Patents Act 1990

Inventor/Applicant: Gary Roy Erickson

PATENT APPLICATION

Invention Title:

DISINFECTANT VAPOR DISPENSING DEVICE

The invention is described in the following statement: DISINFECTANT VAPOUR DISPENSING DEVICE

FIELD OF INVENTION

This patent discloses a chemical disinfectant vapor dispensing device, In particular a chemical disinfectant vapor dispensing device which provides for the containment of a chemical formulation containing at least one chemical disinfectant and the release of vapors of the chemical disinfectant through a barrier which protects the user of the vapour dispensing device from direct contact with the chemical formulation contained therein. More particularly the disinfectant vapor dispensing device has application for the continuous production and maintenance of an equilibrium concentration of a chemical disinfectant vapor in a container or other enclosable space, and the chemical disinfectant is hydrogen peroxide or other peroxygen compound, not generally considered to be volatile chemicals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Recently, advances have been made in creating equilibrium concentrations of chemical disinfectant vapors in enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces (Erickson, AU2006202977), incorporated herein by reference. The advantage of this technology over the prior art was the ability to provide microbial decontamination of spaces and, with continuous application, consequential reduction of microbial growth within the decontaminated space. One of the challenges of this technology was the need to make the process cost effective and accessible to a wide range of users without exposing them to the hazards usually associated with the handling of hazardous chemicals. DISADVANTAGES OF THE PRIOR ART

Although the prior art provides an effective solution to the decontamination issues the practical application of the method involves the user manually handling hazardous or potentially hazardous chemicals. In addition, temperature cycling of stored containers prior to use causes evaporation and subsequent condensation of the disinfectant chemical on user handled surfaces.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a disinfectant chemical vapor dispensing device which provides for the containment of a chemical formulation, and the release of an active disinfectant chemical vapor through a vapor permeable barrier. The barrier, being permeable to the active disinfectant chemical vapor released from the disinfectant chemical formulation, also prevents the bulk disinfectant chemical formulation from leaking out of the device and protects the user of the disinfectant vapor dispensing device from coming into direct contact with the bulk disinfectant chemical formulation contained therein. It is a further object of the invention to provide a removable vapor impermeable seal, which 1) adheres to the outer surface of the vapor permeable barrier and contains the vapors released from the disinfectant chemical formulation contained 75 within the vapor dispensing device until the vapor dispensing device is put into use, and 2) prevents condensation of disinfectant chemical vapor on the outer surface of the vapor permeable barrier. It is a still further object of the invention to provide a chemical disinfectant vapor dispensing device which avoids or ameliorates at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.

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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A disinfectant chemical vapor dispensing device, comprising; an enclosure containing a disinfectant chemical formulation, capable of producing a disinfectant chemical vapor, 85 with at least a portion of the enclosure comprising a disinfectant chemical vapor permeable barrier sealed with a removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable seal, such that in use, removal of the removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable seal releases disinfectant chemical vapor from the disinfectant chemical vapor dispensing device

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1

Shows a schematic exploded view of one embodiment of the disinfectant chemical vapor 95 dispensing device, as a sealed pouch comprising a disinfectant chemical composition 20 located between an impermeable layer 25 and a mesh barrier 15. A disinfectant chemical vapor permeable membrane 10 is sealed to the impermeable barrier 25 and a removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 5 contains the vapors in pouch until the device is put into use.

Figure 2

Shows a cross sectional view of another embodiment of the disinfectant vapor dispensing device as a container 60 sealed with a disinfectant chemical vapor permeable membrane 55 and a removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 50. Within the container is a disinfectant chemical composition 70 retained in place by a mesh barrier 65

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION This invention can be embodied in a variety of ways and the embodiments disclosed herein are not exhaustive.

One preferred embodiment shown in Fig 1 is the formation of a sealed flexible pouch formed from an disinfectant chemical impermeable plastic layer 25 welded at the edges to a layer of a disinfectant chemical vapor permeable barrier 10 of Tyvek, a non woven HDPE fibre membrane, and between these layers is an inert matrix 20 onto which is absorbed a chemical disinfectant formulation and a mesh barrier 15 to prevent the disinfectant chemical formulation absorbed into the inert matrix 20 from wicking onto the disinfectant chemical vapor permeable barrier 10. The pouch so described is then sealed 120 with a removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 5. n use the removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 5 is removed to activate the release of chemical disinfectant vapor from the pouch and the pouch is placed into the space requiring disinfection.

125 A second preferred embodiment is shown in Fig 2 where a solid bowl shaped container 60 holds in its base a disinfectant chemical composition 70 and the container 60 is sealed with a disinfectant chemical vapor permeable barrier 55 overlain with a removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 50. In use the removable disinfectant chemical vapor impermeable membrane 50 is removed from the disinfectant

130 chemical vapor permeable barrier 10 to activate the release of chemical disinfectant vapor from the container and the container is placed into the space requiring disinfection.