Patent ID: 8404191

Claim:
A control unit for a waste sterilizer ( 100 , 200 ), comprising: a computing device ( 108 , 206 ); a controller ( 110 ) hosted by the computing device ( 108 , 206 ); a parameters manager ( 402 ) in the controller ( 110 ) to indicate a type of waste to be sterilized and to enable input and selection of sterilization benchmarks, including: temperatures; an associated pressure for each temperature; a time of exposure for each temperature and pressure combination; wherein each temperature, pressure, and time of exposure combination is sufficient to sterilize the waste; a sterilization cycler ( 404 ) in the controller ( 110 ), including: a transport manager ( 422 ); a shredding manager ( 424 ); a valve controller ( 426 ); a temperature controller ( 428 ); a pressure controller ( 430 ); an exposure time controller ( 432 ); wherein the transport manager ( 422 ) controls a speed of transport of the waste to ensure sterilization of the waste material given the sterilization conditions; wherein the transport manager ( 422 ) selects a number of transport cycles for the waste to cycle through the waste sterilizer ( 100 , 200 ) to ensure sterilization of the waste given the sterilization conditions; wherein the transport manager ( 422 ) selects a number of cycles for the waste to pass through a shredder ( 112 , 210 ) and wherein the shredding manager ( 424 ) signals the shredder ( 112 , 210 ) to shred the waste to a smaller shred size with each cycle; wherein the transport manager ( 422 ) adjusts a speed of transport in real time in proportion to sterilization conditions; and wherein the control unit further comprising: a compliance engine, including: a quality assurance engine; a power failure manager; a shut-off controller; a reset module; a safety manager, including: a safety indicator module; an air quality module; a self-disinfection module; a diagnostics engine, including a malfunction analyzer; an alarm module; a reporting module, including; a cycle documenter; process data storage; and a network or modem interface.