Hospital waste disposal system.

摘要

A system for disposing of large amounts of infectious hospital waste includes a generally sealed enclosure containing an apparatus for delivery, disintegration, and decontamination of waste materials. A conveyor arrangement provides a positive delivery of large waste containers to be disposed to a disintegrator while preventing material from being thrown from the disintegrator. The disintegrator comprises two disintegrating, processors including at least one rotating hammermill, so as to jointly be capable of effectively disintegrating articles of substantial size. In one embodiment two large counter-rotating hammermills are utilized. The system enclosure is maintained at a negative pressure and adapted to prevent escape of airborne contamination from the system. A variety of protective features are also incorporated into the system to clear the disintegrator in cases of overload, to avoid power surges upon system start-up, and to effect an orderly shutdown of the system.