Patent ID: 7112770

Claim:
A humidification system for providing substantially micro-organism free water vapor into an airflow conduit flowing a quantity of air therethrough, said system comprising: a vessel for containing a quantity of water, wherein the water contains micro-organisms, said vessel including an inlet valve for admitting water into said vessel; an oven for containing said vessel and heating said water to a temperature, and for a duration, sufficient to at least substantially remove said micro-organisms and to generate a substantially micro-organism free steam; a vapor outlet conduit for channeling said substantially micro-organism free steam into said airflow conduit to humidify said air flowing through said airflow conduit; and a controller for controlling said drain valve and said inlet valve, and for turning on and off said microwave oven, said controller further controlling said drain valve such that an entire quantity of heated water is drained from said vessel before said controller causes said inlet valve to admit a fresh quantity of water into said vessel.