Sterilization tray and moist heat sterilization method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10219532-B2
Application number	US-201615144883-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2016
Priority date	Nov 5, 2013
Publication date	Mar 5, 2019
Grant date	Mar 5, 2019

Abstract

A sterilization tray is composed of a tray body and a pressing member capable of moving in a direction perpendicular to the tray body. The bottom of the tray body is formed from a perforated plate through which high pressure steam or hot water passes at the time of moist heat sterilization, and a frame of the pressing member is formed from a porous member through which steam or hot water passes. When plural sterilization trays are stacked in a state in which a resin container (multi-chamber container) 1 is placed on the sterilization tray, the peripheral edge of an empty chamber part of the resin container is pressed by the pressing member of the sterilization tray stacked above, and deformation of the resin container during the moist heat sterilization can be prevented.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sterilization tray comprising:
a tray having, on a bottom part thereof, first voids through which at least steam or hot water passes at a time of moist heat sterilization, and configured to place, on the bottom part, a resin container filled with a liquid or a liquid mixed with a solid; and
a pressing member configured to be placed on the bottom part of the tray so as to hold the resin container between the bottom part of the tray and the pressing member, the pressing member having second voids through which at least steam or hot water passes at the time of moist heat sterilization so as not to prevent sterilization of a part of the resin container, held between the bottom part of the tray and the pressing member, the pressing member pressing at least the peripheral edge of the resin container placed on the tray, between the pressing member and the tray, and preventing deformation of the resin container at the time of moist heat sterilization.

2. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein the tray is constructed from a perforated plate, wire gauze, or a porous member.

3. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein the pressing member is constructed from a porous member, or from a porous member and a weight.

4. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein the pressing member presses at least a region that is not filled with a liquid in the resin container.

5. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein the resin container has a filled part filled with a liquid or a liquid mixed with a solid; and an empty chamber part, and a region in which the resin container is pressed by the pressing member is an entire region of the empty chamber part or a peripheral edge of the empty chamber part.

6. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein the tray is formed into a shape with which the tray can be stacked in a state of accommodating the resin container, and the pressing member is attached in a direction perpendicular to the tray in a freely movable manner and presses the resin container accommodated in second tray immediately therebelow at the time of stacking of the tray and the second tray.

7. The sterilization tray according to claim 6 , wherein the pressing member has a spring between the pressing member and the tray, and a biasing force exerted by the spring is applied as a pressing force.

8. A sterilization tray comprising:
a tray having first voids through which at least steam or hot water passes at a time of moist heat sterilization, and having placed thereon a resin container filled with a liquid or a liquid mixed with a solid; and
a pressing member having second voids through which at least steam or hot water passes at the time of moist heat sterilization, the pressing member pressing at least the peripheral edge of the resin container placed on the tray, between the pressing member and the tray, and preventing deformation of the resin container at the time of moist heat sterilization,
wherein the resin container has a filled part and an empty chamber part and wherein the tray has a level difference between a bottom face on which the filled part of the resin container is placed and a bottom face on which the empty chamber part is placed, and the bottom face on which the empty chamber part is placed is formed to be higher by a height equivalent to one-half the height of the filled part than the bottom face on which the filled part of the resin container is placed.

9. The sterilization tray according to claim 6 , wherein the tray has an accommodation part accommodating plural resin containers side by side, and plural pressing members are attached to the tray correspondingly to the plural resin containers accommodated in the tray and are independently attached to the tray in a freely movable manner.

10. The sterilization tray according to claim 1 , wherein
in the tray, the bottom on which the resin container is placed is formed from a perforated plate; and
in openings formed in the perforated plate, when a diameter, in a case in which the openings are round holes, or the minimum width, in a case in which the openings are long holes, is designated as a representative opening length, the representative opening length is from 0.3 mm to 3.3 mm, and
an opening ratio of the perforated plate is from 2.5% to 15%.

11. The sterilization tray according to claim 10 , wherein the representative opening length is from 0.3 mm to 3 mm, and the opening ratio of the perforated plate is from 2.5% to 10%.

12. The sterilization tray according to claim 10 , wherein the representative opening length is from 0.8 mm to 1.5 mm, and the opening ratio of the perforated plate is from 4% to 8%.

13. A moist heat sterilization method for sterilizing a resin container filled with a liquid or a liquid mixed with a solid by means of steam or hot water, the method comprising:
preparing a tray having first voids through which at least steam or hot water passes and a pressing member having second voids through which at least steam or hot water passes;
placing the resin container on a bottom part of the tray;
placing the pressing member on the bottom part of the tray so as to hold the resin container between the bottom part of the tray and the pressing member to press at least the peripheral edge of the resin container between the pressing member and the tray as a pre sin process; and
sterilizing the resin container in a state of being pressed by means of steam or hot water,
wherein the sterilizing includes sterilizing a part of the resin container, held between the bottom part of the tray and the pressing member, with steam or hot water passing through second voids provided in the pressing member.

14. The moist heat sterilization method according to claim 13 , wherein the pressing process is carried out by pressing by means of the pressing member's own weight.

15. The moist heat sterilization method according to claim 13 , wherein the pressing process is carried out by pressing by means of the pressing member's own weight and a weight placed on top of the pressing member.

16. The moist heat sterilization method according to claim 13 , wherein the pressing process is carried out by pressing by means of the pressing member's own weight and a spring that urges the pressing member from a top side.

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Kato Nobuhiko
• Urabe Takashi
• Kano Michiko

Classifications

• A61L2103/23

  Containers other than laboratory or medical, e.g. bottles or mail · CPC title

• A61J1/10

  Bag-type containers · CPC title

• A61L2/07

  Steam · CPC title

• A23V2002/00

  Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs · CPC title

• A23L3/001

  Human Necessities · mapped topic