53
Glossary
Air leakage – checking the air leakage
Air leakage is a poorly sealed location through which
unwanted air can enter or escape;
Checking the air leakage serves to verify that the volume
of the air leak in the sterilization chamber during the
vacuum stages does not exceed a value where it would
prevents the intrusion of steam into the sterilizer load, and
that the air leakage is not a possible cause of a renewed
→
contamination of the sterilizer load during drying
aqua dem
→
demineralized water
aqua dest
→
distilled water
Authorized persons
Medical specialist dealers, technician from depots or with
customer service designated by MELAG, who were trained
by MELAG
Heating-up period
After switching on the autoclave or after starting a
sterilization program, it is the time required for heating up
the steam generator before the sterilization process starts;
duration depends on the temperature of the sterilizing
process
Batch
Collection of the
→
items to be sterilized that together
passed through one and the same sterilization program
BGV A1
Trade association regulations – Principles of Prevention
Bowie & Dick test
Steam penetration test with standard testing packet;
described in
→
DIN EN 285; test is recognised for large-
scale sterilizations
CF card
Compact Flash Card;
Memory card for digital data of compact model size;
CF is a normed standard, i.e. this memory card can be
employed in every device with a CF slot. The CF Card can
be read and possibly written by every device that supports
the standard,
Condensate
A liquid (e.g. water), which forms upon cooling from the
vaporous state and thereby separates
Conductivity
is the reciprocal value of the electrical resistance; unit of
measurement in microsiemens/centimetre (
µS/cm)
; the
more materials are dissolved in water, the better it
conducts electrical current and the higher is its
conductivity.
→
distilled water ideally has the conductivity zero
Conductivity measurement
Measurement of the
→
conductivity
Contamination
here: Soiling of the sterilized load with unwanted or
harmful materials
Corrosion
Chemical change or destruction of metallic materials by
water and chemicals
Delayed boiling
This is the phenomenon that in certain conditions liquids
can be heated beyond their boiling point without boiling;
this state is unstable; a slight shock can cause a very rapid
formation of a large gas bubble which expands like an
explosion
Demineralized water
Also designated as aqua dem; water to a large extent
without the minerals which occur in normal mineral or tap
water; is obtained by ion exchange from normal tap water.
It is employed here as
→
feed water
DIN EN 867-5
European standard: non-biological systems for use in
sterilizers – Part 5: Stipulations of indicator systems and
testing bodies for performance tests of small sterilizers of
Type B and Type S
DIN EN 868
European standard: Packaging materials and systems for
medical devices to be sterilized
DIN EN ISO 11140-1
European standard – Sterilization of products for health
care – chemical indicators – Part 1: General requirements
DIN EN ISO 11607-1
Standard – Requirements on materials,
→
sterile barrier
systems and packaging systems; this standard is a
harmonization of the DIN EN 868 Part 1 and the
international standard DIN EN ISO 11607.
DIN EN 13060
European standard –Small steam sterilizers
DIN EN 285
European standard – sterilization – steam sterilizers –
large sterilizers
Display
Display device on electronic devices; here: Graphic display
of the control panel
Distilled water
From lat. aqua destillata; also designated as aqua dest;
water, which is largely freely of salts, organic materials and
microorganisms, is obtained by distillation (evaporation
and subsequent condensation) from normal tap water or
pre-cleaned water. It is employed here as
→
feed water
Dynamic
pressure test of the sterilization
chamber
Serves to verify that the rate of the change of pressure
occurring in the sterilization chamber during a sterilization
cycle does not exceed a certain value, which could lead to
damage of the wrapping material
[
→
DIN EN 13060]
Empty chamber test
Test without load; carried out in order to evaluate the
performance of the sterilizer without the influence of the
load; permits checking the maintained temperatures and