Patent ID: 8658092
Filing Date: 2014-02-25
Classification: A61L

Abstract:
1. A method of sterilizing an article using a sterilant solution having a sterilant and a solvent, in a sterilization system having a sterilization chamber, a vaporizer, a first main flow passage that provides a flow path between the vaporizer and the sterilization chamber and is controlled by a main flow passage valve, and a second orifice flow passage that provides a flow path between the vaporizer and the sterilization chamber through an orifice and is controlled by an orifice control valve; the method comprising the steps of: placing the vaporizer into fluid communication with the sterilization chamber through the orifice in the second orifice flow passage only, the sterilization chamber being at a lower pressure than the vaporizer; vaporizing the sterilant solution in the vaporizer; increasing the ratio of sterilant to solvent in the vaporizer by preferentially drawing a vapor phase of the solvent out of the vaporizer through the orifice in the second orifice flow passage and exhausting at least a portion of the vapor phase of the solvent out of the sterilization chamber; isolating the vaporizer from the sterilization chamber by closing the orifice control valve and lowering the pressure in the sterilization chamber; and placing the vaporizer into fluid communication with the sterilization chamber by opening the main flow passage valve and, optionally, the orifice control valve, and diffusing vaporized sterilant into the sterilization chamber through the first main flow passage and, optionally, the second orifice flow passage and into contact with the article.