Newsdesk - March 2001

Innovations steam into autoclave design

The UK's first use of the SMC Pneumatics valve island configured for use with Omron's Compobus/S fieldbus will be by Ascot Autoclaves, a supplier of medical equipment. Ascot has built its reputation on refurbishment and re-engineering of the large steam sterilising autoclaves used in hospitals and pharmaceutical laboratories but it is now to launch its own innovative product.

"We are big fans of fieldbus control," says Robert Warren, founder and MD of Ascot. "It reduces our wiring and commissioning times by a considerable margin and gives us the freedom to distribute the control equipment around the autoclave. An Omron touchscreen NT31 is the new autoclave's most visible innovation and a lead selling point."

Omron's Compobus/S fieldbus was chosen because it will not only at handle digital I/O but also analogue values like temperature and pressure measurements. Autoclaves are fairly complex pieces of equipment with a detailed operational cycle and typically, a rack full of medical equipment is wheeled in and the motorised door is locked and interlocked. The chamber is evacuated to a specified vacuum and the sterilisation programme begins, starting with alternating steam and vacuum pulses followed by an extended steam sterilising period and finally a drying vacuum. All this is controlled from a single touch screen, programmed with a series of graphic displays and text prompts.

Another innovation Ascot is incorporating on its new autoclave design is based on the Omron CS1 PLC. This has the ability to record large amounts of data straight onto a flash memory card, so the autoclave operators can build up a comprehensive archive of every detail of every operation the unit ever performs, a level of record keeping that is becoming almost routine in medical circles.

• Omron
  Email a101@industrialnetworking.co.uk