Design and optimization of SDBD plasma reactor for fast sterilization

In dental practices, most of the instruments used by the dentist are re-used. This requires the instruments to be washed, disinfected and/or sterilized. Since the time needed for sterilization using current methods is long, Log10 has decided to establish a new technology, plasma-based sterilization. A plasma reactor makes ions, and interactive chemicals which have shown to play roles in sterilization. In this project, the optimization of sterilization process based on surface DBD plasma reactor using mist is being investigated for attaining higher spore inactivation rate in a short time. The focus of the project is to test different designs and setups, together with investigation of different parameters in the process. Three setups are designed, made, and used for experiments on different parameters affecting the sterilization speed. Using two setups, feasibility was checked, important factors for safety and effectivity were determined, and the final setup was designed and made for more optimization experiments.
The results show importance of presence of mist, and importance of power, and temperature in the sterilization time using SDBD. Power not only affects the plasma intensity, but also determines temperature and therefore the chemical species. Samples with different distance from the plasma source have different inactivation rate. We can conclude that the chemistry changes significantly with temperature and distance from the source.
Spore samples exposed to plasma are sterilized in 340 seconds, while the temperature is controlled. Thus, SDBD plasma reactor is an effective reactor for this application, especially because of its simplicity and low price.