Technical Articles: Operation of Portable High-pressure Steam Sterilizer/Autoclave

1. Stacking: Wrap the medicines to be prepared and place them sequentially on the sieve plate in the barrel. Appropriate gaps should be left between packages to facilitate the overflow of cold air in the barrel and the penetration of steam.

2. Add water: Add 4 liters of clean water into the main body of the device. The water will gradually evaporate during the extinguishing process, and the water level will decrease accordingly. Therefore, before each use, the amount of water in the main body should be replenished to prevent the electric heating tube from dehydrating and burning and damaging the electric heating tube.

3. Sealing: Put the bucket into the main body of the device, insert the hose on the lid into the semi-groove on the inner wall of the bucket, and close the lid. Align the bolt grooves on the cover with the bolt grooves on the main body, then sequentially insert the wing nuts in opposite directions into the grooves and tighten them evenly to make the cover and the main body tightly fit.

4. Heating: Insert the power plug into the 10A/220V external power socket. Turn the power switch to the "on" position, the power indicator light will light up, and the electric heating tube will begin to heat. Then move the release valve wrench to the "deflate" position. When there is a rapid burst of steam, move the release valve wrench to the "close" position. At this time, the pointer of the pressure gauge slowly rotates in the clockwise direction, and the pressure in the display is gradually rising, and at the same time, the temperature rises.

5. When the internal pressure reaches the required range, the user can start calculating the time by himself. According to different items and packaging, refer to (Table 1) to determine the required time. During the process, the user can adjust the heat source appropriately by turning the power switch "on" or "off", or connect a voltage-regulating transformer to appropriately lower the voltage so that the internal pressure is in a stable state. However, the pressure required to maintain constant internal pressure cannot fall below a user-selected value. If the user does not adopt the above method of controlling the heat source, the safety valve will intermittently release overpressure steam to the outside during the process. At this time, the internal set pressure is 0.165MPa.

6. Drying: For items such as instruments, dressings and utensils that need to be dried quickly after completion, the steam inside can be quickly discharged through the release valve at the end. Wait for the pressure gauge pointer to return to the "0" scale, and then wait for 1 After ~2 minutes, open the lid.  After opening the lid, continue heating for 10 to 15 minutes to evaporate the remaining water vapor on the items. Then turn the power switch to the "off" position to stop heating.

7. Cooling: After finishing liquids such as culture media, do not quickly discharge the steam through the release valve to avoid dangerous accidents such as overflow or bottle rupture caused by violent boiling of the liquid. Therefore, after finishing such items, you should first turn the power switch to the "off" position, stop heating, and wait for it to cool down until the pointer of the pressure gauge returns to the "0" scale. Wait a few minutes before unscrewing the release valve. Turn to the "steam release" position. Then the cover can be opened.

8. Check: The required temperature and time should be checked frequently with a thermometer, indicator or bacterial culture method to obtain reliable results.