Ultrasonic Cleaning for Medical Industry
There exists a wide application of ultrasonic cleaning in the medical industry. It is extensively used for :
- Surgical tools cleaning.
- Endoscope tube cleaning.
- Orthopedic implants cleaning.
- Surgical blades & hypodermic needles cleaning.
- Lens cleaning.
- Veterinary tools cleaning.
Effective sterilization requires effective cleaning, and when it comes to cleaning reusable instruments and equipment, our equipment & detergents meets the most demanding criteria.
Our industrial ultrasonic cleaners are used to assist with the cleaning of instruments that cannot be adequately cleaned manually such as spiral wound instruments like biopsy forceps etc. The ultrasonic vibration at the frequency used for cleaning does not kill microorganisms and infective aerosols may be produced. It is for this reason that the lid of the tank must be tightly closed during operation.
Ultrasonic cleaners work by subjecting instruments to high frequency, high-energy sound waves. This causes the soil to be dislodged from instruments and drop to the bottom of the tank, or be sufficiently loosened that it will be removed during the rinsing process.
The detergent used in the ultrasonic tank must be carefully selected in accordance with advice from the tank’s manufacturer. Optimally it will be a neutral, low-foaming product and enzymatic cleaners will have enhanced benefits in this process.
The presence of organic material such as blood faces and respiratory secretions can result in the failure of disinfection. This may be because either the organic material protects the microorganisms from exposure to the biocide or because the biocide may be inactivated by contact with organic material. Consequently, rigorous cleaning of flexible endoscopes is required to remove such material before disinfection or sterilization. This should occur immediately after use to prevent the drying of secretions.
Orthopedic Implants Cleaning
HIGHCLEAN ULTRASONICS can provide different types of cleaning systems suitable for the cleaning of orthopedic implants for removing dust, oil, buffing compounds etc during manufacturing process.
Precision cleaning system for implants
This application is a Precision Wash Rinse Dry System for critical cleaning of medical components. It thoroughly processes a complete family of orthopedic implants that have been precision machined and polished with buffing compound. The system achieves very high cleanliness specifications in accordance with the manufacturers requirements. The line is constructed from two stainless steel modular A2PR Console Systems and runs left to right. The consoles are built upon a heavy duty I beam fabricated base for accuracy, stability and ease of shipping and installation.
Process
PREWASH with Turbo/Filter and Surface Sweep
The first stage is designed to remove the bulk of the buffing compounds using a turbo system with large capacity filtration system. The highly effective turbo action reduces the gross soils prior to precision cleaning. An oil removal system with Surface Sweep is used to remove residual organic based deposits from the compound binders.
ULTRASONIC WASH with Turbo/Filter and Surface Sweep
The second stage is designed to precision cleaning of the orthopedic implants. The precision wash uses ultrasonics combined with turbo filter. The powerful cleaning combination of the ultrasonics alternating with the turbo greatly accelerates the cleaning process and yields superior results.
Rinsing
Two heated rinses uses with platform oscillation for the rinsing. The elevator moves the parts into solution and oscillates with either a short or long stroke. A two position switched is used to select either long 5 to 9 inch or short 2 to 4 inch strokes. The long stroke is used to provide better flushing (hydraulically forcing solution though the working zone) for nested masses of parts and/or complex shapes with recessed passages whereas the short stroke is used to provide quicker oscillations and faster cleaning of simple parts and/or part configurations. Flexibility in stroke ranges and speeds produce more comprehensive cleaning.
Hot Air Drying
The final stage of the process is the drying phase.Hot Air Blow-Off Dryers are very effective for rapidly drying parts without using excessive heat. The key to the process is the process elevator. It is used to produce changing flow patterns that result in a dynamic drying mode (.e. platform oscillation combined with hot air flow). The effect of “dynamic flow combination” is better coverage of component surfaces, maximum evaporation and accelerated processing times.
Ultrasonic Cleaning in the Medical Industry Benefits Staff and Patients Alike
Regardless of the medical discipline, ultrasonic cleaners have made life easier for all involved. Four areas that have benefited from the fast and effective use of ultrasonic instrument cleaning include the dental, surgical, ophthalmic, and veterinary industries. Let’s take a look at some specific uses for an ultrasonic cleaner in each of these disciplines to show how they benefit the practitioner and patient alike.
Used surgical and dental instruments are often heavily contaminated with blood and saliva and must be completely cleaned before sterilization. Cleaning involves the removal of debris from an instrument or device. If visible debris is not removed, it will interfere with microbial inactivation and can compromise the disinfection or sterilization process. Automated cleaning with ultrasonic cleaners is far more efficient than cleaning by hand.
When you’re sitting in the dental chair, it’s reassuring to know that the dental picks, scrapers, carvers, spatulas, teasing needles, and other instruments have been cleaned and sterilized thoroughly. The reality is that these instruments have been in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other mouths. For the dental assistants, many of the risks involved with cleaning instruments in the past are now avoided by circumventing the need for hand cleaning. Hand cleaning, even with gloves, always holds the potential for puncture wounds from sharp contaminated tools. The dental tools can now be placed in a dental ultrasonic cleaner to rapidly and thoroughly remove all contaminants in 10 minutes or less.
In hospitals and clinics, ultrasonic surgical instrument cleaning has become a regular practice. While all syringes must be disposed of after a single use, it is not economically feasible to replace every minor instrument. Therefore, it is necessary that all blood, tissue, saliva, and debris are removed from the surgical tools. Ultrasonic cleaners utilize an intense yet gentle process called cavitation to scrub all contaminants from the entire surface of any item immersed in the cleaning bath.
Ultrasonic cleaning is now widely used by ophthalmologists, opticians, and their patients. Optical lens ultrasonic cleaning can be applied to optical components such as contact lenses, eye glasses, and professional optical components. For the most part, optical ultrasonic cleaners are small devices that require specialized ultrasonic cleaning solutions depending on the application. As with other ultrasonic cleaners, the need for manual scrubbing is avoided and the benefit of a thoroughly clean product with minimal effort is enjoyed.
Veterinarians are also able to benefit from the time savings and effortlessness of ultrasonic technology. A veterinary ultrasonic instrument cleaner can be used for all their surgical and dental tools. No hand scrubbing means improved infection control and productivity in veterinary clinics. As in the other medical areas, maintaining instruments with ultrasonic cleaning enhances the condition of the instruments in both appearance and functionality.
Ultrasonic cleaners have penetrated all areas of medicine, and it’s interesting to see that they benefit not only the doctors and their staff. Often ultrasonic technology is used by patients at home so that they can take advantage of the same ease of use, effort reduction, and time savings afforded.