Supervision and control of medical sterilization processes utilizing the Multipole Resonance Probe

Author

Schulz, Claudia ; Styrnoll, Tim ; Awakowicz, Peter ; Rolfes, Ilona

Author_Institution

Inst. of Microwave Syst., Ruhr-Univ. Bochum, Bochum, Germany

fYear

2013

fDate

9-11 Dec. 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

An innovative and sensitive plasma probe suitable for the supervision and control of low-temperature plasma sterilization processes is presented in this contribution. For heat or chemical sensitive materials, plasmas are an indispensable tool regarding the sterilization of surgery instruments, for example. The presented Multipole Resonance Probe (MRP) allows for the simultaneous determination of plasma density, plasma temperature, and collision frequency by a simple and fast evaluation of its frequency response. Fed by an rf-signal, the MRP yields sensitive and local measurements for the determination of lowest fluctuations and for the application of a sensor network, respectively. With a minimal distance of 3 cm between two probes, the MRP can be deployed effectively as sensor network inside the plasma for the supervision of its stability and homogeneity. Based on 3D-electromagnetic field simulations the advantages of the MRP are discussed in detail. Compared to a Langmuir probe, measurements in a Double Inductive Coupled Plasma (DICP) show the suitability of the MRP inside an argon plasma.

Keywords

Langmuir probes; argon; biomedical equipment; medical control systems; plasma applications; plasma density; plasma temperature; sterilisation (microbiological); surgery; 3D-electromagnetic field simulation; DICP; Double Inductive Coupled Plasma; Langmuir probe; MRP; Multipole Resonance Probe; argon plasma; chemical sensitive materials; collision frequency; distance 3 cm; frequency response; heat sensitive materials; innovative plasma probe; local measurement; low-temperature plasma sterilization processes; medical sterilization process control; minimal distance; plasma density; plasma temperature; rf-signal; sensitive measurement; sensitive plasma probe; sensor homogeneity; sensor network; sensor stability; simultaneous determination; surgery instrument; Biomedical measurement; Materials requirements planning; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Probes; Resonant frequency; 3D-electromagnetic simulations; medical sterilization; multipole resonance probe; plasma sterilization process;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Workshop Series on RF and Wireless Technologies for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications (IMWS-BIO), 2013 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Singapore

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IMWS-BIO.2013.6756158

Filename

6756158