Claims
- 1. An apparatus for monitoring a cleaning process for a medical instrument, comprising:a chamber for receiving and cleaning the instrument with a cleaning liquid; a standard containing a predetermined amount of soil positioned in the chamber or in controllable fluid communication with the chamber, wherein said standard is in fluid communication with the liquid in said chamber; and a detector adapted to provide an indication of the amount of the soil on the standard without removing the standard from said chamber; and a sterilizer suitable to sterilize the cleaned instrument in the apparatus.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is a signal selected from the group consisting of concentration of the soil, electrical potential, conductivity, transparency to certain wave length, or color of a cleaning/rinsing liquid used for the cleaning.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2, additionally comprising a light source which generates a light beam of a predetermined wave length which travels through said standard and reaches said detector.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the standard is placed in an enclosure in controllable fluid communication with the chamber.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the detector comprises an electrode located in the enclosure.
- 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector is selected from the group consisting of ion-selective electrodes, conductivity, spectrophotometry, ion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography, radioactivity, gravimetry, infra-red spectroscopy, potentiometry and turbidimetry.
- 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vacuum pump connected to said chamber, wherein said chamber also functions as a vacuum chamber.
- 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sterilization system.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefits of Provisional Application No. 60/049,351, entitled “DETECTION OF CLEANLINESS OF A MEDICAL DEVICE DURING A WASHING PROCESS”, filed on Jun. 11, 1997.
US Referenced Citations (43)
Foreign Referenced Citations (5)
Number |
Date |
Country |
44 37 103 |
Apr 1996 |
DE |
196 02 673 |
Aug 1997 |
DE |
2 248 188 |
Jan 1992 |
GB |
2 248 188 |
Apr 1992 |
GB |
WO 9727482 |
Jul 1997 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/049351 |
Jun 1997 |
US |