Whether it’s a tattoo autoclave or nail autoclave, it’s important to understand the sterilization process. An autoclave is used to sterilize equipment and other materials. You can use it to sterilize liquids, solids, instruments of various sizes and shapes, and functions. Autoclaves come in different functionalities, shapes, and sizes. In the beauty industry, you can find a nail autoclave and tattoo autoclave used to clean the equipment. A basic autoclave can be similar to a pressure cooker and both will use the power of steam to kill germs, spores, and bacteria that are normally resistant to detergents and boiling water.
When Is an Autoclave Used?
Autoclaves are used to sterilize labor or medical equipment in order to heat the instruments above a boiling point. Nail and tattoo shops have autoclaves that sit on the tabletop and are similar to the size of a microwave. A hospital will have a large one that can process many different instruments in a single cycle to meet the demand for sterile equipment in that setting.
Steam Quality
Steam is used as the sterilization agent. There are two typical sources of steam that are used for sterile processing. These are self-contained electric boilers and hospital steam boiler systems. In both systems, having a treated water supply is important to remove total dissolved solids. An autoclave can be standalone or built-in depending on the chamber size. When you need to transfer large quantities of energy to an object and require sterilization, steam is the most powerful agent. The quality of steam is important for proper function and the process as a whole. The factors that are most important are the moisture level and the level of non-condensable gasses. The best composition of steam for this process is 97% gas and 3% liquid. Any changes in the moisture levels can decrease or increase the sterilization time. Sterilization time is calculated using the optimal steam conditions and the ability to transfer energy to the load before sterilization. Since one of the most important benefits of an autoclave is that it requires less time and heat, this is important to consider.
When there is less than 3% humidity, it produces superheated or dry steam. This steam then increases the time since it lowers energy transferability. What can take three minutes can then take thirty minutes to two hours, depending on the temperature. If the humidity is greater than 3% then it’s wet or saturated steam and this means a higher temperature and sterilization pressure. Wet steam will increase the drying time at the end of the process. A dry load is required at the end. The sterilization standards in an autoclave do allow for some flexibility since it can be very difficult to supply perfect steam at a steady flow. Even if there are perfect conditions, there are many variables that affect steam when it is transferred to an autoclave. Temperatures, weather conditions, structure, drainage, piping quality, and the availability of high-quality steam traps can all play a role.
Sterilization Cycles
There are four sterilization cycles. These include gravity, pre-vacuum, liquids, and flash. In a gravity cycle, it’s the most basic and the steam displaces air in the chamber through a drain port. With pre-vacuum, the air exits the chamber using a series of pressure and vacuum pulses to allow the steam to enter porous areas of the equipment that wouldn’t be reached using gravity displacement. A liquid cycle is a gravity cycle that has a slower exhaust rate to minimize any boil-over. A flash cycle is used for healthcare and has a higher temperature cycle for a shorter period of time. There are many autoclaves that can also perform specialty cycles that are designed to avoid damage to some delicate items that would be destroyed or damaged with rapid changes in temperature and pressure that come with a normal cycle. These cycles include having longer cycles at lower temperatures and special pressure controls to avoid breaking items.
Even though autoclaves are an old technology when it comes to modern science, there is still plenty of innovation for these machines. You can find cloud connectivity, better controls, and ones with a lower ecological impact.