Claims
- 1. A sterilizer for an object independent of the sterilizer itself, comprising:
- a housing;
- an emitter on said housing which irradiates an object to be sterilized with far-infrared radiation, said far-infrared radiation itself having sterilization capability; and
- a liquid supply on said housing which supplies liquid over the object, said liquid being capable of absorbing far-infrared radiation to thereby assist the sterilization capability of the far-infrared radiation;
- wherein said emitter irradiates an object with far-infrared radiation during a predetermined time period for preventing the temperature of the object from exceeding a predetermined level.
- 2. A sterilizer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined time period is from 3 seconds to 20 seconds.
- 3. A sterilizer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said liquid supply includes means for atomizing the liquid and spraying the atomized liquid onto the object.
- 4. A sterilizer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said liquid is a mixture of water and ethanol.
- 5. A method for sterilizing an object, comprising the steps of:
- supplying liquid over an object to be sterilized, said liquid having a far-infrared absorbing attribute to thereby assist the sterilization capability of far-infrared radiation;
- irradiation the object with far-infrared radiation after supplying the liquid, said far-infrared radiation itself having sterilization capability; and
- stopping the irradiation of the object after a predetermined time period for preventing the temperature of the object from exceeding a predetermined level.
- 6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said predetermined time period is from 3 seconds to 20 seconds.
- 7. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said supplying step includes the step of atomizing the liquid and spraying the atomized liquid onto the object.
- 8. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said liquid is a mixture of water and ethanol.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
6-053787 |
Mar 1994 |
JPX |
|
6-115324 |
May 1994 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/409,657, field Mar. 24, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,119.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5039865 |
Koji |
Aug 1991 |
|
5164166 |
Stepanski et al. |
Nov 1992 |
|
5714119 |
Kawagoe et al. |
Feb 1998 |
|
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
409657 |
Mar 1995 |
|