DK149799B - WASHING MACHINE FOR CLEANING, DISINFECTING AND DRYING OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT - Google Patents

Description

149799

The invention relates to a washing machine of the kind set forth in the preamble of claim 1.

The cleaning, disinfecting and drying of anesthetic equipment parts, such as respiratory masks, folding tubes, breathing bags, etc., take a very long time in the known embodiments. Time is largely determined by the drying process, and it is especially in the deep folds of the folding tubes that humidity can stay the longest.

Known cleaning and disinfecting apparatus work with fully automatic consecutive cleaning, disinfecting and drying operations. They have in a syringe chamber a removable syringe rack for accommodating the parts to be treated, such as folding tubes and masks. Six folding hoses can be placed side by side in the syringe rack. Thereby, 5 each folding hose is pushed with its two open ends over semicircular syringe arms on the syringe rack. Through the spray arms, the folding hoses are sprayed internally with the rinse aid. The masks are placed in a separate holder. A turbulator on the bottom of the syringe chamber provides for the treatment of the outer surfaces of the parts to be cleaned and disinfected. Then, in the program run, a cleaning operation with detergents, two rinsing operations, a disinfection solution with disinfectant solution and two further rinsing operations follow one after another. The last flushing operation occurs at 80 ° C. The drying occurs after opening of the flush chamber cover by evaporation of the pending water by means of heat from the purified parts. It is a disadvantage that only small amounts of moisture can be removed by evaporation, and in particular, large folds of water remain in the folds of the folding tubes, which cannot be sufficiently removed alone by evaporation.

A cleaning, disinfecting and drying apparatus is known for respiratory masks, respiratory tubes and respiratory bags which use a drum washer. Perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the drum has holding rods for accommodating hose magazines, bag magazines and meshes in holders. These parts are retained on the retaining rods by clamping means. One open end of the drying time determining hose tubes is inserted into open tubes in the tubing magazines, while the other hanging end after attaching the tubing magazine to the retaining rod is wound on the drum and held by means of some clamps affixed to the retaining rod. The drying also applies here, as already explained, that the deep folds of the retained water determine the drying time (DT-OS 25 19 501).

A washing machine is specially designed to wash the cloths known under the term "wash and wear". These garments are not ironed after being washed. When washed and dried, they can thus be removed curly out of the machine.

This is only possible when the pieces of clothing can hang freely throughout the treatment. In doing so, they are hung on correspondingly shaped holders. The cleaning, rinsing and also the drying requires the movement of a lot of water past the material, and preferably through this as well. With this known washing machine this is simplified by shaking the cloths. Because of these additional forces, the water is forced to move as desired. When controlled, the movements back and forth can be performed at 10 different speeds. The shaking movements serve to intensify the actual washing of the clothes. A prerequisite, however, is that the pieces of clothing to be treated consist of a material which is self-permeable (US-PS 3 114 919).

15 For another device for washing and drying dirty clothes, articles of clothing and the like, the same applies when the laundry is also moved back and forth quickly, ie. in the horizontal direction (OE-AS 2014 161).

The object of the invention is to improve a washing machine for washing, disinfecting and drying objects which cannot be penetrated by water and which have voids accessible to the detergent, so that in particular the time required for the drying itself is reduced and so that the drying thereby become more efficient.

25

The washing machine according to the invention is characterized in that, by means of an elastically arranged magazine holder, the folding hoses are freely suspended in the magazine and during the drying are set in shaking movements in a vertical direction and that the magazine holder is fixed to the rack by means of springs and is in shock contact with a elastically connected to a nozzle system connected to water and air supply lines, which are moved vertically by means of a vibration generator.

Hereby, a washing machine is provided which ensures that the medical equipment, such as folding hoses, placed in this medical device is subjected to an efficient erection and a quick and efficient drying. This is mainly because the nozzle system is thus in relation to the medical equipment, that both external and internal parts thereof are subjected to the influence of the nozzles, both during the washing process and during the drying process. The particular problems associated with folding tubes and their many internal voids in which "dirt" and water can "hide" are subjected to such an effect that such exposed voids are also effectively cleaned. The shaking effects hereby contribute to stretching the hoses so that the folds therein are straightened, whereby the water can flow everywhere into the folds and later away from them again.

In addition, during the shaking operation, the folding tubes hanging in the magazine are moved in a vertical direction so strongly that during drying it helps to completely shake out the adhesive water both internally and externally on the folds. Due to the shortened drying time, the medical equipment can be re-used much faster than before.

The magazine is advantageously lifted with a means available for the operation of the washing machine, such as air, water or electric current. The propulsion of the shaking movements is advantageous in a simple way pneumatic, hydrodynamic or electric.

In the following, the invention is explained with reference to the drawing, which schematically shows a washing machine according to the invention, seen from the side.

The washing machine 1 serves for the cleaning, disinfection and drying of medical appliances and equipment. The necessary apparatus for water and air supply is known in the art. By means of nozzle system 2, the processing takes place in the interior of the equipment, e.g. in folding tubes 3, and external cleaning is done by means of water wheels 4.

The parts to be treated are inserted into the washing machine's inner compartment 6 on a roll 5 which can be moved on rollers. The frame 5 has an elastically supported magazine holder 9 on the side frames 7 of springs 8, in which magazines 10 can be inserted, upon which