CONTINUOUS-OPERATION, CLOSED-LOOP DECONTAMINATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A vaporizer (18) vaporizes liquid hydrogen peroxide or other liquid sterilants to generate a decontaminant vapor. Heaters (60, 61, 62) control the temperature of the decontaminant vapor and a carrier gas such as air. The sterilant vapor passes from the vaporizer through an inlet port (12) of a sealable chamber (10), through the chamber, through an outlet port (14) and through a fluidic circuit (16) from the outlet port back to the inlet port. A converter (20) breaks down the hydrogen peroxide into water. Blowers (22a, 22b) circulate the carrier gas through the fluidic circuit. Monitors (44, 46, 48, 54) monitor temperature, relative himidity, vapor concentration, and pressure within the chamber. A processor (42) controls a pressure fine-tuning unit (70) which adds or removes air to adjust pressure and controls an adjustable dryer (24) in accordance with the monitored temperature, relative humidity, and vapor concentration.