11
THE PROCESS
The steam sterilizing process
The universal steam autoclaving process can be divided into three main
phases:
A Pre-treatment
B Sterilizing
C Post-treatment
Pre-treatment
It has been found that moisture is an essential element in achieving
sterility with steam. It is therefore important that the steam comes into
close contact with the micro-organisms to be killed.
A pre-treatment phase consisting of a number of pressure variations
following a certain pattern effectively removes air from various types of
goods and produces the moisture required in the subsequent sterilizing
phase. Depending on the equipment of the sterilizer, steam may pass
through before the evacuations.
Air removal when autoclaving liquids in open containers is by
applying a vacuum or by flowing steam, to ensure that the liquid does
not boil during the decompression periods in a pulsating procedure.
Sterilizing
For sterilizers equipped with a computerized control unit, the sterilizing
time starts at the instant in the pre-treatment phase of the process when
the chamber temperature sensor signals a temperature equal to or higher
than the sterilizing temperature specified for the current program. An
alarm sounds if the temperature sensor registers a value outside the
temperature band, or if the temperature differs by more than the
permitted amount from the chosen sterilizing temperature.
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