Design and Development of Solar Autoclave

Objective: To design and develop cost effective solar panel and autoclave for steam sterilization of medical equipment and disposal of hospital waste using solar energy. Methods/Analysis: An attempt has been made to design and develop an autoclave to sterilize the medical instruments by generating the steam in a vessel using the environment friendly solar energy. For this purpose, the solar parabolic trough for generating steam and a vessel which can be used as an autoclave for steam sterilization by subjecting the equipment and tools and medical waste to steam at 1210 C for 15 minutes have been designed using low cost material. Findings: The vessel reached the maximum temperature of 1320 C and pressure 15 PSI for more than 15 minutes. The desired outcome of temperature and pressure required for sterilization was achieved with 3 litre aluminium pressure vessel after making modifications in its safety valve. The combined cost of all the materials used in fabrication of parabolic trough and its trolley and modification of the vessel for conducting all the experiments is Rs.30,000/- approximately. The design can be further improved by identifying the optimum size of the vessel and modifying the safety valve. Novelty/Improvement: An ordinary pressure cooker has been converted into an autoclave and the solar parabolic trough developed is also of low cost. The whole set up designed is of very low cost and can be effectively used in remote areas.