Let us consider the operation of this sterilizer in a typical small hospital or surgical center.
The first person that comes to work in the morning would turn the machine on and fill the sterilizer with distilled water. During the sterilizer’s warm up period, this person is free to do other tasks, such as wrapping or cleaning the instruments, getting the room ready for the upcoming procedure etc.
After the machine is up to temperature, the “READY” light will come on indicating that the sterilization process can now begin. The boiler pressure gauge will indicate about 130 psig. The operator would then load the chamber with those items that needed to be sterilized. When the chamber has been loaded the operator would then close and latch the door. The manual control would then be rotated to the sterilize position.
Immediately a hissing sound is heard as the steam is being injected into the chamber. Other “cracking” sounds will be heard as the chamber is expanding and other parts are functioning. These sounds will end in about 10 seconds. In about 20 seconds, the “CHAMBER PRESSURE” will be about 45 psig and the sterilization cycle will begin.
Let us assume that we have loaded the unit with wrapped instruments. After one minute of operation the “1 minute” light will illuminate. If we had unwrapped instruments it would now be safe to end the sterilization cycle. Nine minutes later the “10-minute” light will illuminate, indicating the end of the sterilization cycle.
At the end of either the one or ten minute cycle, the manual control valve would then be rotated to the “STANDBY / VENT” position. A hissing sound will again be heard as the steam is vented back into the reservoir. At this point the steam is being condensed back into water in order to minimize water consumption.
When the “CHAMBER PRESSURE” drops to zero the chamber door can be unlatched and opened.
At this point, you now have sterilized instruments that are not dry. If you are willing to let them air dry and not be baked dry in the sterilizer, then another sterilization cycle could immediately begin.
If you want the machine to bake dry the instruments, then the door would be left opened about 1 inch to permit air flow. In about 10 minutes, these wrapped instruments will be sufficiently dry and can be handled. AT THIS TIME THE STERILIZER IS READY TO START ANOTHER CYCLE!
Let us summarize the operation of this sterilizer. From the moment, that you put the wrapped instruments into the sterilizer until they were dry and ready to be handled takes about 20 minutes. If during this sterilization cycle someone had been cleaning and wrapping other instruments, the machine could now be loaded, and another cycle could begin. It becomes almost impossible for one person that is wrapping instruments, to ever get ahead of this sterilizer. If we were to be using the “one minute” cycle, then from the moment of closing the door until the moment that the instruments could be removed from the sterilizer would be about 1 ½ minutes. This includes the compressing and decompressing time of the chamber. If someone was willing to handle the hot instrument tray, then the sterilizer could be refilled with unwrapped instruments and the cycle could start again.
