The present invention relates to disposal of hospital waste and in particular to disposal of trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material.
Hospital waste material including trace chemo waste material, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material poses a threat to any human or animal which may come into contact with this waste material. As a result, the disposal of trace chemo waste material, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material is highly regulated. Known methods for disposal include incineration or dangerous chemicals. In many areas such disposal methods are bared by regulations, and the trace chemo waste material, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material must be packaged and transported at significant expense. Such transportation present additional potential risks in the event of an accident. Therefore, an apparatus and method are needed for on-site disposal of trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material.
The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing an improved apparatus and method for on-site disposal of waste material including trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps, without the use of chemicals or incineration, and without requiring the waste material to be packaged and shipped to a location where incineration is allowed. The waste material is dropped into a high temperature crucible. The crucible is heated to at least 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit by inductive heating to disintegrate the waste material. The crucible is filled with nitrogen which depletes any oxygen entering the crucible to prevent oxidization of the waste material in the crucible.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus and method for on-site disposal of trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material which includes a very high temperature crucible for disintegrating trace chemo material and for sterilizing sharps waste. The crucible is preferably an inductive furnace operating at about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Both the trace chemo material and trace chemo container, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps containers, are disintegrated in a single step reducing material handling requirements.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus and method for on-site disposal of trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material. The method includes providing a continuous flow of nitrogen into the crucible, inductively heating a crucible to operating temperature, placing containers containing waste material above the crucible, opening two crucible loading doors, releasing the waste material into the crucible, immediately closing the two crucible loading doors, holding the waste material in the crucible for a period of time to disinfect the waste material, opening a release door of the disposal machine, releasing the disinfected waste material from the disposal machine, and depositing the disinfected waste material into a waste storage container.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.
The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.
A perspective view of a trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material disposal machine 10 according to the present invention is shown in
A side view of a waste material disposal machine is shown in
Loading pneumatic cylinders 15a and 15b simultaneously actuate loading doors 14a and the waste material drops into the disposal machine 10, and in particular, into the crucible 16. The doors 15a and 15b are vertically separated by about six inches and the bottom door 14b seals against the top of the crucible 20. Waste containers (for example, yellow trace chemo containers) are released into the crucible 20 for disintegration along with the trace chemo waste material. A bottom release door 14c is opened by a pneumatic cylinder 15c after a period of time and releases disinfected waste material from the disposal machine 10. The second loading door 14b cooperates with seals to prevent or reduce the entry of oxygen into the crucible 20 during operation.
The crucible 20 and an inductive coil 20 of the waste material disposal machine 10 is shown in
Electrically conducting straps 44 are shown attached around the crucible liner 42 in
A cross-sectional view of the crucible 20 taken along line 5-5 of
An example of a suitable induction furnace for use as the crucible 20 is an EKPHeat 50/10 manufactured by Ambrell Precision Inductive Heating in Scottsville, N.Y. The EKPHeat 50/10 operates on 50 kW at 5-15 kHz.
A method for disposing of trace chemo, expired pharmaceuticals, and sharps waste material is shown in
The method may further include cooling the exterior of the crucible by circulating coolant through tubing which also creates the magnetic field for inductive heating.
Expanding to more detail, the method operator steps including:
actuating a start button;
providing power to the crucible heating element (the crucible preferably remains heated until shut down at an end of the current shift);
waiting for the crucible to reach operating temp, preferably within five minutes;
placing a waste material container in a load station area;
positioning the container above the disposal machine thereby actuating a limit switch to verify that the container is in place;
starting an operating cycle;
starting the auger;
starting the after burner (which includes a pilot light which lights a gas burner);
actuating a release switch to actuate a loading pneumatic cylinder which opens a loading door;
releasing the container and contents to drop into the disposal machine and into the crucible;
immediately closing the two crucible loading doors (e.g., in two to three seconds);
providing a dwell time (e.g., about one minute) for the container and contents to completely disintegrating the container and contents at the crucible operating temperature;
after the dwell time has expired, opening a release door under the crucible;
releasing the disinfected material into a chute under the disposal machine;
closing the release door; and
carrying disinfected waste material to a waste storage container.
Further, if the temperature in the crucible drops below 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, operation is suspended until the temperature rises above 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.