Patent ID: 7803317

Claim:
A method for removing biological contaminants from an object, comprising the steps of: providing a vacuum chamber having a plurality of inner walls surrounding an internal space, inserting the object into the internal space, evacuating the internal space by means of a vacuum pump to an internal pressure of less than 50 Pa, heating the object in the internal space by means of at least one heat radiator arranged in the internal space remote from the object, and heating the plurality of internal walls by means of a casing heater designed to heat all the internal walls, supplying a gaseous chemical decontamination agent into the internal space, and ventilating the internal space subsequently, wherein formation of condensation of the gaseous chemical decontamination agent in the internal space is prevented by use of the at least one heat radiator and the casing heater, wherein a pressure rise and a temperature in the internal space is determined while the internal space is being filled with the gaseous chemical decontamination agent, and wherein the concentration of the gaseous chemical decontamination agent in the internal space is controlled as a function of the pressure rise and the temperature in the internal space in accordance with Dalton's ideal gas law.