Glossary
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Glossary
Air leakage
An air leakage is a location through which air can
pass in and out without this being desired. Verifica-
tion of the leakage serves to prove that the volume
of air ingress in the chamber during the vacuum
phase does not exceed a value which would pre-
vent steam penetration of the sterilizer load and
that the air leakage does not cause the possible
contamination of the sterilizer load during the dry-
ing phase.
AKI
Abbr.: working group instrument preparation ( "Ar-
beitskreis Instrumentenaufbereitung")
Authorized technician
The term “authorized technician” refers to an em-
ployee of a customer service provider or stockist
who has been trained and authorized by MELAG
to perform maintenance and installation work on
MELAG devices. Only they may carry out this
work.
Batch
The batch is the composition of items which has
been subject to the same decontamination proce-
dure.
BGV A1
BGV is the abbreviation for Berufsgenossenschaft-
liche Vorschriften (regulations from a professional
association). A1 stands for principles of prevention
Bowie & Dick test
Steam penetration test with a standard test pack-
age; described in EN 285; the test is recognized in
the large-scale sterilization industry.
CF card
The CF card is a memory medium for digital data;
Compact Flash is an official standard, i.e. these
memory cards can be used in every device fitted
with the corresponding slot. The CF card can be
read by every device that supports the standard
and where necessary, written on.
Condensate
Fluid (e.g. water) produced by the cooling of and
resultant separation from the vaporous state.
Conductivity
Conductivity refers to the ability of a conductive
chemical material or mixture to conduct or transfer
other materials or particles.
Corrosion
The chemical alteration or destruction of metal ma-
terials by water and chemicals
Delay in boiling
This refers to the phenomenon that it is possible
under certain circumstances to heat a fluid beyond
its boiling point without them boiling. This repre-
sents an unstable state; even low-level agitation
can produce a large bubble within the shortest pe-
riod, which expands explosively.
Demineralized water
Water without the minerals usually found in normal
spring or tap water; is produced through ion ex-
change of normal tap water. It is used here as feed
water.
DGSV
Abbr.: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sterilgutver-
sorgung (German Society German Society for
Sterile Supply). The DSGV training centres are
specified in DIN 58946, part 6 as "Requirements of
personnel".
DIN 58946-7
Standard – sterilization - steam steam sterilizers -
part 7: Building requirements and requirements
placed on the operating agents and the operation
of steam sterilizers in the health-care branch
DIN 58953
Standard – sterilization, sterile equipment supply
DIN EN 867-5
Standard – non-biological systems for use in steri-
lizers – part 5: The determination of indicator sys-
tems and test bodies for the performance inspec-
tion of type B and type S small sterilizers.
Distilled water
From the Latin aqua destillata; also referred to as
aqua dest; water which to a great extent is free
from salts, organic material and micro-organisms,
is produced from normal tap water or pre-cleaned
water through the process of distillation (evapora-
tion and subsequent condensation). It is used here
as feed water.
Double-jacket steam generator
Serves the quick generation of steam outside the
sterilization chamber, surrounds the sterilization
chamber
Dynamic pressure test of the sterilization chamber
Serves to prove that the rate of pressure variations
during a sterilization cycle does not exceed a par-
ticular value which could result in the damage of
the packaging material. [see also EN 13060]
Empty chamber test
Test run without a load, performed to assess the
performance of a sterilizer without the influence of
a load; facilitating verification of the temperatures
