Abstract:
A portable medical sanitation device includes a power source, a solid-state UV light source for outputting UV light (e.g. within the UV-C band), a controller for directing the plurality of solid-state UV light sources to output UV light, a sterilization chamber comprising a cavity having side-walls having the solid-state UV light source coupled thereto, wherein the sterilization chamber is configured to receive UV light from the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, and wherein the side-walls are configured to reflect UV light incident thereto, and a housing configured to contain the power source, the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, the controller and the sterilization chamber.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED CASES 
       [0001]    The present invention is a non-provisional of and claims priority to U.S. Application No. 62/256,003 filed Nov. 16, 2015, incorporated by reference herein, for all purposes. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to the field of medical device sanitation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a just-in-time or on-demand medical device sanitation devices and methods. 
         [0003]    Previously, reusable medical equipment are subject to sanitation regiments to reduce cross-contamination of diseases or pathogens from one patient to another patient. Sanitation regiments for metallic equipment, e.g. scalpels, drills, etc. typically include high-temperature steam-baking (autoclaving) procedures; whereas for soft goods, e.g. catheters, probes, etc. typically include alcohol or other sanitizing material wipe down procedures. 
         [0004]    The inventors of the present invention have determined that there are potential problems with typical hospital sanitation regiments. More specifically, after sanitation, the medical device may sit on a shelf for months before it is used. In that state, germs, viruses, and other pathogens that have not completely been removed by the sanitation regiments may spread; pathogens may be airborne and land upon the equipment; and the like. In such situations, the stored medical equipment is used on patients without further sanitation. 
         [0005]    In light of the above, what is desired are methods and devices for medical device sanitation without the drawbacks discussed above. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present invention relates to the field of medical device sanitation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a medical device sanitation devices and methods. 
         [0007]    Embodiments of the present invention include a portable medical sanitation device that can sterilize medical devices just before they are used, or shortly before the devices are used. Embodiments include a portable device including a UV sterilization chamber. Medical devices can be placed in the UV sterilization chamber and exposed to UV light within the UV-C band, before the devices are to be used. Various embodiments use proprietary UV-C LEDs thus UV exposure time is typically short, e.g. less than 30 seconds, depending upon the intensity of UV light provided, thus the sterilization is considered just-in-time or on-demand. 
         [0008]    In various embodiments, solid-state UV light sources, e.g. UV-LEDs, are used to provide the UV light. The inventors believe that there are substantial advantages of using solid-state device, as compared to mercury tube UV light sources. Some advantages include that solid-state devices have much lower power requirements, so that the sanitation devices may reliably run on a battery for substantial periods of time. This greatly increases the portability, flexibility and convenience of such sanitation devices. Other advantages include that longevity of solid-state UV light sources is believed to be much greater than UV mercury lights as mercury lights typically use fragile glass tubes, and as repeated power on/off cycles are known to reduce the longevity of the mercury bulb. Still other advantages includes that solid-state UV light sources do not include hazardous materials such as mercury and breakage of solid-state UV LEDs do not poison workers and do not contaminate the working environment. The inventors consider such advantages particularly important within the health care environment. 
         [0009]    In one aspect of the invention, a portable medical sanitation device is disclosed. One apparatus includes a power source, and a plurality of solid-state UV light sources coupled to the power source, wherein the plurality of solid-state UV light sources are configured to output UV light within the UV-C frequency band. A device may include a controller coupled to the power source and to the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, wherein the controller is configured to direct the plurality of solid-state UV light sources to output UV light, and a sterilization chamber coupled to the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, wherein the sterilization chamber comprises a cavity having side-walls, wherein the sterilization chamber is configured to receive UV light within the UV-C frequency band from the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, and wherein the side-walls are configured to reflect or disperse UV light incident thereto. In some systems, a housing is configured to contain the power source, the plurality of solid-state UV light sources, the controller and the sterilization chamber. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    In order to more fully understand the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings are not to be considered limitations in the scope of the invention, the presently described embodiments and the presently understood best mode of the invention are described with additional detail through use of the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of embodiments of the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIGS. 2A-2B  illustrate cross-sections of various embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of various embodiments of the present invention. In  FIG. 1 , a sterilization device  100  is disclosed including a housing  110 , a sterilization chamber  120 , a plurality of UV LEDs  130 , a power supply  140 , a controller  150 , a memory  160 , a communications portion  170 , and a user indicator  180 . As can be seen, a door  105  is illustrated that closes an opening of sterilization chamber  120 . Inside sterilization chamber  120  a medical device  190  is illustrated receiving UV-C light  115 . 
         [0014]    In various embodiments, sterilization device  100  is a hand-held, portable device that includes its own power supply  140 , e.g. batteries (e.g. rechargeable battery). Within sanitation device  100 , processor  150  controls the sterilization process, storage of data, and other operations of device, as will be described-below. As shown, device  100  includes multiple solid-state UV-C light sources  130 , e.g. LEDs, that provide UV-C light  115 . In various embodiments, solid-state UV-C light sources, under development by the assignee of the present application, are used. Accordingly, the sterilization process is very quick, e.g. &lt;2 minutes, &lt;1 minute, &lt;30 seconds, or the like, and can be performed immediately before the medical device is required to be used. 
         [0015]    In various embodiments, sterilization chamber  120  may be constructed of one or more materials having an interior surface that reflects and/or disperses UV-C light. In some examples, chamber  120  may include a shiny or textured material such as: aluminum, stainless steel, silver, Teflon, or the like. In other examples, chamber  120  may include an outer base surface material made of plastic, glass, metal, or the like and have an interior coating of Teflon, silver, aluminum or other UV reflective or dispersive material. In various embodiments, sterilization chamber  120  may be approximately cylindrical (e.g. circular, ovoid); approximately prismatic (e.g. triangular, rectangular, quadrilateral, hexagonal); or any other shape. Additionally, the bases or side-walls of chamber  120  need not be parallel in some embodiments. 
         [0016]    In some embodiments, an input device  125  may be provided to capture an identifier of the medical device and/or an identifier of the user of the sterilization device. In some examples, reader  125  may optically capture two or three dimensional bar codes, may sense an RFID tag, capture data via an NFC tag, capture GPS signals, capture Wi-Fi or other beacon signals, or the like. In other examples, input device  125  may also or alternatively include a soft or physical alphanumeric keyboard for the user to type in one or more sets of data that are used to identify the medical device being sterilized and/or the identity of the user, or the like. 
         [0017]    In various embodiments, memory  160  may be used to store one or more sterilization routines that are executable on processor  150 . For example, one sterilization routine may be provided for clear plastic devices that specifies 30 seconds of UV light; another sterilization routine may be provided for opaque plastic devices that specifies 120 seconds of UV light; still other sterilization routines may be provided for tubing of different composition; and the like. Additionally, memory  160  may be used to store usage data, indicating when a sterilization process is initiated. In some examples, the identification data captured by input device  125  (e.g. identifier of the device being sanitized; identifier of the person performing the request; identifier of the geographic location or logical location (e.g. room number or station of the health-care facility) where the device is sanitized; time; and the like may also be stored in memory  160 . These data together may be stored in a data log for evidentiary/certification purposes, for example, to certify that patient-safety best-practices are followed within a hospital. 
         [0018]    In  FIG. 1 , a communications portion  170  is provided to support wired and/or wireless communication between sterilization device  100  and a remote device, e.g. a hospital database server, a smart device (e.g. iPhone), or the like. Data transferred may include data from memory  160 , including any of the usage data discussed above, firmware data, and the like. In various embodiments, wired connections may include: USB, Firewire, Apple Lightning, or the like. In addition or alternatively, embodiments may include wireless communication mechanisms, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, Zigbee, Zwave, cellular data (e.g. 4G, LTE, 3G), IR, or the like. 
         [0019]    In some embodiments, an indicator portion  180  may include one or more indicator lights (e.g. LED), a display, a speaker, a vibrating device, or the like. Indicator portion  180  may be used to provide a status to the user, such as: when a sterilization process is being performed; when the sterilization process is finished; if the sterilization process is not complete; when sterilization device  100  is on; when sterilization device  100  is transmitting data, and the like. 
         [0020]    Embodiments that have additional or less functionality are contemplated. For example, in one embodiment, sterilization device  100  may include a housing  110 , a power supply,  140 , a sterilization chamber  120 , and a plurality of UV LEDs  130 . Such embodiments may be paired with and controlled by the smart device. For example, using an App on an iPhone, a user may direct sterilization device  100  to begin a UV sanitation/exposure cycle (e.g. directly via the app or via a wireless messaging technique, e.g. a text message). Next, in response sterilization device  100  runs the sterilization routine (e.g. determine the device being sanitized, determine the settings, run the sanitation routine), and then the sterilization device  100  indicates (e.g. directly via the app or a wireless messaging technique, e.g. a return text message) to the iPhone that the sterilization routine is finished and the medical device is ready to use. 
         [0021]      FIGS. 2A-B  illustrate various embodiments of the present invention. In the example in  FIG. 2A , chamber  200  is illustrated including UV LEDs  210  disposed on one or both of the bases of chamber  200 . In various examples, the walls of chamber  200  need not be uniform, parallel or straight, or the like, and may vary according to the shape of the device  220  being sanitized. As illustrated, the walls of chamber  200  may help concentrate or disperse the sanitizing UV light  230  as required. In some embodiments, the end walls of chamber  200  need not be parallel or planar, and may also be shaped to help uniformly disperse UV light  230 . 
         [0022]    In the example in  FIG. 2B , a sterilization chamber  240  may be approximately cylindrical in shape and include UV LEDs  250  along the sidewalls of chamber  240 . In this embodiment, the end portions need not be flat or parallel. In other embodiments, UV LEDs  250  may be distributed via optics, e.g. fiber optics, optical plates, or the like, into sterilization chamber  240 , thus relying upon total internal reflection of the UV illumination within the optics. 
         [0023]    In light of the present disclosure, it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize additional configurations for a sterilization chamber that can be implemented. 
         [0024]    In various embodiments, a sterilization process may include the following steps: 
         [0025]    1. Receiving a medical device to sterilize in a sterilization device; 
         [0026]    2. determining automatically or manually, an identification of the medical device; 
         [0027]    3. determining automatically or manually, an identification of a user, and the device and user identifications in memory; 
         [0028]    4. the processor determining that the sterilization chamber is closed, secured, or otherwise enclosed, and the user (via direct input or via app) initiating the sanitation process: 
         [0029]    5. illuminating the UV-LEDs under direction of the processor, to provide the UV-C upon the medical device (via direct or reflection); and 
         [0030]    6 turning off the UV-LEDs off under direction of the processor when a desired amount of time has elapsed, and/or the sanitation process is stopped; 
         [0031]    7. Storing the completion data in the memory under direction of the processor; 
         [0032]    8. Subsequently, transmitting the identifier of the medical device, the user, the time, indication of completion of the sanitation cycle, and the like from the memory via the communications path to a remote device (e.g. hospital server, compliance server, or the like). 
         [0033]    In various embodiments, the sterilization chamber may be physically adapted for specific medical devices, such as an intravenous hub, a catheter, an endoscope, an ultrasonic probe, thermometer, a CPAP-type device, fluid switches, adult personal toys, or the like. 
         [0034]    In other embodiments, combinations or sub-combinations of the above disclosed invention can be advantageously made. For example, in some embodiments, the position of an opening and of a door may be situated on other portions of a sterilization chamber such as along the length-wise direction of the sterilization chamber. In some embodiments, one or more supporting structures may be provided to help suspend the object to be sanitized away from the walls of sterilization chamber. Some examples may include a metalized wire rack, transparent plastic rack, a series of thin metal (e.g. plano wire) or plastic wires (e.g. fishing line) may crisscross the sterilization chamber suspend the object, or the like. In another example, the sterilization chamber may be embodied as a drawer-type unit in a cabinet and UV LEDs may disposed on the inside of a drawer. In operation, after the drawer is pushed into the cabinet, the UV LEDs may be activated. In additional embodiments, one or more photodiodes may be included that can be exposed to the UV light from the UV LEDs. In operation, when UV light is present in the chamber, the photodiodes detect the UV light, and an indicator light may be activated on the exterior of the device, a sound may be played, or the like. 
         [0035]    Some of the embodiments described above may include a number of other capabilities, such as a portion that provides a liquid or mist immersion of the device by a disinfection liquid (e.g. alcohol), followed by or preceded by a UV-light exposure cycle. In other embodiments, heat (e.g. IR LED, heat lamp, etc.) and/or physical agitation may also be used. In some embodiments, the side-walls of the sanitizing chamber may include a UV-reactive material, such as TiO2, or the like. In such embodiments, when UV strikes the coating, active metal species of oxygen or water may be generated which in turn, react with contaminants on the surface of the chamber. The block diagrams of the architecture and flow charts are grouped for ease of understanding. However it should be understood that combinations of blocks, additions of new blocks, re-arrangement of blocks, and the like are contemplated in alternative embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0036]    The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.