{"id":15917,"date":"2022-02-28T07:15:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T06:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=15917"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:53:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:53:20","slug":"germ-free-washing-for-medical-instruments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/medical\/germ-free-washing-for-medical-instruments_15917\/","title":{"rendered":"Germ-free washing for medical instru\u00adments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hospi\u00adtals and labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries are subject to strin\u00adgent hygiene require\u00adments. Simply cleaning uten\u00adsils used in oper\u00ada\u00adtions, such as scis\u00adsors, tweezers, clamps, test tubes, and pipettes is not suffi\u00adcient, because the biggest danger is invis\u00adible to the naked eye: bacteria, viruses, or chem\u00adical residues can falsify measure\u00adment results in labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries or, in the worst case scenario, can cost human lives. With his work, Ezio Gobbi and his team helps to ensure that this does not happen. For over 30 years, the engi\u00adneer at Smeg, since 2009 in the manu\u00adfac\u00adturing unit of Bonfer\u00adraro, has been devel\u00adoping thermal disin\u00adfec\u00adtors. These special washing devices ensure that uten\u00adsils are perfectly cleaned in hospi\u00adtals, doctor\u2019s offices, and research facility labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries.<\/p>\n

Bonfer\u00adraro is based in the commu\u00adnity of the same name in the Province of Verona, Italy and is the subsidiary of house\u00adhold appli\u00adance manu\u00adfac\u00adturer Smeg. The company has been manu\u00adfac\u00adturing thermal disin\u00adfec\u00adtors since 1987. \u201cThere are only around ten manu\u00adfac\u00adturers world\u00adwide that make such devices,\u201d says Gobbi. Most recently, the R&D team was tasked with devel\u00adoping three types of devices with wash cham\u00adbers ranging from 250 to 450 liters, in other words, high-perfor\u00admance devices that have to operate with maximum reli\u00ada\u00adbility. And not only when it comes to cleaning results: \u201cIf a dish\u00adwasher at home fails for a few days, it is irri\u00adtating but not disas\u00adtrous. However, in hospi\u00adtals or labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries, work is severely disrupted,\u201d says Gobbi. This means that the tech\u00adnology installed must be 100 percent reli\u00adable.<\/p>\n

Disin\u00adfec\u00adtion in the high-tech dish\u00adwasher<\/h2>\n

Works like the dish\u00adwasher at home \u2013 only much more precise: the thermal disin\u00adfector from Bonfer\u00adraro. (Photo | Bonfer\u00adraro S.p.A.)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

A thermal disin\u00adfector works in a similar way to a dish\u00adwasher at home. There are washing and rinsing phases, and the items are dried at the end of the program. However, there are also major differ\u00adences. The devices have to work with much greater preci\u00adsion than those in the kitchen at home, and they are subject to the strict require\u00adments of medical prod\u00aducts. This even applies to the removal of coarse dirt. \u201cIf residue persists, the ster\u00adil\u00adizer is then unable to completely kill bacteria even at 140 degrees Celsius,\u201d says Gobbi.<\/p>\n

This is not so easy, as the objects to be cleaned come in a much greater variety of shapes than pots, dishes, or cutlery in the kitchen at home, for example. Every\u00adthing gets put in there, from scis\u00adsors and test tubes to hoses. This is why special carrying systems are required to allow the water to get every\u00adwhere. The water supply and the special cleaning chem\u00adi\u00adcals must also be dosed in exact amounts and the temper\u00ada\u00adture must be regu\u00adlated precisely. There\u00adfore, a thermal disin\u00adfector has an addi\u00adtional disin\u00adfec\u00adtion phase, during which it is impor\u00adtant that the temper\u00ada\u00adture is between 90 and 93 degrees Celsius exactly.<\/p>\n

Reli\u00adably dry<\/h2>\n

Drying begins when disin\u00adfec\u00adtion is complete: the crucial phase. There must be no droplets of water left on the objects so that they can then be imme\u00addi\u00adately shrink-wrapped and put into the ster\u00adil\u00adizer. Depending on the shape and mate\u00adrial, this process takes between 15 and 30 minutes. \u201cFor example, plastic is much harder to dry than glass,\u201d says Gobbi. Here too, the chore\u00adog\u00adraphy is finely tuned: first, air is blown into the washing chamber at low pres\u00adsures so that the steam escapes slowly. Then hot air is supplied at different speed levels and at up to 120 degrees Celsius. \u201cWe devel\u00adoped a drying cycle here that works as quickly and effi\u00adciently as possible,\u201d says Gobbi. The blower is the crucial compo\u00adnent for this process. It had to be espe\u00adcially powerful for Gobbi\u2019s three new types of devices, also because it has to cope against the resis\u00adtance of the HEPA filters. HEPA stands for High Effi\u00adcient Partic\u00adu\u00adlate Air. The filters prevent germs and dust parti\u00adcles from outside entering the washing chamber.<\/p>\n

\n

We devel\u00adoped a drying cycle here that works as quickly and effi\u00adciently as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ezio Gobbi, Engi\u00adneer at Bonfer\u00adraro<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So Gobbi approached \u00adebm-papst: \u201cFor me, it was the logical step. We have been working together for more than 30 years on other projects.\u201d Gobbi says the other projects involved usual house\u00adhold dish\u00adwashers, which Bonfer\u00adraro also manu\u00adfac\u00adtures. But the blower solu\u00adtions used for these devices were insuf\u00adfi\u00adcient for Gobbi\u2019s require\u00adments or would be too large for the avail\u00adable instal\u00adla\u00adtion space at the required power. And a tailored solu\u00adtion was out of the ques\u00adtion: \u201cThis is not a mass market like with house\u00adhold dish\u00adwashers. We simply do not have high enough quan\u00adti\u00adties of them: it would not pay off. We needed a product that had already been devel\u00adoped.\u201d<\/p>\n

A solu\u00adtion from the boiler<\/h2>\n

There\u00adfore, Fabio Milani, Key Account Manager and Gobbi\u2019s contact at ebm-papst Italy, had to look for a different way, working with the experts in Land\u00adshut. \u201cThe power require\u00adments described by Gobbi were a pretty good fit for the blowers that we usually use in condensing boilers: the VGR 118 and the VGR 148,\u201d says Milani, adding, \u201ca partic\u00adular version of VGR 118 had a high-perfor\u00admance motor to make one blower suit\u00adable for all three types of devices.\u201d Thanks to EC tech\u00adnology, the blower types enable high speeds and, as a result, high pres\u00adsures that can over\u00adcome the HEPA filter, and all that with a compact design. They are also infi\u00adnitely adjustable so that the speed can be precisely adapted to the different drying phases. So the perfect solu\u00adtion? Almost, if it were not for the venturi attached to the blowers as stan\u00addard. In condensing boilers, it is essen\u00adtial for regu\u00adlating the gas supply. In Bonferraro\u2019s thermal disin\u00adfec\u00adtors, it would just be disrup\u00adtive.<\/p>\n

Out with the stan\u00addard solu\u00adtion and on to the more expen\u00adsive customized solu\u00adtion then? Some\u00adthing else happened. Milani explains: \u201cAs happens by chance, the same blower was being created at the same time as vari\u00adants without venturi.\u201d Gobbi bene\u00adfited from this. He can also use it for his three types of devices. \u201cIn addi\u00adtion to the perfor\u00admance char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics, the geom\u00adetry was a perfect fit for our require\u00adments,\u201d says Gobbi. The three new thermal disin\u00adfec\u00adtors are under devel\u00adop\u00adment and the start of produc\u00adtion is planned in July 2022. The demand for the \u00adBonfer\u00adraro devices is growing. \u201cThe coro\u00adn\u00adavirus pandemic has led to a signif\u00adi\u00adcant increase in sensi\u00adtivity to hygiene. And this has impacted our company,\u201d he concludes.\u2002<\/p>\n

\n

How a thermal disin\u00adfector works: A hospital as an example<\/h3>\n

During an oper\u00ada\u00adtion, a surgeon uses numerous instru\u00adments: scalpels, scis\u00adsors, tweezers, and many other different oper\u00adating uten\u00adsils. Some are thrown away imme\u00addi\u00adately after use. Others have to be cleaned, disin\u00adfected, and ster\u00adil\u00adized before they return to the oper\u00adating room.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\n

01<\/strong> Cleaning begins<\/h4>\n

In hospi\u00adtals, the thermal disin\u00adfector is located between an unclean room, from which it is loaded, and the clean\u00adroom, where the cleaned instru\u00adments are picked up. There\u00adfore, it has two doors. Before loading, a specialist pre-cleans the instru\u00adments manu\u00adally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

02<\/strong> The washing program<\/h4>\n

As with a normal house\u00adhold dish\u00adwasher, it switches between washing and rinsing phases. However, the processes in a thermal disin\u00adfector, such as supplying cleaning chem\u00adi\u00adcals, are controlled much more precisely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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03<\/strong> Disin\u00adfec\u00adtion<\/h4>\n

Deminer\u00adal\u00adized water is used for the washing process in the disin\u00adfec\u00adtion phase. Normal tap water contains too many foreign bodies, such as salts, that could remain on the objects. During disin\u00adfec\u00adtion, the temper\u00ada\u00adture must remain constant at 90 to 93 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

04<\/strong> Drying<\/h4>\n

The drying process comes at the end of the program. Bonfer\u00adraro devel\u00adoped a finely balanced system for this process. There, the blower over\u00adcomes the HEPA filter with high pres\u00adsure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Depending on the selected program, the entire rinsing program takes between 25 minutes and just under two hours. From the clean\u00adroom side, the disin\u00adfected instru\u00adments are removed, bagged and then put into the ster\u00adil\u00adizer. Only then are they ready to be used for the next oper\u00ada\u00adtion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hospi\u00adtals and labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries are subject to strin\u00adgent hygiene require\u00adments. Simply cleaning uten\u00adsils used in oper\u00ada\u00adtions, such as scis\u00adsors, tweezers, clamps, test tubes, and pipettes is not suffi\u00adcient, because the biggest danger is invis\u00adible to the naked eye: bacteria, viruses, or chem\u00adical residues can falsify measure\u00adment results in labo\u00adra\u00adto\u00adries or, in the worst case scenario, can [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blowers","category-medical"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15917"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15973,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917\/revisions\/15973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}