compressed air-introducing path therein;

a forked adaptor mounted on said main body, said forked adaptor comprising twin nozzle heads, each of which includes a disinfectant-introducing path and a compressed air-introducing path respectively connected with said disinfectant-introducing path and said compressed air-introducing path of said main body, each of said nozzle heads including a jetting opening at a leading end thereof;

a nozzle chip mounted in each of said twin nozzle heads and constituting a means for mixing disinfectant and compressed air respectively introduced through said disinfectant-introducing path and said compressed air introducing path of said nozzle heads, and for jetting the mixture from said jetting openings; and

wherein said jetting openings of said forked adaptor are opposed to one another such that said forked adaptor constitutes a means for causing the mixture jetted from one of said twin nozzles heads to collide with the mixture jetted from the other of said twin nozzle heads to generate the disinfectant particles having an average diameter of 10 μ

m or less.

11. An automatic sterilizing apparatus comprising

a disinfectant supply,

a compressed air supply,

a nozzle-installing pipe fluidically connected with said disinfectant supply and said compressed air supply and being constructed and arranged to be mounted at a predetermined location in a hospital room, and

a plurality of nozzles mounted on said nozzle-installing pipe at regular intervals, each of said nozzles comprising:

a main body having a disinfectant-introducing path and a compressed air-introducing path therein;

a forked adaptor mounted on said main body, said forked adaptor comprising twin nozzle heads, each of which includes a disinfectant-introducing path and a compressed air-introducing path respectively connected with said disinfectant-introducing path and said compressed air-introducing path of said main body, each of said nozzle heads including a jetting opening at a leading end thereof;

a nozzle chip mounted in each of said twin nozzle heads and constituting a means for mixing disinfectant and compressed air respectively introduced through said disinfectant-introducing path and said compressed air-introducing path of said nozzle head, and for jetting the mixture from said jetting opening; and

wherein said jetting openings of said forked adaptor are opposed to one another such that said forked adaptor constitutes a means for causing the mixture jetted from one of said twin nozzles heads to collide with the mixture jetted from the other of said twin nozzle heads to generate disinfectant particles having an average diameter of 10 μ

m or less, so as to saturate ambient air in the hospital room with said disinfectant particles.

12. An automatic sterilizing apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising

a mounting structure, said nozzle-installing pipe being mounted on said mounting structure;

and

wherein said mounting structure comprises a ceiling of the hospital room.