Container Sterilization Using Heated Water Vapor Carrier
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for sterilizing containers, particularly those with complex geometries, face challenges in ensuring complete evaporation of hydrogen peroxide and maintaining sterility due to condensation issues, requiring complex structural solutions and increased operational costs.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing pressurized water vapor as a carrier, combined with a heat exchanger to ensure complete evaporation of hydrogen peroxide before delivery to the container, maintaining the sterilizing agent in a gaseous state and controlling its concentration through feedback control, simplifies the apparatus structure while ensuring effective sterilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If water vapor is used as a carrier to facilitate condensation of hydrogen peroxide on surfaces, then condensation efficiency is improved, but complete evaporation of hydrogen peroxide cannot be ensured due to undesired condensation of vapor
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary heating of the water vapor before it contacts the container surfaces. By pre-heating the carrier vapor to a temperature above the dew point, the system prevents premature condensation of hydrogen peroxide in the vapor phase, ensuring complete evaporation and activation of the sterilizing agent before delivery to surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the temperature parameter of the water vapor carrier throughout the process. The vapor is heated to high temperature for carrier function and prevention of condensation, then allowed to cool when contacting container surfaces to enable controlled condensation of hydrogen peroxide for sterilization.
2Reliability
If structural complexity is increased to control sterilizing agent concentration and ensure complete evaporation, then sterilization reliability is improved, but device complexity and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses heated water vapor as an intermediary carrier medium. This intermediary performs multiple functions: it carries the hydrogen peroxide, provides heat for evaporation and activation, and enables controlled delivery to surfaces. This simplifies the overall system compared to direct injection methods that would require complex heating and concentration control devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical concentration control mechanisms with thermal field control. Instead of using mechanical devices to precisely control hydrogen peroxide concentration, the system uses temperature control of the water vapor carrier to govern evaporation, activation, and condensation processes, simplifying the overall control system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for efficient sterilization of containers with complex geometries by ensuring complete evaporation and maintaining the desired sterility level over time, without increasing structural complexity or operational costs.
Implementation Method 1
introducing an aqueous compound containing a liquid sterilizing agent into a vapour flow
Implementation Method 2
the heating unit (7) allows the evaporation of the aqueous compound (hence of the sterilizing agent) to be completed and the mixture to be kept in the gaseous state
Implementation Method 3
the mixture thus obtained is heated by a heating unit (7)
Implementation Method 4
the inside walls of the container (100) are kept at a temperature less than or equal to the condensation temperature of the hydrogen peroxide vapour, so that the hydrogen peroxide condenses on the walls
Implementation Method 5
it is evaporated by means of the delivery of hot air
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
Method for sterilizing a container (100) comprising the steps of: generating a flow of water vapour; introducing an aqueous compound containing a liquid hydrogen peroxide into the flow of water vapour so as to obtain a mixture of water vapour and partially evaporated hydrogen peroxide; heating the mixture so as to complete its evaporation; delivering the heated and evaporated mixture to the container (100) to be sterilized.