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Gear Fit2 Pro, la nueva pulsera deportiva de Samsung

La compañía surcoreana adelantó la segunda versión de sus auriculares inalámbricos sin cables y la renovada generación de relojes inteligentes orientados para la actividad física; además reveló sus actualizaciones en equipos de lavado, limpieza y TV

Como ocurre con muchas otras ferias tecnológicas , la IFA 2017 de Berlín comienza con su despliegue oficial del 1 al 6 de Septiembre, pero las principales marcas realizaron una previa con eventos exclusivos para la prensa. La primera en abrir el juego fue Samsung con la presentación de wearables (tecnología que se viste) centrada en una nueva versión de su smartwatch insignia, en un smartband con foco en actividades deportivas y en la segunda generación de sus auriculares sin cables. Los modelos son el reloj Gear Sport, la banda GearFit2 Pro y los auriculares Gear IconX. La familia Gear ofrece un rango de prestaciones ligadas al traqueo de actividades deportivas e información nutricional como también de sueño. Se suma la guía motivacional de un coach digital y alianzas con marcas del mundo del deporte como Under Armour y Speedo que aportan sus plataformas para que el usuario interactúe desde sus equipos.

El Gear Sport persigue un look minimalista y con bezel circular y vidrio ultra resistente como es el Gorilla Glass 3, con una interfaz mejorada respecto de su antecesor. El foco es el usuario deportista y que cuida su salud, que puede generar y acceder a información nutricional, de sueño y recibir recomendaciones aún estando offline. El modelos negro y azul tiene una memoria intena de 4 GB, conexión bluetooth y batería de 3000 mAh.

Los auriculares Iconx permitir escuchar música offline una vez bajada del smartphone gracias a los 4 GB de capacidad de almacenamiento o mediante una conexión Bluetooth desde la plataforma de música online preferida. Los auriculares pueden conectarse a Bixby, el asistente inteligente de Samsung, y con sólo tocar y sostener el auricular dar comandos de voz para controlar la música o el teléfono. Se presentan en negro, gris y rosa y mejoran de su primera versión la ergonomía y peso. Ofrecen hasta 5 horas de autonomía con streaming y hasta siete horas con música offline. Vienen en rosa, negro y gris, soporta hasta 9 lenguajes incluido en español.

La banda de fitness Gear Fit2 Pro se ofrecerá en negro y rojo con pantalla táctil y curva Super AMOLED de 1,5 pulgadas. Está equipada con GPS y su pantalla color utiliza el vidrio endurecido Gorilla Glass 3. Es la opción de Samsung para aquellos usuarios que no quieren usar un smartwatch sólo para contar calorías y medir su avance deportivo.

Los nuevos relojes Gear Sport de Samsung

La alianza de Samsung y Speedo se centra en nadadores amateurs como en profesionales que quieren llevar un control digital de su actividad y necesitan un wearable resistente al agua. Los modelos Gear Fit2 Pro y el Gear Sport soportan una profundidad de hasta 50 metros y vendrán con la aplicación Speedo On, la plataforma digital de la marca Speedo. Los usuarios podrán programar metas personalizadas, compartir sus logros con otros nadadores, llevar un registro mensual de su actividad y analizar sus métricas como también acceder a rutinas diseñadas por atletas y entrenadores destacados, acceder a contenidos exclusivos del mundo del nado y participar de competencias especiales. Como en ediciones anteriores, también se esperan lanzamientos de electrodomésticos de la marca, con foco en lavarropas y heladeras inteligentes.

Para la limpieza y el disfrute

Además de las opciones de tecnología vestible Samsung presentó alternativas de electrodomésticos. El lavarropas QuickDrive que entrega lavados completos en sólo 39 minutos por una tecnología de doble tambor que separa la ropa y la hace girar en ambas direcciones ocasionando un lavado más eficiente, con menos tiempo e igual energía.

Una vista del lavarropas que presentó Samsung con la función add wash, la modalidad de apertura parcial

El modelo presenta además la ventana de add wash, que permite agregar ropa en cualquier momento del lavado, ya presente en otros modelos de la marca.Puede programarse desde el smartphone desde la oficina y tener el lavado listo al llegar a casa.

También sorprendió por su versatilidad y apariencia la aspiradora sin cable PowerStick. Tiene un tambor transparente donde guarda la basura y trabaja con un motor turbo que permite una limpieza rápida y logra una autonomía de más de 40 minutos. Presenta también doble cepillo para mejor el agarre de suciedad y un botón llamado flex que permite doblarla para alcanzar estantes altos o espacios difíciles de acceder como abajo del sillón o la cama.

Siguiendo por el living, la novedad fue el modelo de televisor Frame que transforma al televisor en una pieza de arte única. De esta forma, Samsung busca transformar a un televisor en una obra de arte cuando está apagado ya que tiene la opción de mostrar diversas obras de museos de todo el mundo mediante la modalidad de suscripción. El panel no requiere ser retroiluminado y se adapta a la obra para que pueda lucir como un cuadro real en la casa de los usuarios.

Además de todos estos adelantos, Samsung planea revelar otros modelos de televisores, monitores para fanáticos de los juegos y hasta parlantes inteligentes que se exhibirán en la IFA 2017 a partir de este viernes.

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ifa 2017: samsung renovó sus dispositivos vestibles y la línea blanca hogareña - la compañía surcoreana adelantó la segunda versión de sus auriculares inalámbricos sin cables y la renovada generación de relojes inteligentes orientados para la actividad física; además reveló sus actualizaciones en equipos de lavado

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IFA 2017: Samsung renovó sus dispositivos vestibles y la línea blanca hogareña

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IFA 2017: Samsung renovó sus dispositivos vestibles y la línea blanca hogareña - La compañía surcoreana adelantó la segunda versión de sus auriculares inalámbricos sin cables y la renovada generación de relojes inteligentes orientados para la actividad física; además reveló sus actualizaciones en equipos de lavado, limpieza y TV - Samsung, Tecnología, Vida y Ocio, IFA 2017 - LA NACION

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Bloqueo-Etiquetado va más allá de candados, tarjetas y dispositivos. De hecho, la mayoría de las sanciones son resultados de procedimientos o documentación del programa incorrectos.

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Revista HSEC - Seguridad eléctrica en la Industria

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El análisis del peligro/riesgo debe ser desarrollado en el lugar donde se realizará el trabajo eléctrico. Todo el personal que desarrolle el trabajo debe participar en la identificación y análisis de los riesgos.

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Con el propósito de realizar el manejo de equipos eléctricos de una manera segura, debemos tener en cuenta que el enfoque psicológico del trabajador es muy sensible al apoyo visible y constante de la dirección de la empresa.

Si ese apoyo no es constante y visible, el enfoque y actitud del trabajador hacia el manejo seguro de los equipos eléctricos se torna muy vulnerable. Los trabajadores miden el alcance del compromiso de la dirección con la seguridad observando la eficacia de las decisiones diarias de los ejecutivos y no con las proclamas públicas en el sentido de que todos deben "estar seguros" y para esto deben "trabajar con cuidado" o "todos deben estar alineados".

Por ejemplo, una regla que exija el uso de lentes de seguridad en el área de producción, se debilita si los directivos o gerentes no los utilizan cuando la visitan. Es decir, hay ausencia de liderazgo o compromiso con la prevención de riesgos. Igual ocurre cuando los supervisores ordenan hacer a un lado las reglas de seguridad cuando la producción debe acelerarse para completar su programa, es en este momento que los trabajadores se enteran de cuánto significa su seguridad y salud para la dirección de su organización.

Hay que tomar en cuenta los equipos de protección personal. El equipo de protección debe ser usado siempre que exista una exposición real o potencial a peligros de procesos o medio ambiente. Los equipos e implementos de seguridad que más se usan y requieren su cambio con mayor frecuencia son:

1. Guantes de trabajo de cuero.
2. Guantes de soldador de cuero.
3. Guantes con palma de mano de lona.
4. Lentes de trabajo (repuestos, lunas, soportes, etc.).
5. Tapones para oídos, de 2 ó 3 tipos (tamaños).
6. Botas de jebe.
7. Cinturón de seguridad.
8. Lentes de corte oxiacetileno.
9. Careta protectora de esmerilar.
10. Careta de soldar.
11. Casaca para alta temperatura.
12. Máscara contra gases.
13. Máscara contra polvo.
14. Casco o casquete.
15. Gorro de soldador.
16. Uniformes de trabajo.
17. Guantes de jebe.
18. Mameluco de trabajo.
19. Tenazas de fusibles.

Antes de comenzar a trabajar en circuitos energizados, todos los trabajadores involucrados, deben entender claramente la naturaleza del trabajo que van a realizar y de sus respectivas tareas individuales. El supervisor responsable debe tomar el tiempo necesario para explicar y cerciorarse que todos los trabajadores están bien instruidos en la tarea que les corresponde. Las condiciones de trabajo deben, a su vez, ser verificadas por cada trabajador.

Todo trabajo en circuito energizado debe contar con, por lo menos, " dos electricistas " asignados: uno para ejecutar el trabajo y el otro para observar y, en caso de peligro inminente, cortar el circuito eléctrico. Previamente al inicio del trabajo, el supervisor responsable coordinará con operaciones para establecer un procedimiento de emergencia de parada del equipo o instalación, entre el operador de planta y el electricista observador. El medio de comunicación entre ambos debe ser efectivo y verificado antes de efectuarse el trabajo.

Un electricista calificado está capacitado para efectuar trabajos en circuitos eléctricos energizados. Sin embargo, se deben respetar las normas internas de la empresa sobre trabajos en caliente o energizados y efectuar un procedimiento de análisis seguro de trabajo, el cual debe ser autorizado por la jefatura.

Los trabajos en circuitos eléctricos energizados solamente están permitidos en niveles de voltaje menores de 120 VAC y a 250 VDC. En todo caso, es preferible y se debe desenergizar el circuito eléctrico antes de efectuar alguna labor que ponga en riesgo la integridad física del trabajador. El riesgo a la seguridad personal es potencialmente alto cuando se trabaja con circuitos energizados. La electricidad puede crear riesgos y ser responsable de lesiones y daños irreparables.

Evaluación del riesgo

El electricista pasa a ser parte de un circuito eléctrico a causa de un contacto casual con una parte activa de un circuito eléctrico, resultando en un shock eléctrico. Se producen arcos debido a un cortocircuito o cuando se abren o se cierran los contactos eléctricos energizados, tal como ocurre al accionar interruptores o cuando se producen descargas eléctricas estáticas, resultando en quemaduras en el electricista y originando incendios si se encuentran cerca de materiales combustibles o en ambientes saturados de gases explosivos.

La probabilidad de que ocurra un accidente, disminuye proporcionalmente a la experiencia y calificación del electricista. Además, deben revisarse e inspeccionarse herramientas como el termómetro digital infrarrojo para la medición a distancia y el multímetro digital. Los supervisores deben dar instrucciones sobre los procedimientos detallados a seguirse y proporcionar a las cuadrillas de mantenimiento, el equipo de protección personal apropiado y constatar que lo usen.

Para prevenir la puesta a tierra accidental y posibles lesiones severas, el personal de mantenimiento debe estar constantemente alerta cuando se encuentra trabajando alrededor del equipo eléctrico y circuitos. La puesta a tierra de los circuitos eléctricos donde se realizarán los trabajos es una medida de seguridad usada.

Las personas calificadas

Las personas calificadas, como aquellas que se les permite trabajar cerca a partes energizadas expuestas deben, por lo menos, ser entrenadas y estar familiarizadas con lo siguiente:

1. Las habilidades y técnicas necesarias para distinguir partes vivas expuestas de otras partes del equipo eléctrico.
2. Las habilidades y técnicas necesarias para determinar el voltaje nominal de partes expuestas.
3. Las distancias de espacio libre especificados en el Código Nacional de Electricidad y los correspondientes voltajes a los cuales la persona calificada será expuesta.

Todas las instalaciones eléctricas, en especial aquellas donde se realizan trabajos rutinarios con circuitos energizados, deben es estar construidas, instaladas, identificadas y señalizadas de manera que minimicen daños de origen eléctrico a los trabajadores. Para ello es obligatorio cumplir con los estándares de seguridad para sistemas eléctricos establecidos por la administración de salud y seguridad ocupacional OSHA de los EE.UU. o las normas disponibles en el Código Eléctrico Nacional.

Publicado en la edición 38 de la revista Seguridad Minera.

Foto: josealler.blogspot.com

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Electricidad: trabajo seguro en circuitos energizados

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Con el propósito de realizar el manejo de equipos eléctricos de una manera segura, debemos tener en cuenta que el enfoque psicológico del trabajador es muy sensible al apoyo visible y constante de la dirección de la empresa.

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Por el incremento de accidentes por arcos eléctricos causados principalmente por cortocircuitos, falla a tierra, contacto con equipos defectuosos o herramientas, pérdidas de aislamiento de equipos incluso por ionización del medio aislante (aire), es el deber de los ejecutores por su seguridad cumplir con los procedimientos establecidos en la NFPA 70E o IEC 60364. Los requisitos mínimos por cumplir en estas actividades son:

Realizar análisis de riesgo teniendo en cuenta variables como tensión, potencia de cortocircuito y tiempo de despeje de falla, así, podemos escoger de manera correcta los equipos de protección a usar en la actividad.

Etiquetar con nivel de riesgo y equipo requerido.

Señalizar zonas de trabajo y aledañas.

Contar con entrenamiento para trabajos en tensión, si aplica.

Contar con un plano actualizado y aprobado por profesionales del sistema eléctrico.

Equipos de protección personal certificados para cada nivel de tensión en el que se quiera trabajar.

Tener en cuenta los límites mínimos de aproximación según nivel de tensión y personal autorizado o no.

Ing. Deiner López
Líder de Subestaciones
Transequipos S.A.

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DISTANCIAS MÍNIMAS PARA TRABAJOS EN PARTES ENERGIZADAS O CERCA DE ELLAS

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Por el incremento de accidentes por arcos eléctricos causados principalmente por cortocircuitos, falla a tierra, contacto con equipos defectuosos o herramientas, pérdidas de aislamiento de equipos incluso por ionización del medio aislante (aire), es el deber de los ejecutores por su seguridad cumplir con los procedimientos establecidos en la NFPA 70E o IEC 60364.

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1926.960 - Working on or near exposed energized parts. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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The employee is insulated from the energized part (rubber insulating gloves or rubber insulating gloves and sleeves worn in accordance with paragraph (c)(2) of this section constitutes insulation of the employee from the energized part upon which the employee is working provided that the employee has control of the part in a manner sufficient to prevent exposure to uninsulated portions of the employee's body), or

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Soluciones de cinta para dispositivos vestibles

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Asimismo, atenderá tanto las necesidades del consumidor como las del sector médico a través del análisis e identificación de patrones que brindarán eficiencia a la atención de los pacientes.

La innovación más grande en tecnología desde la creación del smartphone: los dispositivos vestibles. Relojes y lentes inteligentes, brazaletes rastreadores y zapatos con sensores y WiFi son algunos ejemplos de tecnología que para 2020 llegará a vender 34 billones de dólares americanos según un pronóstico hecho por CCS Insight y que abre un universo de posibilidades para el sector salud gracias a su capacidad para registrar indicadores de temperatura, actividad muscular, nivel de grasa corporal, ritmo cardíaco, entre otros.

La tecnología vestible, aquella que tiene un diseño que permite que sea utilizada como vestimenta o accesorios, cada día es más popular, en parte, por su funcionalidad para registrar y monitorear la salud del usuario a través de sensores que funcionan en contacto con la piel.

Por ejemplo, que el paciente utilice estos aparatos para monitorear su cuerpo y enviar información a su médico, posibilita un mundo en el que la implementación del monitoreo continuo para proveer cuidados preventivos permite la reducción de gastos médicos, como lo indica un estudio de Park, Chung y Jayaraman.

Consciente del beneficio que los dispositivos vestibles traen para la salud de los pacientes, especialmente para aquellos con enfermedades crónicas que requieren un monitoreo frecuente y constante, Pfizer Inc. incursionó en este campo de innovación. Actualmente la farmacéutica cuenta con brazaletes dirigidos a pacientes con enfermedades como fibromialgia y hemofilia que permiten desde llevar registro diario de los niveles de dolor, hasta monitorear la actividad física.

Para Diego Forero, gerente general de Pfizer Colombia y Venezuela, la tecnología vestible utilizada con fines de salud tiene un potencial enorme para empoderar a los pacientes a que se monitoreen ellos mismos, a que sean conscientes de cómo funciona su cuerpo y, de igual manera, ayuda a proporcionar información más específica y completa a su médico. Además, agrega que "lo interesante de la tecnología como los brazaletes que registran los pasos y pulsaciones cardíacas, es que puede ayudar de manera importante en la prevención, que es un aspecto fundamental para generar ahorros en los gastos en salud".

De acuerdo con un estudio hecho en 2014 por Soreon Research, el impacto a futuro de estos dispositivos es impulsado por cuatro factores:

1) El cambio del tratamiento a la prevención

2) Una mayor personalización del cuidado médico

3) La importancia cada vez mayor de los estándares médicos basados en la interpretación inteligente de datos fisiológicos en continua medición de una gran cantidad de individuos

4) Compañías de software y hardware como nuevos jugadores que están cambiando las dinámicas de la industria sanitaria.

Aunque ya hay avances en este frente y hay algunos pacientes para quienes esto ya es una realidad, aún queda un largo camino por recorrer en el que la tecnología evolucionará, los precios de la misma se reducirán y las ventajas para los pacientes y el sistema serán más importantes.

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Tecnología 'vestible', muy popular en pacientes que sufren enfermedades crónicas

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Asimismo, atenderá tanto las necesidades del consumidor como las del sector médico a través del análisis e identificación de patrones que brindarán eficiencia a la atención de los pacientes. La innovación más grande en tecnología desde la creación del smartphone: los dispositivos vestibles.

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Tecnología vestible | Digital Trends Español

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Tecnología vestible | Digital Trends Español

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What is a Wearable Device? - Definition from Techopedia

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Wearable Device Definition - A wearable device is a technology that is worn on the human body. This type of device has become a more common part of...

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Desde la llegada de Internet a nuestras vidas, éste ha evolucionado de una forma veloz y apabullante, desde aquellos rudimentarios módems de 56 KB hasta las rapidísimas y eficaces líneas de fibra óptica actuales. A día de hoy podemos conectar a Internet nuestros móviles, impresoras, Smart TV, cámaras vía IP, GPS y multitud de dispositivos electrónicos que poseen esta funcionalidad, pero, ¿hemos tocado techo o esto no es más que el inicio de una nueva era Internet?

Desde hace ya unos años se empezó a hablar del IoT (Internet de las cosas), no siendo más que una apuesta de futuro y comenzando a ser en la actualidad una absoluta realidad.
Cada vez es más frecuente encontrarse con nuevos dispositivos capaces de conectarse a Internet y permitir al usuario un control y manejo de forma remota desde cualquier parte del mundo, pero esto no ha hecho más que comenzar.
¿Qué es exactamente el IoT Internet de las Cosas?
Podríamos definir el Internet de las cosas como la consolidación a través de la red de redes de una "red" que alojase una gran multitud de objetos o dispositivos, es decir, poder tener conectada a esta todas las cosas de este mundo como podrían ser vehículos, electrodomésticos, dispositivos mecánicos, o simplemente objetos tales como calzado, muebles, maletas, dispositivos de medición, biosensores, o cualquier objeto que nos podamos imaginar.
¿Qué nos ofrecerá?
Como la gran mayoría de los avances tecnológicos el objetivo que pretende alcanzar esta tecnología es hacer más cómodas nuestras vidas así como proporcionar una mayor seguridad en diversos ámbitos. Pongamos un ejemplo: Imaginemos una nevera que fuese capaz de avisarnos cuando perdiese temperatura o indicarnos que algún alimento ha caducado o se ha pasado, o un escritorio que dejará constancia de donde se ha dejado cada cosa, o que pudiésemos saber donde se encuentra cada objeto, que nos pertenezca, en cada momento, o controlar toda nuestra vivienda desde un smartphone o PC (desde la puerta de entrada, hasta la cadena de WC), o que estemos avisados de los alérgenos y su concentración en el aire en una pulserita para alérgicos, o millones de escenarios por descubrir. Estos son algunos ejemplos de todo lo que podría permitirnos desempeñar el Internet de las cosas, nada nuevo para los que llevamos más de 16 años dedicándonos a domótica y control, tan solo una nueva forma de dar un empujón más al M2M, a la domótica, a la inmótica...y al puro control.
¿Es posible realmente conectar todo a la red?
La respuesta es sí, no ahora mismo, pero si en muy poco tiempo. El principal inconveniente que está retrasando este avance es la limitación de direccionamiento que ofrece el actual protocolo ipv4, donde no sería posible interconectar tal cantidad de dispositivos y objetos. Por este motivo es ya inminente la transición a ipv6, el nuevo protocolo de direccionamiento que permitirá la interconexión casi ilimitada de cualquier objeto y la evolución e implementación del Internet of Things.
Una vez esquivado dicho obstáculo, y con el progresivo abaratamiento de esta tecnología con el tiempo, no solo va a ser posible, si no necesario debido a su utilidad y la gran cantidad de aplicaciones que podremos realizar con el Internet de las cosas. Piensa en ropa inteligente, en artilugios implantados en nuestro cuerpo velando por nuestra salud,... o ¿por que no? en bolsas de snacks en los supermercados negándonos su compra por contener contraindicaciones en nuestro registro de salud.

¿De que forma repercute el Internet de las cosas respecto a temas de seguridad o privacidad, en nuestras vidas?
Pues aquí, como siempre nos encontramos con la eterna dicotomía, si interpretamos las ventajas en cuanto a seguridad física o de bienes, indudablemente vamos hacia un entorno más seguro, si por el contrario nos percatamos que todo ese intercambio de información acaba por ser muy particular, y personal, de cada uno de nosotros, y que habla de tendencias, gustos, anhelos, pasiones...datos médicos, aficiones, sensaciones, variables actuales,..., pues entonces la seguridad se vuelve en un "control en manos ajenas" (eufemísticamente LA NUBE) que nos hace cada vez más vulnerables (eufemísticamente BIG DATA).
¿De qué capacidades estará dotado?
De tal forma, enfocando la seguridad física y de bienes en la vida de cualquier persona, ya sea sobre su persona, sobre su negocio, hogar,etc.,tendrá un papel importantísimo, ya sea aumentando la seguridad en viviendas, vehículos, y bienes personales o simplemente sobre las personas.
Volviendo a uno de los ejemplos anteriores, si todos y cada uno de los objetos tuviesen su particular conexión a Internet podríamos saber en cada momento dónde se encuentra dicho objeto y por lo tanto reducir prácticamente a cero la posibilidad de perderlo. Por otro lado se vería incrementada de forma exponencial la seguridad en edificios, viviendas y fábricas, ya que con un sinfín de objetos sensorizados y monitorizados no habrá detalle que se escape, avisos por intrusión, escapes de agua, incendios, bases de datos con todo lo que ha ocurrido en una vivienda son algunas de las múltiples funciones que seremos capaces de realizar. En cuanto a la seguridad personal también se verá incrementada con objetos tales como relojes que pudiesen tomar el pulso y actuar en consecuencia, por ejemplo que en caso de paro cardíaco llamasen directamente a emergencias, dispositivos que nos alerten antes de sufrir una crisis por asma p.ej.. ,todo esto y mucho más es lo que se podría conseguir con las nuevas tecnologías y todos estos nuevos conceptos, da igual que les llamen domótica, inmótica, AmI, Ambiance Intelligence, Objetos Inteligentes,Smartcities, Smart Grid, IoT.... o "un mundo feliz".
Como todo en esta vida, la avalancha tecnológica es imparable, los beneficios inexcusables....y el resto de la sociedad tendrá que poner coto a factores que tengan que ver con la privacidad, los derechos y deberes, y todo lo relacionado al reconocimiento de la dignidad personal.

(Si lo supiéramos todo....el futuro de nuestro trabajo no tendría mucho sentido, seguimos investigando)
¿Cuales serán los niveles de inteligencia de estos dispositivos?
- Comunicación y cooperación: los objetos tendrán la capacidad de conectarse a los servicios de Internet y/o entre sí, pudiendo intercambiar y actualizar datos entre ellos y establecer comunicaciones con los servidores.
- Capacidad de direccionamiento: Esta clase de dispositivos podrán ser configurados y localizables desde cualquier lugar de la red.
- Identificación: Los objetos podrán ser identificados mediante tecnologías tales como RFID (Radio Frecuency Identification), NFC (Near Field Communication), códigos de barra de lectura óptica, o cientos de otras formas de identificar a un dispositivo en una red.
- Localización: Tendrán en todo momento conocimiento sobre su ubicación física, pudiendo saber donde se encuentra en todo momento.
- Actuación: Determinados objetos serán capaces de manipular su entorno.

Según los expertos existirán al menos 4 niveles de inteligencia:

- Nivel 1: Identidad. El objeto será capaz de identificarse de manera única
- Nivel 2: Ubicación. Se podrá saber dónde está dicho objeto o dónde ha estado.
- Nivel 3: Estado. Será capaz de comunicar el estado en que se encuentra así como sus características.
- Nivel 4: Contexto. El objeto será capaz de percibir el entorno en que se encuentra.

Si lo analizamos aquí nos parece muy infantil esta clasificación ya que esta pensada bajo la premisa de dispositivos un poco "tontitos", y desde luego, lo que hoy posibilita el mercado hace más diversa la clasificación, y podríamos añadir niveles como:

- Nivel 5: Criterio. El objeto se comunica, se identifica, se ubica, analiza su entorno, decide y ejecuta en función de su criterio.

¿Qué protocolos de comunicación utilizará el IoT?
- Nivel n+1: ?¿?¿
¿Qué es y de que partes se compone un dispositivo M2M?
A saber ,esto siempre es el dilema, da igual que hablemos de M2M, de domótica...o de automatización industrial, un sinfín de iniciativas se ponen en marcha para intentar conjugar un protocolo que sirva como estándar y de alguna manera tenga en cuenta la idiosincrasia de los sistemas que queremos meter en escena.
Y si bien tenemos Zigbee (IEEE 802.15.4), Bluetooth LTE, 6LowPan, WiFi, GSM (con todas sus respectivas Gs), u otras esperanzadoras como SigFox...y desde luego un maravilloso mundo TCP/IP que sabemos que es capaz de desplegar redes mundiales, pero que no esta pensado para meter sus vetustas arquitecturas directamente en sensores que deberían funcionar, al menos algunos, durante décadas, es decir autosuficientes en el tema de carga (solar, viento..etc) o auto eficientes en el tema de consumo, bueno, esto sin hablar de ciento y una mil conjeturas propietarias lidiando el protagonismo para el gran negocio que se avecina.

En Domodesk vemos que iniciativas en grupos de trabajo como RPL Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6550 ) empiezan a pensar en arquitecturas que posibiliten los millones de escenarios posibles si queremos un Internet of Everything que funcione, o como este grupo define el OF (objective functions), porque no debería ser la misma prioridad un MEMS que intente decirle a nuestro médico y servicio asistencial que estamos sufriendo un infarto, que un sensor que se esta preocupando de vigilar por la eficiencia de nuestro sistema de climatización, y tampoco la jerarquización y los caminos que debe seguir laseñal hasta que encuentre un punto de reunión que controle su direccionamiento IPv6, como veis la "comedura de tarro" es directamente proporcional al objetivo de llenarlo todo de posibilidades de comunicación inteligente, y hay mucho que definir.
Pero en Domodesk ya hace tiempo que apostamos por TCP/IP y Wireless con topología en rejilla (elemento clave...el MESH), y poco cuesta extrapolar esto a lo que será una casa más grande, la de todos, el planeta ;-)

Como hemos hablado anteriormente de los dispositivos M2M ya que son una tecnología propicia a la hora de desarrollar el Internet de las cosas vamos a hacer una breve descripción de en qué consisten.
Los dispositivos M2M (machine to machine) como su propio nombre indica se trata de dispositivos capaces de establecer una comunicación tanto con el servidor como con otros dispositivos M2M.
¿Cuál ha sido la evolución del Internet de las cosas?
Las partes de que se compone son las siguientes:

- Dispositivos de gestión: Forman parte de este grupo todas aquellas máquinas o dispositivos cuya labor va a ser la de gestionar datos (alarmas en hogares, contadores, paneles de información, puntos de venta,etc)
- Dispositivos M2M: serán aquellos dispositivos (módulos) que conectados de forma remota a cualquier máquina recoja información y mantenga una comunicación con el servidor. Eventualmente también tendrán capacidad para procesar información individualmente.
-Servidor: Será aquel sistema que envié y reciba dicha información de las máquinas y a su vez haga una gestión eficiente de la misma.
-Red de comunicación: se trata del medio físico mediante el cual viaje la información pudiendo de ser de dos clases: cableado e inalámbrico, siendo este último el método habitual puesto que en principio carece de lógica implementar el Internet de las cosas mediante cable a no ser que sea algún dispositivo muy especifico.

¿Para cuando se prevé que sea posible la implementación a gran escala de IoT?
Se puede hablar de sus primeros pasos en el año 1990 cuando Jhon Romkey y Simon Hacket consiguieron diseñar una tostadora con conectividad a Internet, pudiendo desde cualquier ordenador determinar su encendido, su apagado y configurar el tiempo de tostado de la misma.
A partir de este momento, se supo el potencial que tendría la posibilidad de conectar ciertos dispositivos a Internet, pero fue en 1999 cuando fueron introducidos los conceptos básicos de el Internet de las Cosas por el ingeniero Bill Joy, el cual se percato de la importancia que tendría este aspecto a la hora de automatizar y disponer de control sobre una multitud impensable de dispositivos, escenarios que también planteaban JINI y UPnP.
Nos remontamos ya a 2009 donde fue bautizado el término gracias a un artículo publicado por Kevin Ashton el 12 de Julio de 2009, dicho artículo hablaba de la gran funcionalidad que podría aportar conectar todo a la red para poder contar los objetos, dispositivos, saber la posición en que se encuentran, su estado y que éstos pudiesen darnos información sobre el entorno en que se encuentran.
ACTUALIZAMOS IoT Arena.-
Unos años antes se realizó un estudio en el cual se determinaba que alrededor de 1000 millones de dispositivos estaban conectados a Internet entre consolas, ordenadores, móviles, etc.
La empresa CISCO, formuló mediante un estudio que la cantidad de dispositivos electrónicos conectados a la red era más elevado que la población mundial.
Por último, a partir del año 2011 se diseña el protocolo de direccionamiento de Internet IPv6 posibilitándola identificación de una infinidad de direcciones y haciendo posible el IoT ya que se estima que en menos de 10 años existan cerca de 50.000 millones de dispositivos conectados a la red.

No hay una fecha exacta, pero lo que esta claro es que con la velocidad con la que avanza la tecnología, con circuitos cada vez más baratos y a su vez más pequeños, y la increíble evolución de las redes informáticas y las posibilidades que ésta ofrece, no falta mucho, serán 5, 10 o 15 años, pero lo que queda demostrado es que ya empieza a ser un hecho, esta ahí, y es posiblemente junto con la robótica el futuro más cercano que podemos observar, solo hay que echar un vistazo a las miles de campañas de crowdfunding (palabreja de moda para democratizar las inversiones..., resumiendo, que paguen los fans) con miles de artilugios pujando por un papel en este mundo.

Es 2014, demos la bienvenida a la nueva era de Internet, EL INTERNET DE LAS COSAS, y deja que en Domodesk te sigamos acompañando, al menos, 16 años más :-), no en vano, poner las electrónicas a trabajar en red para el disfrute y utilidad de las personas, es domótica, pura y dura.

A Julio de 2014 vemos como esta el panorama de iniciativas que persiguen un trozo de protagonismo en el mundo de la domótica, Internet de las Cosas IoT, o llámalo, si quieres, una utopia de un cuasi infinito mundo de objetos conectados, comunicándose entre ellos para, según todos, hacernos la vida más fácil y poniendo a las personas en el centro de aprovechamiento de los avances tecnológicos.

El juego de asociarse con el caballo ganador se convierte en una pesadillas para todos, desde fabricantes de hardware hasta los grandes del consumo electrónico, de ahí que a muchos los veamos flirteando con varios estándares, protocolos de comunicación o refritos de otros tiempos.
Zigbee
Nuestra experiencia en el mundo de la domótica, de 16 años, consigue que no acabemos por pretender seguir todas y cada una de las iniciativas, nosotros ya tenemos nuestras apuestas y el resto ya los hemos condenado al silencio. Sin pecar de prepotentes, en Domodesk descubrimos que el arte de todo este despropósito de "egos" es la integración, y esperar que surja un "esperanto" que se convierta en un lenguaje único para comunicar, fabricar y poner en marcha...., eso, es una ilusión, así que optamos por seguir aprendiendo a integrar mundos diferentes de la forma más sencilla para el usuario final.
http://www.zigbee.org/ ECHONET Lite (HEMS)
Integrar es la clave.
http://www.echonet.gr.jp/english/ Thread
Aquí os dejamos un menú de enlaces para el que quiera hacerse un master de verano en iniciativas dentro del mundo de la domótica y el IoT.
http://www.threadgroup.org Alljoin
NXP Semiconductors, Comcast Cable, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Itron Inc., Kroger, Landis+Gyr, Legrand Group, Philips Electronics, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments (+ 400 aprox)
https://www.alljoyn.org OIC (Open Interconnect Consortium)
Hitachi, Mitsubishi, NTT, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc, (+140 aprox)
http://www.openinterconnect.org/ IIC (Industrial Internet Consortium)
Nest(Google), Samsung, Freescale, ARM, Yale, Bigass Fans, Silicon Labs
http://www.iiconsortium.org/ IPSO
Haier, LG, Microsoft, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Sharp, TP-LINK, Silicon Image, Technicolor
http://www.ipso-alliance.org/ WEIGHTLESS
Samsung, Intel, Broadcom, Dell, Atmel, Wind River
http://www.weightless.org/ HYPERCAT
Intel, Cisco, AT&T, GE, IBM, Microsoft, Tech Mahindra
http://wiki.1248.io/doku.php?id=hypercat
ARM, Atmel, Bosch, Eaton, EDF, Ericsson, Freescale, GreenWave Systems, Grid Connect, Itron, Landis&Gyr, Linear Technology, Micrium, NXP SemiConductors, Oracle, SICS, Sigma Designs, Silicon Labs, Silver Spring Networks, STMicroelectronics, Tridium, Centero, Grid Connect, HOP Ubiquitous, Oracle, Aidon, Cisco, Connode, Cyberlightning, ElectroTest, ELIKO, Elster, Emerson Climate Technologies, Google, ISMB, Lulea University, Maxfor, Nokia, Proto6, Sensus, Synapse Wireless, Texas Instruments, Tampere University of Technology.

Accenture, ARM, Cable&Wireless, CSR, Neul, Rohde & Schwarz, Kazakh Telecom ( +xxxx aprox)
http://www.bluetooth.com/Pages/Bluetooth-Smart.aspx HOMEKIT
BT, ARM, Intel, IBM (+xx)
https://developer.apple.com/homekit/ SIGFOX
BLUETOOTH SMART LOW ENERGY (BLE)
http://www.sigfox.com/es/
Apple, Nordic, Microsoft, Lenovo, Ericsson, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Toshiba, CSR, LG (+ 20000 aprox)
IEEE 802.15.4, 6LoWPAN, Dust Networks, Z-Wave, Wi-Fi, Home Kit, XMPP, MQTT, CoAP, OMA-DM, DDS, AMQP, RESTful HTTP, LTE, 4G, CDMA, DECT, Motorola MPact, Philips´ VLC beacon, OcuoX, DASH7, RFID, iBeacon, UWB, MyriaNed; ioBridge,...y unos cientos más ;-)
Apple, Philips, Chamberlain

Esta creciendo esta iniciativa francesa, a base de dejar a todos la propiedad intelectual para crear HWD y abrir la tecnología a proveedores de soluciones

Y nos hemos cansado de hacer memoria y recordar a más protagonistas, así que el resto os los dejamos como punteros sin destino para que uséis Google.

Consulte en service@domodesk.com cualquier proyecto avanzado de domótica.
** Si quiere utilizar estos contenidos, por favor cite como fuente www.domodesk.com

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A FONDO: ¿Qué es IoT (el Internet de las Cosas)?

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Desde la llegada de Internet a nuestras vidas, éste ha evolucionado de una forma veloz y apabullante, desde aquellos rudimentarios módems de 56 KB hasta las rapidísimas y eficaces líneas de fibra óptica actuales.

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por

La internet de las cosas (IoT, por sus siglas en inglés) es un sistema de dispositivos de computación interrelacionados, máquinas mecánicas y digitales, objetos, animales o personas que tienen identificadores únicos y la capacidad de transferir datos a través de una red, sin requerir de interacciones humano a humano o humano a computadora.
El contenido continua más abajo

Una cosa, en la internet de las cosas, puede ser una persona con un implante de monitor de corazón, un animal de granja con un transpondedor de biochip, un automóvil que tiene sensores incorporados para alertar al conductor cuando la presión de los neumáticos es baja, o cualquier otro objeto natural o artificial al que se puede asignar una dirección IP y darle la capacidad de transferir datos a través de una red.

IoT ha evolucionado desde la convergencia de tecnologías inalámbricas, sistemas micro-electromecánicos (MEMS), microservicios e internet. La convergencia ha ayudado a derribar las paredes de silos entre la tecnología operativa (OT) y la tecnología de la información (TI), permitiendo que los datos no estructurados generados por máquinas sean analizados para obtener información que impulse mejoras.

Kevin Ashton, cofundador y director ejecutivo del Auto-ID Center de MIT, mencionó por primera vez la internet de las cosas en una presentación que hizo a Procter & Gamble en 1999. He aquí cómo Ashton explica el potencial de la internet de las cosas:

"Las computadoras de hoy -y, por lo tanto, la internet- dependen casi totalmente de los seres humanos para obtener información. Casi todos los aproximadamente 50 petabytes (un petabyte son 1.024 terabytes) de datos disponibles en internet fueron capturados y creados por seres humanos escribiendo, presionando un botón de grabación, tomando una imagen digital o escaneando un código de barras.

El problema es que la gente tiene tiempo, atención y precisión limitados, lo que significa que no son muy buenos para capturar datos sobre cosas en el mundo real. Si tuviéramos computadoras que supieran todo lo que hay que saber acerca de las cosas -utilizando datos que recopilaron sin ninguna ayuda de nosotros- podríamos rastrear y contar todo, y reducir en gran medida los desechos, las pérdidas y el costo. Sabríamos cuándo necesitamos reemplazar, reparar o recordar cosas, y si eran frescas o ya pasadas".

El enorme aumento de IPv6 en el espacio de direcciones es un factor importante en el desarrollo de la internet de las cosas. Según Steve Leibson, quien se identifica como "docente ocasional en el Museo de Historia de la Computación", la expansión del espacio de direcciones significa que podríamos "asignar una dirección IPV6 a cada átomo en la superficie de la Tierra, y aún tener suficientes direcciones para hacer otras más de cien Tierras". En otras palabras, los seres humanos fácilmente podría asignar una dirección IP a cada"cosa" en el planeta. Se espera que un aumento en el número de nodos inteligentes, así como la cantidad de datos ascendentes generados por los nodos, genere nuevas preocupaciones sobre la privacidad de los datos, la soberanía de los datos y la seguridad.

Las aplicaciones prácticas de la tecnología IoT se pueden encontrar en muchas industrias actualmente, incluyendo la agricultura de precisión, gestión de edificios, salud, energía y transporte. Hay numerosas opciones de conectividad para los ingenieros electrónicos y los desarrolladores de aplicaciones que trabajan en productos y sistemas para internet de las cosas.

Aunque el concepto no fue nombrado hasta 1999, la internet de las cosas ha estado en desarrollo durante décadas. El primer aparato de internet, por ejemplo, fue una máquina de Coca Cola en la Universidad Carnegie Melon, a principios de 1980. Los programadores podían conectarse a la máquina a través de internet, verificar el estado de la máquina y determinar si había o no una bebida fría esperándoles, si decidieran hacer el viaje a la máquina.

El Dr. John Barrett explica la internet de las cosas en su charla de TED:

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¿Qué es Internet de las cosas (IoT)? - Definición en WhatIs.com

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por La internet de las cosas (IoT, por sus siglas en inglés) es un sistema de dispositivos de computación interrelacionados, máquinas mecánicas y digitales, objetos, animales o personas que tienen identificadores únicos y la capacidad de transferir datos a través de una red, sin requerir de interacciones humano a humano o humano a computadora.

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Why is the Internet of Things important?

You might be surprised to learn how many things are connected to the Internet, and how much economic benefit we can derive from analyzing the resulting data streams. Here are some examples of the impact the IoT has on industries:

Intelligent transport solutions speed up traffic flows, reduce fuel consumption, prioritize vehicle repair schedules and save lives.

Smart electric grids more efficiently connect renewable resources, improve system reliability and charge customers based on smaller usage increments.

Machine monitoring sensors diagnose - and predict - pending maintenance issues, near-term part stockouts, and even prioritize maintenance crew schedules for repair equipment and regional needs.

Data-driven systems are being built into the infrastructure of "smart cities," making it easier for municipalities to run waste management, law enforcement and other programs more efficiently.

But also consider the IoT on a more personal level. Connected devices are making their way from business and industry to the mass market. Consider these possibilities:

You're low on milk. When you're on your way home from work, you get an alert from your refrigerator reminding you to stop by the store.

Your home security system, which already enables you to remotely control your locks and thermostats, can cool down your home and open your windows, based on your preferences.

Read the TDWI report, Four Use Cases Show Real-World Impact of IoT, to learn how the Internet of Things is changing how organizations work.

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You might be surprised to learn how many things are connected to the Internet, and how much economic benefit we can derive from analyzing the resulting data streams. Here are some examples of the impact the IoT has on industries: Intelligent transport solutions speed up traffic flows, reduce fuel consumption, prioritize vehicle repair schedules and save lives.

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PRESENTACIÓN

El mundo está viajando hacia una integración digital profunda. La "internet de las cosas" promete un futuro de Smart Cities, hogares automatizados, productos y proceso inteligentes en la era Industria 4.0.

El curso Internet of Things (IoT) es un plan de estudio completo que te forma de manera secuencial en las diversas capas de desarrollo que hacen al funcionamiento de sistemas de microcontroladores para propósitos de automatización, conectados de manera remota y basados en aplicaciones en la nube. El programa abarca desde el desarrollo de sistemas de microcontroladores que combinan la integración de sensores, actuadores, y electrónica general, pasando por su implementación en arquitecturas de comunicación remota mediante el uso de redes ethernet, WiFi, mobile, bluetooth, llegando hasta el desarrollo completo de sistemas basados en Servicios Cloud, Bases de Datos y Web Apps.

El programa está completamente enfocado en el aprendizaje teórico práctico, destinando muchas horas de cursada a la bajada a tierra de los conceptos mediante proyectos de integración, donde se van acoplando de manera acumulativa las diversas capas o "stacks" que hace al desarrollo de sistemas IoT para aplicaciones de automatización & control, domótica hogar, productos conectados y todo tipo de procesos de orientación comercial e industrial.

OBJETIVOS (Generales y Específicos)
Objetivos generales

Comprender cómo trabaja un sistema IoT punta a punta, las tecnologías de comunicación remota disponibles y cada una de las capas de aplicación involucradas.

Diseñar y construir sistemas de embebidos orientados a la nube

Trabajar con toda clase de sensores en ambientes reales

Implementar dispositivos de acción, visualización y control como servos, motores de CC, motores paso a paso, todo tipo de dispositivos eléctricos basados en corriente alterna, pantallas LCD, teclados, y más.

Objetivos específicos

Desarrollo de sistemas embebidos Ethernet, wifi, bluetooth.

Operar soluciones de comunicación remota GSM y GPRS para envíos de SMS, llamada, conectividad remota, etc.

Desarrollar redes WiFi de sensores y actuadores con la potente familia de micros ESP8266, especialmente concebidos para aplicaciones IoT.

Uso y aplicaciones de redes inteligentes LoRa y Sigfox

DESTINATARIOS

Esta capacitación está enfocada para todo tipo de perfiles con conocimientos básicos en el uso de microcontroladores con intenciones de desarrollar proyectos de:

Automatización & Control de procesos a distancia

Domótica hogar

Aplicaciones Multimediales

Redes y microservicios

Productos conectados

Internet de las Cosas (IoT)

REQUISITOS DE PARTICIPACIÓN

Tener aprobado como mínimo el ciclo básico de Enseñanza Media o su equivalente. Conocimientos básicos de electrónica.

DURACIÓN

36 horas, divididas en 12 clases de 3 horas cada una. Carga horaria semanal: 3 horas

TEMARIO

Para conocer el temario y el cronograma de clases, hacé clic AQUÍ

DOCENTES

Mg. Ing. Federico D´Alía

Ing. Marcos Politi

METODOLOGÍA DE TRABAJO

La metodología de trabajo se caracteriza por la realización de tareas, guiadas visualmente por el profesor y organizadas en unidades de conocimiento, que tienen el objetivo de promocionar el autoaprendizaje mediante la práctica.

Las exposiciones, que serán teórico-prácticas, estarán ilustradas con ejemplos de la especialidad, reforzadas con capturas de pantallas y animaciones guiadas paso a paso. En las explicaciones se explicarán técnicas útiles necesarias para llevar a cabo los proyectos. Cada explicación tendrá un ejemplo aplicado sobre un plano real, lo que fomenta la participación activa y la comprobación inmediata de los conocimientos expuestos.

PROCEDIMIENTOS DE EVALUACIÓN Y ACREDITACIÓN - CERTIFICACIÓN

- Primer criterio: Asistencia a clase. Se evaluará que el alumno tenga una asistencia igual o mayor al 80 % de las horas dictadas.

- Segundo criterio: evaluación mediante trabajos prácticos y proyecto integrador. Se evaluará al alumno al final del curso.

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Internet of Things - UTNBA - Extensión Universitaria

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El mundo está viajando hacia una integración digital profunda. La "internet de las cosas" promete un futuro de Smart Cities, hogares automatizados, productos y proceso inteligentes en la era Industria 4.0.

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Equipos de protección. Niveles en español.

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Equipos de protección. Niveles en español.

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Motores y Generadores Presurizados - Motores y generadores para atmósferas explosivas | ABB

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CONTROL DE MOTORES SÍNCRONOS
1. Introducción
Los motores sincrónicos son usados como servo-controladores en aplicaciones como equipos periféricos de computadoras, robóticos y como controladores de velocidad ajustables en una variedad de aplicaciones como: bombas de carga proporcional, grandes abanicos y compresores. En aplicaciones de baja potencia hasta unos cuantos kilowatts, son usados motores sincrónicos de imán permanente (ver Figura 1). Estos motores son a menudo referidos como motores "DC sin brocha" o motores conmutados electrónicamente.

Figura 1: Estructura de un motor sincrónico;
(a) imán permanente, (b) polos salientes.
2. Principio de Operación del Motor Síncrono
El devanado de campo en el rotor produce un flujo Ø f en el entrehierro. Este flujo rota a una velocidad sincrónica w s rad/s, la cual es la misma que la velocidad del rotor. El flujo Ø fa se une al devanado de fase del estator, por ejemplo la fase a, varia sinosoidalmente con el tiempo:

donde;

y p es el número de polos en el motor. Si asumimos N s como un número equivalente de vueltas en cada devanado del estator, la fem inducida en la fase a es:

Este voltaje inducido en el devanado del estator es llamado voltaje de excitación cuyo valor rms es:

En controladores de motores sincrónicos, el estator es alimentado con un juego de corrientes trifásicas balanceadas, cuya frecuencia es:

La componente de la frecuencia fundamental de la corriente del estator produce una amplitud de flujo constante Ø S en el entrehierro, la cual rota a la velocidad sincrónica w s. La amplitud de Ø S es proporcional a las amplitudes de las componentes de la frecuencia fundamental en las corrientes del estator.
El voltaje resultante en el entrehierro es:

Todos estos fasores están definidos en la figura 2a. Basados en esta última ecuación y en diagrama fasorial, el circuito equivalente por fase de un motor sincrónico se muestra en la Figura 2b, donde R s y L Is son la resistencia del devanado y la inductancia de fuga, respectivamente. Incluyendo la caída de voltaje a través de la R s y L Is en la fase a es:

El diagrama fasorial de esta ecuación se muestra en la Figura 2c, donde Øp es el ángulo entre la corriente y el voltaje en fasor.
De el circuito equivalente por fase y el diagrama fasorial de la Figura 2, el torque electromagnético T em puede ser obtenido como sigue: La potencia eléctrica que puede ser convertida en potencia mecánica es:

donde el ángulo Ø f es llamado ángulo de torque y k t es la constante de proporcionalidad.
En el diagrama fasorial de la Figura 2c, I a adelanta a V a. Este adelanto de factor de potencia se requiere si el motor sincrónico es alimentado por un controlador donde la corriente a través de los tiristores inversores es conmutada por los voltajes del motor sincrónico.

Figura 2: Representación por fase: (a) diagrama fasorial, (b) circuito equivalente,
(c) voltaje terminal.

En un motor sincrónico la velocidad en estado estable está determinada por el número de polos y la frecuencia de la corriente de armadura, exactamente como lo indica la siguiente ecuación:

donde n= velocidad mecánica en rpm y w m = velocidad mecánica en rad/seg.
Por lo tanto un motor sincrónico operado por una fuente de AC de frecuencia constante debe trabajar a velocidad constante en su estado estable.

En un motor el par electromagnético está en la dirección de giro y compensa al par de reacción necesario para impulsar la carga mecánica. El flujo que producen las corrientes en la armadura de un motor sincrónico gira adelante del que produce el campo, y así actúa sobre el campo y efectúa trabajo.
3.Servo Controlador con Tensión Senoidal Aplicación de Controles de Estado Sólido para ajuste de Velocidad de Motores Sincrónicos.
Se puede obtener control de velocidad para motores de inducción mediante control de frecuencia y voltaje, así como por recuperación de la potencia del rotor a la frecuencia de deslizamiento mediante dispositivos especiales. El empleo de dispositivos electrónicos de estado sólido para implementar estás técnicas en los sistemas de impulsión de motores sincrónicos ha conducido al mayor uso de las máquinas de inducción en casos donde se necesita controlar la velocidad. Los sistemas de control de estado sólido de AC son más complejos que sus contrapartes de DC; sin embargo, aunque los motores de DC han dominado el campo de control con velocidad ajustable, los motores sincrónicos se usan en sistemas de control en los que se deben utilizar sus características especiales, como por ejemplo la ausencia de conmutadores, escobillas y corregir el factor de potencia.
El avance en la tecnología de sistemas de control de AC ha ocasionado mayor flexibilidad y grandes reducciones en tamaño, peso y costo de los dispositivos, y ha hecho que aumente el interés en otros tipos de máquinas de AC como las de Imán Permanente y de Reluctancia Variable para aplicaciones de velocidad variable.
La potencia de frecuencia ajustable se puede generar mediante un circuito tiristor, llamado Inversor. Un tiristor (también conocido como Rectificador Controlado de Silicio, SCR) es un dispositivo con tres terminales semejante al diodo, con la excepción de que una señal en su compuerta lo debe encender antes de comenzar la conducción de la corriente, cuando tiene voltaje directo.
Los inversores se emplean para transmitir energía de una fuente de DC a una carga de AC con frecuencia y fase arbitrarias. Se utilizan en los sistemas de control de AC para suministrar corriente de frecuencia ajustable a los motores sincrónicos, y para regenerar la potencia del circuito del rotor y regresarla a la línea de AC en los motores de inducción de rotor devanado. Un control típico para motores consta de un rectificador que convierte la corriente del suministro de AC a la forma de DC, un inversor que forma la corriente alterna de frecuencia ajustable a partir de la barra de DC, y un sistema de control para ajustar la frecuencia y el voltaje del motor, y asegurar que no se rebase el par máximo de éste.
Los inversores para suministrar corriente a frecuencia ajustable para los sistemas de control de motores sincrónicos en general son trifásicos. El inversor trifásico tiene como mínimo seis tiristores dispuestos en la configuración de un puente, como se muestra en la Figura 3.

Figura 3: Configuración de un puente trifásico inversor

Estos tiristores (TR) se conmutan en forma secuencial para sintetizar un conjunto de voltajes trifásicos en las terminales de AC, que se aplica al motor.
La salida de un inversor trifásico se aplica a los motores sincrónicos para obtener funcionamiento de velocidad ajustable mediante control de frecuencia. Cuando se necesita en uno o más motores una velocidad estrechamente controlada, como en las aplicaciones en la industria textil, se usan motores sincrónicos; éstos trabajan en sincronismo con el oscilador que controla al inversor, independientemente de su carga. La velocidad sincrónica es directamente proporcional a la frecuencia.
Controladores de Servomotores Sincrónicos con Ondas Sinusoidales
La distribución de la densidad de flujo en el entrehierro y los voltajes de excitación inducidos en el estator en un motor son casi sinusoidales. Para controlar controladores servo-sincrónicos, la posición del campo del rotor es medida para saber de una posición absoluta del sensor, con respecto a su eje estacionario, como se muestra en la Figura 4 para un motor de dos polos. Reconociendo que a ø=0 en un motor de dos polos, I a debe ser a su pico positivo:

Para un motor de p polos, en general, si ø es el ángulo mecánico medido, entonces el ángulo eléctrico ø e es:

Figura 4: Medida de la posición del rotor en el tiempo.

Si usamos estas ecuaciones y sabemos que las fases b y c están desfasadas 120° y 240°:

Esta estrategia de control también puede ser usada para controladores de motor de inducción.
Con la frecuencia de la corriente del estator "bloqueada" o sincronizada a la posición del rotor, la cual es continuamente medida, no hay posibilidad de pérdida de sincronismo, y el ángulo de torque ø se mantiene en su óptimo valor de 90°.
La Figura 5 muestra el diagrama de bloque de un servomotor sincrónico con ondas sinusoidales.

Figura 5: Controlador sincrónico de un servo motor
4. Controladores de Motores Sincrónicos con Ondas Trapezoidales
Los motores descritos en la sección previa están diseñados para que las fem inducidas en el estator debido al flujo del campo sean sinusoidales y las corrientes del estator produzcan un campo sinusoidal. En ésta sección los motores están diseñados con bobinas concentradas, para que la densidad de flujo de el campo, debido a los imanes permanentes y a los voltajes de excitación inducidos, tenga ondas trapezoidales.
La Figura 6 muestra la fem inducida e fa(t) en la fase a, donde el rotor gira en la dirección de las manecillas del reloj a una velocidad de w s rad/s y ø es medido con respecto a el estator como se mostró en la Figura 5. La onda de la fem tiene una porción plana, la cual ocurre para al menos 120° (eléctricos) durante cada medio ciclo. La amplitud E f es proporcional a la velocidad del rotor;

para producir tanto torque libre de risos como sea posible en un motor, la fase de la corriente suministrada debe tener ondas rectangulares como se muestra en la Figura 6b. Como la potencia total es independiente del tiempo, el torque electromagnético instantáneo es también independiente del tiempo y depende solamente de la amplitud de la corriente I s:

Un regulador de corriente VSI, se utiliza donde las referencias de corriente sinusoidales son reemplazadas por referencias de corriente rectangulares. Un ciclo completo es dividido en seis intervalos de 60° eléctricos cada uno. En cada intervalo, la corriente a través de dos fases es constante y proporcional al torque. Para obtener estas referencias de corriente, la posición del rotor es usualmente medido por sensores de efecto Hall que indican la sexta conmutación de corriente instantánea por ciclo eléctrico de onda.

Figura 6: Onda Trapezoidal de un motor sincrónico.

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CONTROL DE MOTORES SÍNCRONOS 1. Introducción Los motores sincrónicos son usados como servo-controladores en aplicaciones como equipos periféricos de computadoras, robóticos y como controladores de velocidad ajustables en una variedad de aplicaciones como: bombas de carga proporcional, grandes abanicos y compresores.

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Pasiva perifrástica con ser y pasiva refleja con se

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HISPANOTECA - Portal de lengua y cultura hispanas. Lingüística contrastiva español y alemán. Para estudiantes y profesores de lengua y cultura hispanas

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HISPANOTECA - Portal de lengua y cultura hispanas. Lingüística contrastiva español y alemán. Para estudiantes y profesores de lengua y cultura hispanas

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Estos adjetivos solo funcionan como modificadores directos del sustantivo. Van antepuestos y no son graduables ni aparecen en construcciones comparativas.

No atribuyen propiedades al sustantivo, sino que modifican la manera o intensidad con la que el concepto del sustantivo se aplica al referente.

Por ejemplo, comparemos estas dos oraciones:

La presunta asesina es Laura.

La asesina es Laura.

En estas dos oraciones el referente es Laura, sin embargo, el adjetivo presunta marca el grado de duda del emisor respecto a que el referente, Laura, sea efectivamente la asesina. Es decir, el adjetivo marca la manera o el grado en que el concepto de "asesina" se aplica a Laura.

Estos adjetivos en vez de enunciar una característica de un objeto modifican a los sustantivos como lo haría el adverbio correspondiente terminado en -mente. Por ejemplo, el supuesto asesino (la persona que supuestamente asesinó a...), el verdadero asesino (la persona que verdaderamente asesinó a...), etc.

Entre los adjetivos adverbiales, unos modifican la intensión del nombre, esto es: la manera o el grado en que el concepto del sustantivo se aplica al referente: el supuesto cómplice, la posible solución, etc.; otros asignan a esos nombres características modales o espaciotemporales (del mismo modo que los adverbios en -mente: mirada fría / miró fríamente), o incluso aspectuales (las reiteradas quejas).

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Estos adjetivos solo funcionan como modificadores directos del sustantivo. Van antepuestos y no son graduables ni aparecen en construcciones comparativas. No atribuyen propiedades al sustantivo, sino que modifican la manera o intensidad con la que el concepto del sustantivo se aplica al referente. Por ejemplo, comparemos estas dos oraciones: La presunta asesina es Laura.

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Guidelines for sterilizing ophthalmic Intruments

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Guidelines for sterilizing ophthalmic Intruments

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These guidelines are intended to assist ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in their efforts to adopt appropriate practices for the cleaning and sterilization of intraocular surgical instruments. They are provided for scientific, educational, and informational purposes only. They are not intended to establish the only acceptable or appropriate standards, methods, or practices for cleaning and sterilizing such instruments. Adherence to these guidelines does not guarantee compliance with any legal or regulatory standards, including without limitation the criteria for ASC licensure or certification, or Medicare or other third-party payer reimbursement. In addition, any discussion or recommendation in these guidelines regarding the use of drugs or devices that deviate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved use of such product (ie, an "off-label use") is made for scientific and educational purposes only and intended to fall within the FDA's "practice of medicine" exception for off-label uses. Individual physicians must make independent judgments as to whether the off-label use of a particular drug or device is appropriate and in the patient's best interest based on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.

Introduction

Postoperative infectious endophthalmitis and toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS) are rare, but potentially sight-threatening complications of cataract and other intraocular surgery. The small volume of the eye and its sensitivity to minute amounts of chemical or microbial contaminants means that improper instrument cleaning or sterilization practices might pose a significant risk to patients. The Ophthalmic Instrument Cleaning and Sterilization (OICS) Task Force is made up of representatives of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), and the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS). These professional societies represent ophthalmologists and the clinical staff of ophthalmic outpatient surgery centers, including surgeons, nurses, and technicians. The OICS Task Force includes experts on TASS and endophthalmitis and has written this document to provide specialty-specific, evidence-based guidelines for the cleaning and sterilization of intraocular surgical instruments. This document is an update of original recommended practices for cleaning and sterilizing intraocular surgical instruments published in 2007. ¹

Most of the recommended practices are derived from existing evidence-based recommendations for cleaning and sterilizing all surgical instruments in general,2-4 from published analyses of TASS outbreaks, ⁵⁻¹² and from manufacturers' instructions for use (IFU) for surgical instruments and equipment. In addition, task force members have collaborated in performing new research that supports certain recommendations, which is referenced in this document.

This specialty-specific document seeks to outline minimum standards for intraocular instrument cleaning and sterilization based on a consensus of experts representing the 3 sponsoring societies. Although developed specifically for cataract surgery, the recommendations in this document are also relevant for instruments used in other intraocular surgical procedures. It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every requirement for sterilization and quality assurance of the sterilization process. Individual centers might elect to incorporate additional measures beyond what is outlined in this document.

Appropriate consideration should also be given to guidelines from other relevant organizations. 2-4,13 However, many recommendations from these published guidelines are made with respect to all surgical procedures and are not specific to ophthalmic instrumentation and surgery. Therefore, those recommendations often do not take into account the unique conditions of intraocular surgery and special requirements for cleaning and sterilizing ophthalmic instrumentation. As a result, all-inclusive, broad guidelines attempting to cover surgery from head to toe could sometimes include inappropriate, or even risky, practices for ophthalmic cases. For example, cataract surgeries are shorter than many general surgical procedures and are often performed with higher daily volumes. Intraocular surgical instruments are among the smallest in size and generally do not become heavily soiled from tissue or bacterial contamination. On the other hand, minute amounts of detergent or chemical contaminants that would be well tolerated in other body cavities can cause severe intraocular inflammation (TASS) when introduced into the eye. 14,15 These characteristics might differentiate optimum cleaning and sterilization procedures for cataract surgery from those required for many other types of surgery.

Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome (TASS)

Toxic anterior segment syndrome is an acute severe inflammatory reaction to a toxic contaminant introduced into the anterior chamber during intraocular surgery. In addition to severe anterior chamber cell and flare, it might be associated with fibrin, hypopyon, diffuse limbus-to-limbus corneal edema, atonic pupil, secondary glaucoma, and in some cases, vitreous cells. ¹⁶ Because of these signs, TASS might be misdiagnosed and mistreated as infectious endophthalmitis. Even if TASS resolves with treatment and without permanent sequelae, the patient often suffers the emotional trauma of believing he or she might have a potentially blinding infection.

2014 Ophthalmic ASC Survey of Sterilization Practice

In 2014, a survey developed by the OICS Task Force was sent to OOSS member ASCs regarding cleaning and sterilization of intraocular instruments. The survey was completed by 232 respondent centers representing a variety of ambulatory surgical settings including single-specialty ophthalmology and multispecialty centers. Ownership models included 100% physician owned, corporate affiliated, hospital affiliated, and hospital outpatient departments (HOPD). For the purposes of analyzing cleaning and sterilization practices for ophthalmic surgery specifically, multispecialty ASCs, hospital-affiliated ASCs and HOPDs were excluded. In total, 182 complete responses were analyzed for this OICS guideline document. During the preceding 12 months, the responding single-specialty ASCs reported performing a total of 608,117 eye surgical procedures. The overall infection rate was 0.02%, with 116 facilities reporting zero cases and 66 facilities reporting 104 cases of endophthalmitis. The overall rate of TASS was 0.01%, with 161 facilities reporting zero cases and 21 facilities reporting a total of 50 cases. Most facilities (97.3%) had been inspected by a regulatory agency during the previous 3-year period. As a result of the inspection, 16.9% of the facilities reported being asked to change cleaning or sterilization protocols.

General Administrative Principles

All facilities should establish written protocols for instrument cleaning and sterilization. These "policies and procedures" should be based on industry standards and guidelines with input from the nursing and medical staff. They should be approved by the governing body of the facility and be available to operating room (OR) and instrument processing staff. In addition, these policies and procedures should be reviewed annually and on acquisition of new instrumentation or sterilizing equipment. 2,3 We acknowledge the wide diversity among ophthalmic surgical settings and in the surgical products and instrumentation used. Physician and nursing medical staff directors should be allowed some discretion in developing and reviewing their facility's written policies and procedures for instrument cleaning and sterilization based on the best available clinical evidence. These should then be approved by the facility governing body.

Cleaning Intraocular Surgical Instruments

Cleaning and decontamination, which include thorough rinsing and flushing, should precede disinfection or sterilization. It is recommended that ophthalmic instrumentation should be cleaned separately from nonophthalmic surgical instruments. Contaminated and soiled instruments should also be cleaned in an area separate from where packaging and sterilization take place.

During decontamination and cleaning, all debris inclusive of ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) should be removed from the instruments. 7,16,19 It might be helpful to keep instruments moist until the cleaning process begins to avoid drying of debris and OVD. 2,3,16,20 A dampened lint-free cloth or soft brush should be used to clean instruments in accordance with the manufacturer's IFU. 3,4 Additional or repeated cleaning and rinsing steps might be required on an instrument-by-instrument basis to ensure removal of all debris and OVD. ²¹

Facilities might consider discarding cleaning syringes or brushes after each use. If brushes are reused, they should be cleaned and disinfected or sterilized at least once daily. 4,24 Instruments should be visually inspected for debris and damage after cleaning and before packaging for sterilization to ensure removal of debris. 4,13,16,25

Immediately after use, phacoemulsification and irrigation/aspiration (I/A) handpieces can be placed in a sterile water bath that is separated from the active operative field to avoid drying of the OVD until cleaning. 2,3 Instruments with lumens, such as phaco or I/A handpieces, should be cleaned and flushed in accordance with the manufacturer's IFU. All debris including OVD should be removed promptly. 2,3

Many IFU specify thorough flushing with critical water. Rinsing should provide flow of water through and over instruments, with effluent discarded so that only debris-free water is used for subsequent rinsing.

Enzymatic Detergent

One practice that is controversial is the use of enzymatic detergents for decontaminating intraocular surgical instruments. The manufacturer's IFU that accompany ophthalmic instruments and ultrasound cleaning baths often call for the use of enzymatic cleaners, the omission of which would therefore be considered off-label. However, the necessity of enzymatic detergents for cleaning contaminated intraocular instruments has not been established. Contrary to some manufacturers' IFU for their intraocular instrument, it is our position that enzymatic detergents should not be routinely required for intraocular instruments for several reasons. These detergents typically contain subtilisin or alpha amylase exotoxins, neither of which is denatured by autoclave sterilization. Corneal endothelial toxicity from enzymatic detergents has been documented in both animal and human studies. 15,26,27 Inappropriate use or incomplete rinsing of enzymatic detergents has been associated with outbreaks of TASS. 17,18

Rabbit studies performed at the Moran Eye Center analyzed whether enzymatic detergents used to clean ophthalmic instruments can cause TASS-like responses. ¹⁴ Different dilutions of enzymatic detergent were injected into the anterior chambers of rabbit eyes, and the animals were evaluated postoperatively for signs of anterior segment inflammation. Severe anterior segment inflammation, including fibrin formation, developed within 72 hours after the injections. There was a dose-related correlation between the enzyme concentration and the severity of the inflammatory response. Post-mortem vital staining showed dose-related toxicity from the enzymatic detergent to the corneal endothelium.

Many ASCs specifically avoid using enzymatic detergent for intraocular instruments that, depending on the instrument, might be an off-label practice. In the 2014 survey of OOSS member ASCs, the majority of facilities (55.5%) did not use an enzymatic cleaner for intraocular instrument decontamination compared with 44.5% who did. The average self-reported rate of endophthalmitis was 0.021% for non-enzyme-using facilities compared with 0.027% for enzyme-using facilities. We are not aware of any study showing that enzyme detergent for intraocular instruments reduces the rate of endophthalmitis. Lacking proven efficacy for endophthalmitis prevention, enzymatic detergents might unnecessarily elevate the risk for TASS without providing significant benefit to the patient. It is our position that if intraocular surgical instruments are thoroughly rinsed with critical water promptly after each use, the routine use of enzyme detergents is unnecessary and should not be required for routine decontamination of ophthalmic intraocular instruments.

Some instrument IFU, however, specify use of enzymatic detergent, and this has led to surgical centers that are not using enzymatic detergent to be cited by surveyors for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or other regulatory agencies. After meeting with CMS, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) about the potential risk for TASS from this practice, our OICS Task Force issued an appeal to intraocular surgical instrument manufacturers in 2016 to validate alternate cleaning and decontamination methods that do not require the routine use of enzymatic detergent.

Ultrasonic Cleaning

Ultrasonic cleaning poses another risk factor for TASS according to the TASS Task Force surveys. If an ultrasonic cleaner is used, the technician should remove all visible soil before placing instruments in the ultrasonic cleaner. The ultrasonic unit should be designated for cleaning medical instruments and preferably should only be used for ophthalmic instruments. If a unit is used for other types of surgical instruments, it should be emptied, cleaned, and rinsed before use with ophthalmic instruments to avoid cross contamination. ⁴

Ultrasonic machines should be emptied, cleaned, disinfected, rinsed, and dried at least daily. 9,10,29 Unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer, cleaning should be performed with an Environmental Protection Agency-registered, facility-approved disinfectant and followed by critical water rinsing sufficient to fully remove the cleaning agent. If not contraindicated by the ultrasonic cleaner's IFU, a final rinse with 70% to 90% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol should be considered for the ultrasound cleaning compartment. The machine should be dried completely with a lint-free cloth and then cleaned following the manufacturer's directions before the next use. 24,30

Reuse of Phaco Tips

When feasible and safe, reuse of some surgical instruments might improve the cost-effectiveness of cataract surgery. In addition to proper cleaning and sterilization to prevent microbial contamination, appropriate reuse requires preserving the structural integrity of the instrument so that it maintains its surgical function. In many international settings, phaco tips are routinely reused to reduce waste and the cost of replacement. At the surgeon's discretion, a used tip can be discarded if any reduced cutting efficiency is noted. We are unaware of convincing evidence to suggest that this potentially off-label practice is dangerous or less effective than using a new phaco tip for every case. Although most phaco tips are made of a comparable titanium alloy, ³¹ there is wide disparity in the labeling for reuse between manufacturers. One manufacturer (Alcon, Fort Worth, TX) specifies single use only for all its phaco tips. Another manufacturer (MicroSurgical Technology, Redmond, WA) allows 50 reuses of its phaco tips. A third manufacturer (Abbott Medical Optics/Johnson & Johnson Vision, Santa Ana, CA) allows 20 reuses of 1 tip yet only a single use for its other model of phaco tip.

Sterilization of Intraocular Surgical Instruments

Strict adherence to every IFU might not always be possible. There might be discrepancies between the individual IFU for the sterilizer, packaging system, and/or medical device. Many surgical trays have instruments from more than one manufacturer, which could have conflicting IFU. Separating instruments by manufacturer and performing different sterilizing procedures for each instrument group is not practical. In these situations, it is appropriate for physicians and nurses to exercise their best clinical judgment in establishing instrument cleaning and sterilization policies that maintain safety while resolving conflicting IFU.

Complete terminal, wrapped sterilization cycles should be used to sterilize ophthalmic surgical instruments that will be stored overnight for future use. Short-cycle steam sterilization is commonly used for what we refer to as sequential same-day ophthalmic procedures; that is, subsequent consecutive surgeries occurring on the same day the instruments are sterilized. ³⁶ However, the terminology used by agencies that license and regulate ASCs to describe and differentiate short cycles of steam sterilization has created some confusion among the ophthalmic ASC industry.

The CMS Survey and Certification S&C:14-44-Hospital/CAH/ASC "Change in Terminology and Update of Survey and Certification (S&C) Memorandum 09-55 Regarding Immediate Use Steam Sterilization (IUSS) in Surgical Settings" was released in August 2014. ³⁷ This defined IUSS as replacement terminology for the outdated term flash sterilization and stated that IUSS was not acceptable as a routine method of sterilization. IUSS might be used on an emergent basis to provide instruments to the OR for a surgical case that is already underway. After meetings and discussions with the OICS Task Force, CMS subsequently clarified in 2015 that "IUSS is not the same thing as "short-cycle" sterilization, which is a form of terminal sterilization that is acceptable for routine use for a wrapped/contained load where pre-cleaning of instruments is performed according to the manufacturers' instructions, and the load meets the device manufacturer's instructions for use (IFU), includes use of a complete dry time and is packaged in a wrap or rigid sterilization container validated for later use. Use of short-cycle sterilization is particularly common in facilities that perform eye surgery and is acceptable when all IFU (ie, sterilizer, device, and container manufacturer's) are followed. However, there appears to be confusion in the field about the differences between IUSS and short cycle sterilization, and misuse of the term IUSS to refer to what is in fact short cycle sterilization. Facilities performing surgery should understand the differences between IUSS and short cycle sterilization in order to ensure that they comply with Medicare infection prevention and control requirements". ³⁸

Short-Cycle, Sequential, Same-Day Use

The importance of complete drying of ophthalmic surgical instruments after steam sterilization depends on how the load is handled and stored on completion of the sterilization cycle. Moisture present after sterilization could provide a vector for microorganisms from the environment or nonsterile hands to enter a closed packaging system and contaminate the contents of the load. Therefore, unless otherwise specified by a packaging system's IFU, wrapped instruments being terminally sterilized before overnight storage should always be completely dry. This is also necessary to ensure integrity of the microbial barrier of any instrument packaging system or wrapping that will be handled by nonsterile hands.

Short-cycle sterilization for a contained wrapped or unwrapped load is appropriate for sequential same-day instrument reuse. Unwrapped sterile instruments should be protected from microbial contamination during transfer from the point of sterilization to the point of use. This might be accomplished with an approved covered containment device. Some sterilizer IFU permit interruption of the drying phase under certain circumstances. ³⁹ The risk for infection resulting from sterile moisture in the container or on the instruments when the undried (wet) and unwrapped instruments are sterilized for sequential same-day use and are brought from the sterilizer directly to the operating room in a covered containment device has not been established.

In the 2014 survey of OOSS member ASCs, short-cycle sterilization was commonly used between sequential same-day cases (52.3% of respondents). The most commonly used sterilizers for sequential same-day cases were the AMSCO (STERIS, Mentor, OH) (42.1%) and the STATIM (SciCan, Canonsburg, PA) (28.4%). Overall, 49.7% of responding facilities had a STERIS AMSCO brand sterilizer and 44.3% had a SciCan STATIM brand sterilizer. The following processing methods for instrument sterilization between sequential same-day cases were commonly used: STATIM cassette (28.2%), closed sterilization containers (26.0%), and wrapped (18.2%).

An OICS Task Force-initiated study funded by OOSS, ASCRS, and AAO evaluated current practices for ophthalmic instrument sterilization using the short cycles of 2 FDA-cleared steam sterilizers that are in common use according to the OOSS ASC survey. ³⁶ The first was a STATIM 2000 sterilizer (SciCan) using the metal cassette provided with the STATIM and the second was an AMSCO Century V116 pre-vacuum sterilizer (STERIS) using a Case Medical SteriTite rigid container (Case Medical, South Hackensack, NJ). The evaluations were performed by an independent medical device validation testing laboratory (Highpower Validation Testing and Lab Services, Rochester, NY) and compared wrapped, contained, and unwrapped instruments with and without interruption of the drying phase. Separate studies were performed to verify the sterilization efficacy of the 2 sterilizers with short cycles as well as the sterility of any moisture present within the 2 instrument-containment devices. Phaco tips and handpieces were chosen for evaluation because they represent the most difficult items on a cataract tray to clean and sterilize. Phaco handpieces from each of the 3 major phaco machine manufacturers in the United States-the Infiniti (Alcon), the Signature (Abbott Medical Optics/Johnson & Johnson Vision), and the Stellaris (Bausch & Lomb)-were tested.

Terminal sterilization was performed on each model of phaco handpiece for overnight storage, and sterilization efficacy was successfully verified for the STATIM and AMSCO sterilizers. These were wrapped (STATIM) or contained (AMSCO) loads that were completely dried and stored for 7 days before sterility testing. Short-cycle sterilization of each handpiece model using unwrapped (STATIM) or contained (AMSCO) loads was also verified when the drying phase was interrupted after 1 minute. This simulated prompt use of sterilized instruments that were still wet for a sequential case on the same day. Finally, a separate series of studies tested the phaco handpieces and containers for moisture sterility after a 3-minute storage/transit period following short-cycle unwrapped or contained sterilization with interruption of the drying phase after 1 minute. A storage/transit time of 3 minutes was used to approximate the upper limit of time needed to transfer a containment device to a nonadjacent operating room. Sterility was verified for each handpiece model and containment device.

Based on these study results and data from the sterilizer manufacturers themselves, it is our position that unwrapped settings and short-cycle sterilization used in accordance with the IFU of FDA-approved sterilizers are appropriate for routine use in between sequential same-day ophthalmic cases. ³⁶ Moist or unwrapped instruments sterilized for sequential same-day use should be promptly transported from the sterilizer to the operating room within a covered containment device to prevent microbial recontamination. The covered instrument-containment device should only be opened in the operating room. If wet, sterile wrapped or unwrapped instruments should only be handled by sterile gloved and gowned staff in a sterile field. Phaco handpieces are immediately primed with a balanced salt solution and remain wet as they sit on the sterile instrument table. Therefore, the theoretical risk from residual moisture would primarily be in recontamination of a sterile load that was being handled, stored, or transported outside the operating room. Although proximity of the sterilizer to the operating room is preferred for unwrapped sterilization, the OICS Task Force study showed that moisture in the covered containment device did not result in recontamination for at least 3 minutes. It is our position that complete drying is not necessary to maintain the sterility of wrapped or unwrapped ophthalmic instruments that are kept in the covered containment device until retrieved by sterile gloved and gowned staff within the OR for the subsequent case after some short delay.

Low-temperature methods of sterilization should not be used unless the ophthalmic instrument manufacturer and the sterilizer manufacturer have validated the method for the specific instruments with respect to efficacy of sterilization, potential ocular toxicity (eg, from oxidation of metals), and instrument functionality.11 Glutaraldehyde is not recommended for sterilizing laser contact lenses or intraocular instruments because of the toxicity of glutaraldehyde residues resulting from inadequate rinsing or contamination during post-sterilization handling.

Carbon Footprint of Cataract Surgery

Climate change, or global warming, is a serious public health concern, and the health care industry is a major source of emissions, responsible for 10% of the total carbon footprint in the United States. 34,40-44 Phacoemulsification in the United Kingdom emits approximately 180 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e) per surgery, similar to the emissions from driving an average U.S. car for approximately 430 miles. Over one half of this carbon footprint originates from the procurement of largely single-use supplies. Emissions from phacoemulsification in a high-volume Indian facility are less than 1/10 that in the U.K. with comparable safety outcomes. This is in large part because of their extensive reuse of surgical materials and instruments and their strict surgical and sterilization processes. 43,44

Most eye surgery centers can reduce their environmental emissions by minimizing material use, reusing or reprocessing surgical materials when applicable, engaging their supply chain in environmentally preferred purchasing, working with facilities management to reduce energy consumption, safely increasing efficiency of OR turnover, and optimizing surgical and central sterile processes. Physician preference cards for surgical trays and disposable custom packs should be reevaluated regularly. For reusable instrumentation, the environmental footprint can be reduced by removing repeated or unnecessary steps in the cleaning and sterilization process, sourcing energy-efficient appliances, properly cleaning and maintaining machines, and removing unnecessary instrumentation from surgical trays. Consideration should be given to using rigid sterilization containers or working with waste management to find a recycling option for blue instrument pack wrapping. For more information on reducing environmental emissions, visit the websites of Practice GreenHealth A or Healthcare Without Harm. B

Cost-Effectiveness of Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery is the single most common surgical procedure in medicine today. The volume and need for cataract surgery are projected to significantly increase over the next 20 years. We quote and agree with this summary from the Cataract in the Adult Eye Preferred Practice Pattern published in 2016 by AAO: ⁴⁵

"With large projected increases in the elderly population worldwide, the significant cost burden of cataract surgery will continue to increase for every global healthcare system. Because of the societal imperative that cataract surgery be both safe and cost-effective, it is important to evaluate unproven and potentially unnecessary practices based on carefully monitored studies of surgical outcomes.

In many countries, sterilization and aseptic protocols for ophthalmic surgery have been arbitrarily defined by national regulatory agencies. Many of these measures originated from studies in non-ophthalmic specialties and may not be specifically validated for ophthalmic surgery, where the source of most infections is the patient's own eyelid and external ocular flora. For example, using infection control protocols based on continuous monitoring of outcomes data, one eye hospital in India reported an endophthalmitis rate of only 0.09% (0.02% of phaco cases) in more than 42,000 consecutive cataract surgeries using short-cycle steam sterilization and continuous reuse of gowns, gloves, surgical tubing, and irrigating solutions. ⁴⁶ Costlier new infection control measures for ophthalmic surgery should not be arbitrarily imposed by regulatory agencies without evidence based support. (III, good quality, strong recommendation)"

References

1. American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses. Recommended practices for cleaning and sterilizing intraocular surgical instruments. J Cataract Refract Surg 2007; 33:1095-1100. Available at: http://www.ascrs.org/sites/default/files/resources/TASS_guidelines-CBC.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
2. AORN. Recommended practices for cleaning and caring for surgical instrumentation and powered equipment. In: Association of Operating Room Nurses. Standards, Recommended Practices & Guidelines. Denver, CO, AORN, 2006; 555-563
3. AORN Recommended Practices Committee. Recommended practices for sterilization in the perioperative practice setting. AORN J 2006; 83:700-722. Available at: http://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0001-2092(06)60198-1/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
4. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. Comprehensive Guide to Steam Sterilization and Sterility Assurance in Health Care Facilities (ANSI/AAMI ST79:2006). Arlington, VA, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 2006:42-114
5. Cox MJ, Woods JA, Newman S, Edlich RF. Toxic effects of surgical glove powders on the eye. J Long Term Eff Med Implants 1996; 6:219-226
6. Bene C, Kranias G. Possible intraocular lens contamination by surgical glove powder. Ophthalmic Surg 1986; 17:290-291
7. Kim JH. Intraocular inflammation of denatured viscoelastic substance in cases of cataract extraction and lens implantation. J Cataract Refract Surg 1987; 13:537-542
8. Breebaart AC, Nuyts RMMA, Pels E, Edelhauser HF, Verbraak FD. Toxic endothelial cell destruction of the cornea after routine extracapsular cataract surgery. Arch Ophthalmol 1990; 108:1121-1125
9. Richburg FA, Reidy JJ, Apple DJ, Olson RJ. Sterile hypopyon secondary to ultrasonic cleaning solution. J Cataract Refract Surg 1986; 12:248-251
10. Kreisler KR, Martin SS, Young CW, Anderson CW, Mamalis N. Postoperative inflammation following cataract extraction caused by bacterial contamination of the cleaning bath detergent. J Cataract Refract Surg 1992; 18:106-110
11. Duffy RE, Brown SE, Caldwell KL, Lubniewski A, Anderson N, Edelhauser H, Holley G, Tess A, Divan H, Helmy M, Arduino M, Jarvis WR. An epidemic of corneal destruction caused by plasma gas sterilization; the Toxic Endothelial Cell Destruction syndrome Investigative Team. Arch Ophthalmol 2000; 118:1167-1176. Available at: http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/118/9/1167?ck=nck. Accessed March 17, 2018
12. Hellinger WC, Hasan SA, Bacalis LP, Thornblom DM, Beckmann SC, Blackmore C, Forster TS, Tirey JF, Ross MJ, Nilson CD, Mamalis N, Crook JE, Bendel RE, Shetty R, Stewart MW, Bolling JP, Edelhauser HF. Outbreak of toxic anterior segment syndrome following cataract surgery associated with impurities in autoclave steam moisture. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2006; 27:294-298
13. Burlew J. Care and Handling of Ophthalmic Microsurgical Instruments, 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA, American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses, 2006:1-60
14. Mamalis N. Toxic anterior segment syndrome: role of enzymatic detergents used in the cleaning of intraocular surgical instruments [editorial]. J Cataract Refract Surg 2016; 42:1249-1250. Available at: http://www.jcrsjournal.org/article/S0886-3350(16)30328-5/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
15. Parikh C, Sippy BD, Martin DF, Edelhauser HF. Effects of enzymatic sterilization detergents on the corneal endothelium. Arch Ophthalmol 2002; 120:165-172. Available at: http://archopht.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=269553. Accessed March 17, 2018
16. Mamalis N, Edelhauser HF, Dawson DG, Chew J, LeBoyer RM, Werner L. Toxic anterior segment syndrome. J Cataract Refract Surg 2006; 32:324-333
17. Cutler Peck CM, Brubaker J, Clouser S, Danford C, Edelhauser HE, Mamalis N. Toxic anterior segment syndrome: common causes. J Cataract Refract Surg 2010; 36:1073-1080
18. Bodnar Z, Clouser S, Mamalis N. Toxic anterior segment syndrome: Update on the most common causes. J Cataract Refract Surg 2012; 38:1902-1910
19. Rutala WA. Disinfection and sterilization of patient-care times. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1996; 17:377-384
20. Parikh CH, Edelhauser HF. Ocular surgical pharmacology: corneal endothelial safety and toxicity. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 2003; 14:178-185
21. Beran RF. Cleaning of ophthalmic diamond scalpels. J Refract Corneal Surg 1994; 10:582-586
22. AORN. Recommended practices for the evaluation and selection of products and medical devices used in perioperative practice setting. AORN J 1998; 67:270-272
23. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. Water for the Reprocessing of Medical Devices (AAMI TIR34:2014/(R)2017). Arlington, VA, Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 2017; 18
24. Multisociety guideline on reprocessing flexible GI endoscopes: 2016 update, Prepared by: Reprocessing Guideline Task Force, Bret T. Petersen BT, Cohen J, Hambrick RD III, Buttar N, Greenwald DA, Buscaglia JM, Collins J, Eisen G. Gastrointesti Endosc 2017; 85:282-294. Available at: http://www.giejournal.org/article/S0016-5107(16)30647-2/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
25. Dinakaran S, Kayarkar VV. Debris on processed ophthalmic instruments: a cause for concern. Eye 2002; 16:281−284. Available at: http://www.nature.com/eye/journal/v16/n3/pdf/6700132a.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
26. MacRae SM, Brown B, Edelhauser HF. The corneal toxicity of presurgical skin antiseptics. Am J Ophthalmol 1984; 97:221-232
27. Phinney RB, Mondino BJ, Hofbauer JD, Meisler DM, Langston RHS, Forstot SL, Benes SC. Corneal edema related to accidental Hibiclens exposure. Am J Ophthalmol 1988; 106:210-215
28. Tsaousis KT, Werner L, Reiter N, Perez JP, Li HJ, Guan JJ, Mamalis N. Comparison of different types of phacoemulsification tips. II. Morphologic alterations induced by multiple steam sterilization cycles with and without use of enzyme detergents. J Cataract Refract Surg 2016; 42:1353-1360
29. Miller CH, Riggen SD, Sheldrake MA, Neeb JM. Presence of microorganisms in used ultrasonic cleaning solutions. Am J Dent 1993; 6:27-31
30. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities; Recommendations of CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), 2003. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/pdf/guidelines/environmental-guidelines.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
31. Tsaousis KT, Werner L, Paulo-Perez J, Li HE, Reiter N, Guan JJ, Mamalis N. Comparison of different types of phacoemulsification tips. I. Quantitative analysis of elemental composition and tip surface microroughness. J Cataract Refract Surg 2016; 42:1345-1352
32. Tsaousis KT, Chang DF, Werner L, Perez JP, Guan JJ, Reiter N, Li HJ, Mamalis N. Comparison of different types of phacoemulsification tips: III. Morphological changes induced after multiple uses in an ex vivo model. J Cataract Refract Surg 2018; 44:91-97
33. Cecchini P, D'Aloisio R, Antonuccio M, Turco G, Bondino F, Magnano E, Di Nicola M, Tognetto D. Chemical and physical analysis of phaco tips surface before and after cataract surgery. J Cataract Refract Surg 2017; 43:1107-1114
34. Mamalis N. Reducing the environmental impact of cataract surgery. Sustainability versus safety: a tradeoff? [editorial] J Cataract Refract Surg 2018; 44:1-2. Available at: http://www.jcrsjournal.org/article/S0886-3350(18)30021-X/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
35. AORN. Explications for perioperative nursing. In: Association of Operating Room Nurses. Standards, Recommended Practices, & Guidelines. Denver, CO, AORN, 2006; 167-197
36. Chang DF, Hurley N, Mamalis N, Whitman J. Evaluation of ophthalmic surgical instrument sterility using short cycle sterilization for sequential same day use. Ophthalmology 2018; 125: in press. Available at: http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(18)30341-5/pdf Accessed March 28, 2018
37. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Change in Terminology and Update of Survey and Certification (S&C) Memorandum 09-55 Regarding Immediate Use Steam Sterilization (IUSS) in Surgical Settings. Center for Clinical Standards and Quality/Survey & Certification Group; 2014. Available from: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/Survey-and-Cert-Letter-14-44.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
38. Medicare Learning Network. MLN Connects. Provider eNews, February 26, 2015, https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/FFSProvPartProg/Downloads/2015-02-26-eNews-.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
39. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. Immediate-Use Steam Sterilization. Available at: https://www.aami.org/publications/standards/ST79_Immediate_Use_Statement.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
40. Wang H, Horton R. Tackling climate change: The greatest opportunity for global health [comment]. Lancet 2015; 386:1798-1799. Available at: https://climatehealthcommission.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/commentary-richard-horton-and-helena-wang.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
41. Eckelman MJ, Sherman J. Environmental impacts of the U.S. health care system and effects on public health. PLoS One 2016; 11(6):e0157014. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4900601/pdf/pone.0157014.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
42. Morris DS, Wright T, Somner JEA, Connor A. The carbon footprint of cataract surgery. Eye 2013; 27:495-501. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3626018/pdf/eye20139a.pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
43. Venkatesh R, van Landingham SW, Khodifad AM, Haripriya A, Thiel CL, Ramulu P, Robin AL. Carbon footprint and cost-effectiveness of cataract surgery. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 2016; 27:82-88
44. Thiel CL, Schehlein E, Ravilla T, Ravindran RD, Robin AL, Saeedi OJ, Schuman JS, Venkatesh R. Cataract surgery in environmental sustainability: waste and lifecycle assessment of phacoemulsification at a private healthcare facility. J Cataract Refract Surg 2017; 43:1391-1398
45. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Cataract in the Adult Eye; Preferred Practice Pattern®. San Francisco, CA, American Academy of Ophthalmology, 2016. Available at: http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(16)31418-X/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
46. Ravindran RD, Venkatesh R, Chang DF, Sengupta S, Gyatsho J, Talwar B. Incidence of post-cataract endophthalmitis at Aravind Eye Hospital; outcomes of more than 42,000 consecutive cases using standardized sterilization and prophylaxis protocols. J Cataract Refract Surg 2009; 35:629-636
47. Haripriya A, Chang DF, Ravindran RD. Endophthalmitis reduction with intracameral moxifloxacin prophylaxis; analysis of 600,000 surgeries. Ophthalmology 2017; 124:768-775
48. Chang DF, Haripriya A, Ravindran RD. Reply to letter RE: Endophthalmitis reduction with intracameral moxifloxacin prophylaxis: an analysis of 600,000 surgeries. Ophthalmology 2017; 124:e78-e79. Available at: http://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(17)30748-0/pdf. Accessed March 17, 2018
49. Haripirya A, Chang DF. Intracameral antibiotics during cataract surgery: evidence and barriers. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 2018; 29:33-39
Other Cited Material
A. Practice Greenhealth. The Path to Sustainable Health Care Through Practice Greenhealth, Healthier Hospitals. Available at: https://practicegreenhealth.org/tools-resources/healthier-hospitals. Accessed March 18, 2018
B. Health Care Without Harm. Available at: https://noharm.org/. Accessed March 18, 2018

Approvals

Ophthalmic Instrument Cleaning and Sterilization (OICS) Task Force
Co-chairs: David F. Chang, MD, Nick Mamalis, MD

OICS Task Force Members:
American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS): Robert J. Cionni, MD, Richard S. Hoffman, MD, Francis S. Mah, MD, Neal H. Shorstein MD, Nancey K. McCann, Director of Government Relations, Joyce J. D'Andrea, COMT, Director of Allied Health Education

American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO): Michael X. Repka, MD, MBA, Flora Lum, MD, Vice President, Quality and Science Division

Ophthalmic Outpatient Surgery Society (OOSS): Jeffrey Whitman, MD, Michael A. Romansky, JD, Washington Counsel, Nikki Hurley, RN, MBA, COE

©2018 American Academy of Ophthalmology ®
P.O. Box 7424 / San Francisco, CA 94120 / 415.561.8500

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Guidelines for the Cleaning and Sterilization of Intraocular Surgical Instruments - 2018

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These guidelines are intended to assist ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in their efforts to adopt appropriate practices for the cleaning and sterilization of intraocular surgical instruments. They are provided for scientific, educational, and informational purposes only. They are not intended to establish the only acceptable or appropriate standards, methods, or practices for cleaning and sterilizing such instruments.

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In Issue No 19 of the Journal of Community Eye Health the article STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION reminded readers that:

' ... good surgical results are dependent upon sterile instruments, in good working order, used by skilled people ...'

This article gives an overview of the principles of surgical instrument care. Both subjects are covered more comprehensively in OPHTHALMIC OPERATING THEATRE PRACTICE: A Manual for Secondary and Tertiary Levels in Developing Countries. This publication will be available from ICEH early in 2001.

HANDLING OF OPHTHALMIC INSTRUMENTS

All ophthalmic instruments need exceptionally careful handling.

Scissor points are extremely delicate; the tips should not be touched

All scissors, needle holders and fine forceps need to have their tips protected. The protectors must cover the whole blade or jaws of the instrument

Scalpel blades and knives must be passed to the surgeon by the handle with the cutting edge pointing downwards. Artery forceps must be used to remove the blade

No instrument should ever be thrown down! Eye instruments are extremely delicate.

Caution is needed when disposing of needles and other sharp instruments ('sharps')

Needles must be disposed of in the correct receptacle. During the operation, all sharps are kept in a gallipot on the instrument trolley and later disposed of safely; an old infusion bottle or any tough plastic receptacle can be used as a 'sharps' container. When the receptacle becomes two-thirds full it should be sealed with tape and incinerated

Needle stick injuries are frequently caused by re-sheathing disposable needles. This is NOT recommended! These needles should be disposed of immediately after use in the receptacle provided

Needle stick injuries must be reported immediately to the person in charge. There should be a hospital policy regarding needle stick injuries and this must be followed

The chances of transmitting the AIDS virus with a needle prick are thought to be 1 in 1000, or higher, in some countries

Never re-sterilize disposable needles.

MAINTENANCE

Cleaning

Rain water or distilled water is preferred. If neither is available, freshly boiled tap water may be used.

The following method should be used after each operation.

Three containers are required:

Container 1 : hot soapy water

The instrument must be supported carefully whilst cleaning

A soft toothbrush can be used to clean each instrument individually

Needle holders, scissors and artery forceps must be completely opened to clean inside the jaws

Cannulae must be flushed through. Lens matter, vitreous and visco-elastic gel block cannulae permanently

Cotton wool should not be used to clean instruments as it damages the tips.

Container 2 : lubricant

A lubricant prevents the development of stiff joints and inhibits the development of corrosion

Lubricant is needed for hinged instruments only, e.g., scissors, needle holders and artery forceps

The instruments are dipped, one by one, into the lubricant; they must NOT be soaked

If a lubricant is not available, the instruments should be rinsed in clean hot water

Do NOT put cannulae in lubricant.

Container 3 : clean hot water

Excess lubricant or soap is rinsed off and the instrument left in the open, dismantled position on a clean absorbent cloth

Cannulae must be flushed through again to remove any soap debris.

Drying

Instruments must be dried thoroughly before being stored. If the instruments are put away wet or damp they will rust

A hair dryer is very effective for drying the joints and crevices of instruments. If a hair dryer is not available, dry gauze may be used cautiously

Never force open a forceps even when drying, as this will distort the instrument.

Inspection

Before storing, all instruments should be carefully inspected, as follows:

Hinged instruments should be checked for jaw alignment

Micro-scissors should be able to cut through one thickness of surgical glove. The tips should be smooth and in alignment

Dissecting forceps should meet at the tips and be aligned

Grooved forceps, when held up to the light, should show a perfect circle at the tips. The forceps should be symmetrical

Needle holder tips must meet allowing for the suture to be held well. There should be no gap between the jaws. The needle holder should open and close smoothly

Blades should retain a sharp, smooth edge

Cannulae should be flushed with air to ensure patency and dryness.

Corrosion and rust

Corrosion and rust is caused by:

Most instruments are made from stainless steel. Stainless steel does not usually rust. However, it can corrode if it is washed in saline or left to soak for a long period of time in any liquid.

Once the instrument has started to rust it will become weak, and the rust will eventually destroy and break the instrument (metal fatigue).

Rust commonly occurs on chrome or nickel-plated instruments. When the plating wears off, the carbon steel is exposed and is further corroded by autoclaving and washing. If this occurs the instruments cannot be sterilized properly.

Inexpensive instruments tend to rust more easily as the stainless steel is of a poorer quality.

Sodium nitrate is an anti-rusting agent and can be used in conjunction with the lubricant or on its own. Two tablets can be dissolved in 500ml of water, when washing the instruments.

Instrument stains

Thorough inspection may reveal discolouration of the metal. Some stains can be rubbed off with a rubber eraser but it may leave a rough surface. Contact with hydrochloric acid and iodine should be avoided.

Instruments not rinsed thoroughly after chemical sterilization will stain. Manufacturer's recommended soaking times must not be exceeded.

Oiling

With repeated sterilization, instruments will become stiff and difficult to open. A good quality sewing machine oil or silicone oil should be used each week on hinged instruments. This is especially relevant when working in a very hot, dry climate.

Use a 2ml syringe and 21G needle to draw up the oil

Change to a 25G needle, open the instrument and place a drop in the jaws.; work in the oil by repeatedly opening and closing the instrument

Wipe off any surplus oil with gauze.

Surplus oil on an instrument will inhibit sterilization. Using an instrument lubricant will help to maintain the action of the instrument but oiling is still necessary.

Repairs

Eventually scissors will need sharpening, forceps re-aligning, etc. Instrument companies will repair and re-sharpen instruments to a high standard but repairing instruments takes time. The cost of a good repair is much cheaper than buying a new instrument.

STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION

Shelving

Glass shelving is preferred, as it is easy to keep clean. Ideally, instruments need to be in a dry, well ventilated, secured cupboard. A drying agent, e.g., silicone gel can be placed on the shelves to absorb moisture in the air.

The instruments must be arranged in an orderly manner and labelled

Protectors should be used when instruments are in storage

Never pile instruments on top of each other!

Micro-scissors work on a spring action and are kept in the open position until in use

Needles and cannulae can be sterilized ready for use on a silicone mat or a thick piece of material.

Instrument Trays

Individual slots in the tray hold one instrument; this prevents the instruments touching. Trays are useful for transporting instruments, e.g., to outreach clinics and the sets are ready immediately for sterilization. Protectors must be used.

Instrument Rolls

This is a length of material with pockets to hold an individual instrument. The roll is tied with a piece of string to keep it secure. Instrument rolls are cheap, easy to make and are excellent for transportation purposes. Protectors must be used.

Instrument Cases

These cases are metal or plastic boxes containing a protective silicone mat which prevents the instruments touching during storage and sterilization.

SECURITY

Ophthalmic instruments are very expensive and delicate. It is therefore necessary to ensure a secure place to store the instruments when not in use.

Storage shelves should be in a locked cupboard

New members of theatre staff should be instructed carefully in the care and maintenance of theatre instruments

A person of integrity should be made responsible for the care of instruments

An inventory of all instruments should be carried out monthly to ensure that there are no discrepancies

Any instrument that is faulty must be removed immediately from the theatre and sent for repair

The operating theatre should be locked and windows shut when not in use.

Contributor Information

Ingrid Cox, Sister-in-Charge, Kikuyu Eye Unit, P O Box 1021, Kikuyu, Kenya.

Sue Stevens, Nurse Consultant, Journal of Community Eye Health, Ophthalmic Resource Coordinator, International Centre for Eye Health, Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, UK.

References

1. Stevens S, Cox I. Sterilization and Disinfection. J Comm Eye Health. 1996;9:36-42.

2. Ingrid Cox, Sue Stevens: International Centre for Eye Health; Ophthalmic Operating Theatre Practice : A Manual for Secondary and Tertiary Levels in Developing Countries. In Press.

Articles from Community Eye Health are provided here courtesy of International Centre for Eye Health

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In Issue No 19 of the Journal of Community Eye Health the article STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION reminded readers that: ' ... good surgical results are dependent upon sterile instruments, in good working order, used by skilled people ...' This article gives an overview of the principles of surgical instrument care.

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After more than thirty hours of research and in-house testing, our pick for the best stain remover currently on the market is OxiClean - Versatile Stain Remover. While stains are seemingly small, everyday annoyances, complex chemical compounds are necessary to remove them. OxiClean Versatile was effective enough to combat a variety of stains, from ink, to chocolate, to coffee. The product was unparalleled in its pre-treatment instructions and process, versatility, and cost per unit. The powder outperformed six other stain removers, and will save you time, money, shelf space, and your favorite clothing items' demise from accidental spills.

Table of Contents

Finding the finalists

You've been there before: you sit at the coffee shop across from a friend when your elbow slips on the table. Suddenly you're wearing your latte on your favorite pants.

It is a common memory for most of us: a mother, pre-treating stains on the knees of our pants, scrubbing at the material with a toothbrush, or the scolding remark, "Your clothes are not napkins." Even as adults, we've all lost a favorite, treasured item to a forgotten spill after it's been through the washer and dryer.

But it is difficult to find the time and patience to scrub stains with a toothbrush. That's why, in preparation for this article, we spent more than 30 hours researching stains, fabrics and stain removers with ease and effectiveness in mind.

In order to find the best stain remover, it was necessary to understand the science behind stains. What causes color to stick to material? Why are some stains more stubborn than others? And what role do fabrics play in the treating process?

Once we were fully researched on the chemistry of stains, we moved onto understanding stain removers. Which have a positive reputation? What chemicals are used? How does each product work? Do the products perform better on certain stains than on others? Are most stain removers similar in design?

Why you should use a stain remover

In order to know which stain removers work the best, we first have to know what they are up against.

Stains are chemical reactions. Rather than resting on top of clothing and other fabrics, food, liquids and countless substances that stain actually bind to the surface of material fibers.

The naturally occurring elements in most food and drink are hardwired to bind and stick to objects on a molecular level. Sometimes clothes are stained by substances designed to stain and pigment, like inks and dyes, which also chemically bind.

Additionally, stains are both complex and sensitive. Aside from the interactions that occur between the staining substance and material, any change in temperature or additional substances - like water, for instance - can change the chemical bond that occurs in a stain, rendering it worse.

Coffee spills cause stains because of its composition of tannins and heat. This is why you should be particular about washing certain stains in hot or cold water. Similarly, you should avoid drying anything that is stained because the hot temperature can worsen a stain alone. Because of their difficulty, some textiles are manufactured to be stain-resistant.

Which substances cause stains

Tannins are an organically occurring substance in nature. Tannins are astringents and make up part of that bitter taste in wine or tea. It has the effect of either drying out one's mouth or giving a mouth-puckering sensation. Food and drink such as berries, cocoa, wine, beer, tea and coffee contain tannins.

When an oily substance hits fabric, the molecules bind to the surface material in the same way tannins do. However, because it is not water soluble (like the familiar cliche, "oil and water don't mix"), a simple run through the washing machine won't successfully break up the stain. Oil and fat-based stains like butter, olive oil, and grease can be especially stubborn on fabrics.

Similarly, protein-based stains (including blood, grass, and milk) are not water-soluble, and therefore require the introduction of another chemical to sever their bond to a fabric. Unseasoned meat tenderizers can even be helpful in breaking up the protein in a stain.

Lastly, dye-based stains adhere to materials because of the pigments and dyes necessary to create color in products like ink, paint and hair dye.

To complicate matters further, most stains are not only tannin stains or only oil stains; rather, they are a mixture of multiple chemical bond reactions. For instance, if someone spills a cup of coffee mixed with cream, the stain reaction is a combinations of tannins, protein, and heat.

Furthermore, other substances, such as sugar or acid, increase the chance of staining, because they eat away at surfaces. This is why white wine stains.

Why different stain removers exist

The purpose of a stain remover is to break up the chemical reaction that created a stain. Because stains occur in many shapes, sizes, colors, and compositions, there are numerous types of stain removers on the market. Each product contains multiple chemicals and even more combinations of these chemicals with the intent to treat the reactions that occur in a single spill. Different ingredients treat tannin, oil, protein, and dye-based stains.

Tannin stains

To combat tannin stains, one should search for a detergent that oxidizes the stain. In layman's terms, this means the stain remover interacts with the molecules to remove colorization, but does not necessarily get rid of the stain.

This can be done with oxygen-based or bleach-based treatments. Hydrogen peroxide is a well-known oxidizing agent that, unlike bleach, doesn't irritate eyes, throats, and lungs. Dye-based stains are the most difficult stains to get rid of and will most likely require a tough bleach to resolve.

Protein-based stains

When working with protein-based stains, seek a stain remover that has an enzyme-based agent. Enzymes are biological catalysts, which means that they either speed up or change a chemical reaction. When you use an enzyme-based agent, the enzyme enters the stain and breaks up the non-water soluble molecules into smaller, more soluble molecules.

Oil and fat-based stains

When dealing with an oil or fat-based stain, surfactants make the stain more water soluble too, but not by breaking up the molecules into smaller ones like enzyme-based treatments. Instead, they lower the surface tension between the stain and the material so the oil and fat molecules can be dissolved.

The trick here is to match your stain remover to the stain. Though stain removing products don't always print the ingredients on the bottle, they do seem to mention most of the active ingredients, and a quick online search can assist one in finding out if it is the solution you need.

Which fabrics are more sensitive to treatment

The final element to consider when treating stains is the stained fabric or material itself.

All stain remover instructions request that you test the colorfastness of an item before using the product on it. This assures that the material's dyes won't be ruined during the stain-removing process.

Oxidizing agents, like bleach, are a big threat to non-colorfast materials because they work by removing coloring agents of a stain, and will therefore remove the dye.

Depending on their colorfastness, natural and synthetic fabric dyes can be affected by sunlight and temperatures. Naturally, the wrong stain remover can damage them, as well. Khaki dyes, for example, are notorious for being affected by laundry stain removers and detergents.

In addition to being colorfast, make sure that the fabric to be treated is not dry clean only. Silk, velvet, wool, leather, taffeta, and other sophisticated fabrics might not react well to the stain remover, and will also shrink or be misshapen when washed after treatment.

How we chose the finalists

After hours of researching online articles and scouring customer reviews, we compiled a list of seven products to test in-house. These items had the most consistent, positive reviews on Amazon and Google, and are of well-known name brands in the laundry industry.

The highest rated products are advertised to work on the widest variety of stains: tannins, oils, proteins, and dyes. This is evident in the names of many of the products; for example, "oxy" stands for oxygen-based and "enzyme" represents protein stain fighters.

Our research also showed that customers favor stain removers that come in a spray bottle for convenient application, or fabric pens for on-the-go application. An added benefit for all of the products is the ability to work quickly, while requiring a minimal amount of effort.

The seven best laundry stain removers

How we tested the finalists

In order to test the effectiveness of each stain remover, we decided to test four different stains: chocolate, wine, coffee, and ink. These stains are both common and representatives of the different types of stains.

Ink is dye-based with added pigments. Coffee and wine both contain tannins. Chocolate hazelnut spread is a trifecta of staining agents: tannins, oil, and protein. In addition, the sugar in wine and chocolate adds to the difficulty because of its ability to eat away at the fabric with which it's bound.

We chose plain, white cotton fabric so as not to complicate the study with the science of fabrics and colorfastness. White cotton is one of easiest fabrics to stain, and stained white fabric is perhaps the most obviously destroyed. We splashed the fronts of seven shirts with the four staining substances, and then hung them to dry and set-in for a week.

A week later, before we tested each product, we added fresh stains of the same substances to the backs of the shirts. We completed the pre-wash treatment process for each product according to the instructions on each label. These processes varied from five minutes to six hours.

Then, we washed each shirt with the same laundry detergent, as to avoid bias. We also washed each shirt with a different load of laundry so that the effectiveness of the remover wasn't cross-contaminated by another in the same load. Then, we dried each shirt in the dryer.

The best laundry stain remover overall

Our selection for the best overall stain remover is OxiClean. It worked better than any of the other products we tested on each of the four different stain types.

The oxygen-based stain remover successfully eliminated the most difficult of substances from white cotton shirts without damaging the fabric. Time is not the enemy of this super-charged stain remover; it worked even on week old, set-in stains.

The powdered product started off the test ahead of all the others. First, it comes in a 7.22 pound box, which boasts of its ability to launder 156 loads for less than $12 dollars on Amazon (as of publishing this article). That's akin to seven cents a load-and that's actually washing an entire load. If you only used it for stain removal, which uses less formula, the product would last much longer.

The next benefit of this product, which is alluded to in its name, is its versatility. This is noted on the box: there are four panels of instructions on how to use the product on laundry, spot cleaning, soft surfaces (such as upholstery), and hard surfaces (like grout and patio furniture). While the box is large, it can easily replace several cleaning products one might currently own.

Another benefit of the large box is the room this allows for instructions. When researching stain removal, many blogs and articles discussed the importance of pretreating a stain by scrubbing, sponging, or soaking. The downside to scrubbing is that one can potentially damage the fabric with whatever tool used.

Sponging is tedious and has various methods, like back-sponging and front-sponging, for different stains. But the informative panel of instructions on the back of the OxiClean box offers one set of instructions for any type of stain: soak for best results.

We filled a clean sink with one gallon of cold water, filled the scoop up to the second line with the product (though you can fill the scoop as high as the sixth line), added it to the water, allowed the powder to dissolve, and put in a cotton shirt stained with one-week of coffee, wine, ink, and chocolate on the front, and fresh stains on the back. The shirt soaked for six hours.

Using hot water can also help treat the fabric depending on the stains, but make sure not to let things soak for longer than six hours-it could potentially start to damage the fabric. The instructions also advise to check for colorfastness of materials, but the product should be safe on all colors.

Note: Do not let the solution have a lot of contact with your skin (i.e. use gloves), because it can cause severe drying and cracking as it is a bleaching agent.

The water turned slightly murky brown from the combination of fresh chocolate, tannins, and ink released from the fabric. It bubbled at first and turned an odd tint of green, but by the end of the six hours, the water was mostly clear. Amazingly, all of the stains were completely gone-both old and new-except for the one-week old ink stain, which faded to a light shadow of what it was before.

Another benefit of this product is that after pre-soaking, one can add the stained product to the wash, or use another detergent for a second application. Unfortunately, in our test, this did not get rid of the ink completely, but it came very close with minimal effort. Giving the stain a second soak in the OxiClean would have done the trick.

What this means is that even though OxiClean is an oxygen-based stain remover and should work best on stains caused by coffee and wine (tannins), it successfully broke down dyes and the complex chocolate spread stain with protein and oil, as well.

Though articles and websites boast about using the right solvent for the right stain, it seems like OxiClean is the right solvent for most stains.
Key Takeaways:

OxiClean works best on all four major types of stains.

The cost for an entire load of laundry is less than 10 cents.

OxiClean can replace several products in your laundry room.

Best laundry stain remover for a quick fix

Though the Tide Pen didn't work the best on any stain, the portable design is convenient and easy to use for taking care of spills as soon as they happen. None of the other products are small enough to carry in a purse or a pocket, or can be used while you are still wearing the stained garment.

Further, using a Tide Pen appears to be a useful pre-treatment option, when finding somewhere to soak or spray your clothing is not an option.

Gentlest laundry stain remover for fabric

Though it didn't work the best on the chocolate stain, Shout is the best treatment to use when concerned about damaging fabrics. The instructions did warn about colorfastness with khaki, but it was the only product that suggested leaving the product on the stain overnight without concern to your fabric.

By comparison, OxiClean suggests that you don't leave it on a garment for more than six hours, because it can start to damage the fabric. One should still be careful not to use the product on dry clean only clothing, but if you're doing laundry late at night, leaving Shout on a stain overnight is a risk-free treatment.

The other laundry stain removers

The other products we tested were of different stain-treating compounds and popular brands. These included Clorox - OxyMagic, Grandma's Secret, Resolve Max, Shout Advanced, Tide to Go Instant Liquid Stain Remover, and Zout - Triple Enzyme Formula. Our research told us these would be the most effective, reliable products and ranked comparably to OxiClean.

While browsing the products on Amazon, it became clear how great a bargain OxiClean is. These products all came in spray bottles or pens, varying between 14 to 22 oz, and cost anywhere from eight to 11 dollars. While OxiClean could launder up to 156 loads, none of these other products could successfully clean 156 stains.

For example, a 3-pack of Tide pens cost 10 dollars and contains only an ounce of stain removing fluid. None of the products were as versatile as the winner, which was the only one that claimed to work on non-fabric stains like grout.

It's worth noting that small packaging means limited room for instructions. None of these products offered the soaking option, and none indicated that you should scrub the fabric first to break the substance from the material.

Though pre-treating seems to be the essential step in stain removal, these products all suggested the same method: spray on the remover, let it sit for five to ten minutes, and wash (besides Shout gel, which said one could let it penetrate overnight and then wash, which we did).

All of the products said to check for colorfastness, though Resolve Max and Shout gel said outright that they should not be used on khaki. All the products said that if the stain didn't come out on the first try one should reapply.

Shout refers to their website on the back of the bottle in case a buyer wants to know more about using the product. In this instance, I see the benefit in OxiClean's large box-no extra searching is required to know how to use the product.

For those products that require spray, it takes quite a few sprays to saturate a stain larger than a golf ball, so that the solvent can soak through the fabric. Any surface underneath the fabric is then covered in a slimy, filmy residue.

Of course five to ten minutes is a smaller time frame for the pre-treating process, which makes the other products appear easier than OxiClean. Unfortunately these products did not measure up to the simple soak that OxiClean offered in ease or effectiveness.

Spending less time treating the fabric before washing proved to be a huge problem in the results of this study, in that none of the products besides OxiClean removed a stain entirely in one treatment, regardless of whether they were fresh or set-in. For the fresh stains, all products besides OxiClean left behind a very light or partial stain, and for the set-in stains, the remnants were darker depending on the product.

It was surprising that the Zout - Triple Enzyme Formula couldn't remove the chocolate stain as well as OxiClean despite being manufactured to knock out proteins. And though the other products, like Resolve Max and Clorox - Oxymagic, include oxidizing and surfactant agents, the combination of efforts couldn't beat any of the stains completely.

Though cleaning products don't have to list all of the ingredients on the bottle, a little research gave us the following information about the chemical makeup of stain removers:

If we were to rank the products, second place would go to Shout, which worked second best on all of the stains besides chocolate. (Zout was a close third; the stains were just slightly darker). To us, this seems like it has something to do with the pre-treatment process of letting the product sit on the stain overnight-which is the only clear similarity between the products, besides their ability to oxidize a stain.

While a Tide pen is convenient for instant-stain prevention (besides ink!), in terms of price and effectiveness, a buyer should weigh his or her needs. The Tide pen costs more money for less product, but can be used conveniently and quickly.

Best practices

Through our study, we discovered that pre-treating or soaking the stained product allows the stain time to break down in the solution of your choice. Though we tested stain removers with different combinations of coffee, wine, ink, and chocolate fighters, the ones that worked the best were those that sat on the fabric and penetrated the chemical reaction the longest.

While five minutes is convenient, it doesn't have the lasting effect that soaking does (and the stained item may require another wash). The process of preparing a sink to soak the clothing only takes a few minutes, and if you set an alarm, then the stained fabric can be forgotten about for six hours.

Know your stains and fabrics. Knowing the stain and fabric will always help assess the difficulty of the situation. Are you dealing with hot or cold liquid? Is the article of clothing dry clean only? These questions will help you figure out where to start.

The bottom line

The best product for the most complex chemical interactions is OxiClean. Not only did the product eliminate all of the stains (besides the week-old ink stain, which it did fade substantially), it is also the best price, the best in usability, and the most versatile.

If you find yourself with evidence of your lunch on your shirt before an important meeting, the Tide Pen is the best option for a quick fix because of its portability. If maintaining the quality of your favorite shirts matters most, Shout is the best option for overnight treatment without damaging fabric.

Whether it's washing clothes, upholstery or outdoor furniture, OxiClean is the product that will save you the most time, energy and money and keep your outfits looking spotless. And for even more cleaning power, check out our post on the best laundry detergent.

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The Best Laundry Stain Remover of 2018 - Your Best Digs

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After more than thirty hours of research and in-house testing, our pick for the best stain remover currently on the market is OxiClean - Versatile Stain Remover. While stains are seemingly small, everyday annoyances, complex chemical compounds are necessary to remove them.

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Con profundas raíces en la cultura argentina, promueve y realiza permanentemente distintas acciones relacionadas con el desarrollo infantil.

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Vanish Quitamanchas Líquido White - Vanish Argentina

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Si tenés problemas para mantener tu ropa blanca, o notas que tus blancos ya no están tan blancos, tenemos la solución. ¡Entrá y enterate como hacerlo!

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Quitamanchas "REX"

Elimina instantáneamente las manchas de grasa de la ropa.

Descripción

Especialmente formulado a base de solventes de secado rápido.

Práctico envase aerosol con tapa cepillo. También indicado para desmanchar alfombras, tapizados, gamuza y nobuck.

Colores

Incolora

Presentación

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Quitamanchas "REX" | Wassington Argentina, Productos Cuidado del Calzado

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Elimina instantáneamente las manchas de grasa de la ropa. Descripción Especialmente formulado a base de solventes de secado rápido. Práctico envase aerosol con tapa cepillo. También indicado para desmanchar alfombras, tapizados, gamuza y nobuck. Colores Incolora Presentación

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Glossary of Cleaning Product Terminology | The American Cleaning Institute (ACI)

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Review the glossary of terminology to understand the language of soaps and detergents.

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Learn about dry cleaning terminology and fabric care definitions from Martinizing Dry Cleaning in Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin. Contact us for cleaner, convenient laundry services today.

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Substances and equipment for cleaning clothes

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Substances and equipment for cleaning clothes

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substances and equipment used for cleaning and caring for clothes - synonyms and related words | Macmillan Dictionary

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Comprehensive list of synonyms for substances and equipment used for cleaning and caring for clothes, by Macmillan Dictionary and Thesaurus

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Abrasive cleaner

A cleaner that comes in powder and liquid form and contains a kind of built-in elbow grease, which helps cut down on the hard rubbing required to remove soil. These products are designed to remove relatively heavy amounts of soil often found in small areas.

Algaecide

A product that destroys algae.

Acid

An ingredient that neutralizes or adjusts the alkalinity of other ingredients. Some specialty cleaners need extra acidity to remove mineral build-up.

Active Ingredient

The ingredient in a product that is responsible for the product's function.

Alkali

An ingredient that neutralizes or adjusts acidity of other ingredients; makes surfactants and builders more efficient; and increases alkalinity, which is useful in removing acidic, fatty and oily soils. Detergents are more effective when they are alkaline.

Antibacterial

A product that destroys bacteria.

Antimicrobial

A product that destroys or inhibit growth of microorganisms that cause diseases and/or odour.

Antiredeposition agent

A substance that prevents soil from resettling after removal during washing.

Bactericide

A product that destroys bacteria.

Bleach

A product that helps whiten, brighten and remove stains. Bleaches convert soils into colourless, soluble particles that can be removed by detergents and carried away in the wash water. Liquid chlorine bleach (usually in a sodium hypochlorite solution) can also disinfect and deodorize fabrics. Oxygen (colour-safe) bleach is gentler and works safely on almost all washable fabrics.

Bluing

A product that contains a blue dye or pigment taken up by fabrics in the wash or rinse. Bluing absorbs the yellow part of the light spectrum, counteracting the natural yellowing of many fabrics.

Booster

A product that enhances the soil and stain removal, brightening, buffering and water softening performance of detergents. Boosters are used in the wash in addition to the detergent.

Carpet and Rug Cleaner

A product that is formulated to wet the pile of the carpet and take up oily and greasy soils. Such products provide a system that traps soil in suspension and dries to a brittle solid residue. The brittle residue containing the soil particles is then removed by vacuuming.

Corrosion inhibitor

A product that protects metal machine parts and finishes, china patterns and metal utensils.

Disinfectant

A product that destroys microorganisms on inanimate surfaces.

Drain Opener

Build-up removers are liquids formulated to prevent the grease and soap scum build-up which causes clogged drains using enzymes to break down and digest organic materials, such as grease.Traditional drain openers often include sodium hydroxide to generate heat to melt fat and break it down to simpler substances that can be rinsed away. Some products also contain agents to produce gas which provides agitation in the drain, a further help in opening drains.

Dusting Product

A product that attracts, picks up and retains light dust and soil on cleaning cloths.

Enzyme pre-soak

A product used for soaking items before washing to remove difficult stains and soils. When added to the wash water, enzyme pre-soaks increase cleaning power.

Fabric softener

A product that is added to the final rinse or dryer to make fabrics softer and fluffier; decrease static cling, wrinkling and drying time; and impart a pleasing fragrance and make ironing easier.

Film remover

A product that removes build-up of hard water film and cloudiness from dishes and the interior of the dishwasher. They are used instead of an automatic dishwasher detergent in a separate cycle or together with the detergent.

Floor Care Product

A product that contains water as the carrier for small particles of wax such as polyethylene, and polymers such as polyacrylate. In products for wood or cork flooring, a solvent acts as the carrier for wax particles, such as those of natural carnauba wax which is especially effective in providing a pleasing shine and a hard finish.

Fluorescent whitening agent

A product that attaches to fabrics to create a whitening or brightening effect when exposed to daylight.

Formulant

An ingredient that adds smell, colour, viscosity, etc.

Fragrance

An ingredient that provides pleasant odour to clothes and rooms.

Fungicide

A product that destroys fungi.

Furniture Cleaner and/or polisher

These products' principal ingredients include silicone fluids and a wax, often a so-called microcrystalline wax. A hydrocarbon solvent helps remove oily stains and some wax build up.Furniture cleaners/polishes can be formulated as water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsions. An emulsion stabilizer is present in both to prevent the product from separating into two layers. Fragrance and colour round out the product formulation.

Glass Cleaner

A product that contains surfactants to loosen soil, solvents to dissolve oily soils, and water as the medium to carry surfactants and solvents.Builders are included to remove heavier soils, especially oily soils. Alkaline builders, such as ammonia, are more effective on acidic soils like body oils or cooking grease. Acetic acid (vinegar) provides better performance on alkaline soils like mineral salts.Opaque creamy glass cleaners contain surfactants and solvents. They also contain colloidal clays and silica, which absorb soil and dry after spreading. Any remaining dried solid shows areas that need to be wiped.

Hard Water Mineral Remover

Water hardness is caused by the presence of dissolved mineral salts, such as those of calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese. When hard water evaporates, a mineral deposit is left behind which can build up over time. Hard water mineral removers are formulated to remove such deposits.

Hazard

An intrinsic negative characteristic of a substance.

Herbicide

A product that destroys weeds.

Hydrotrope

An ingredient that prevents liquid products from separating into layers to ensure product homogeneity.

Insecticide

A product that destroys bugs.

Irritant

Inflames skin temporarily.

Lime and rust remover

A product that removes deposits of lime and/or rust from the interior of the dishwasher. Lime and rust removers are used when no dishes or other dishwasher products are present.

Metal Cleaner and Polish

Metal presents a special cleaning problem, tarnish (the oxidation of metal), which is the principal soil to be removed. Metal cleaning products are sold as pastes, thick opaque liquids or clear liquids which may hold a fine abrasive in suspension.Surface impurities on most metals are removed more easily in an acidic medium. Metal cleaning products, therefore, usually contain organic acids, such as oxalic, sulphuric or citric. To aid in mechanical removal of tarnish and soil and contribute to metallic luster, a very mild abrasive is present as a polishing/buffering agent. Clay-like materials, such as kaopolite or finely divided hydrous silica, are common mild abrasives used.Metal cleaning formulations may also contain surfactants for ease of spreading the product as well as an aid in soil removal. Some products also contain an antioxidant, which protects the clean metal against rapid retarnishing.

Microorganism

A tiny cell.

Non-abrasive, all-purpose cleaner

A product that can clean most non-porous surfaces. Non-abrasive, all-purpose cleaners are offered as powders that can be dissolved to the proper strength and as liquids that can be diluted or used full strength.

Opacifier

An ingredient that reduces transparency or makes the product opaque.

Oven Cleaner

For most oven cleaners designed to work in a cold oven, strong ingredients are necessary to remove burned-on soils. A strong alkali, like sodium hydroxide (lye), is the principal agent in such oven cleaning products. During use, the alkali converts the grease to soap.Another product type uses a combination of less alkaline salts plus oven heat to aid soil removal. Surfactant is also present to help penetrate soil and wet the surface.Oven cleaners are formulated to be as thick as possible to allow the product to cling to the soiled, greasy, vertical oven surfaces.

Oxygen bleach

An ingredient that may be combined with bleach activator for better performance in lower water temperatures.

Pest control product or pesticide

A product that is designed to control, destroy, attract or repel pests.

Preservative

An ingredient that protects against the natural effects of product aging (for example, decay, discolouration, oxidation and bacterial attack).

Prewash soil and stain remover

A product used to pre-treat heavily soiled and stained garments, especially those made from synthetic fibres.

Processing aid

An ingredient that provides proper pour or flow, viscosity, solubility, stability and uniform density and assists in manufacturing.

Recommended limit

The highest amount that is still safe.

Registrant

A body that has registered a pest control product.

Rinse agent

A product that is used in addition to the automatic dishwasher detergent to lower surface tension, thus improving draining of the water from dishes and utensils. Better draining minimizes spotting and filming and enhances drying.

Risk

The chance that an exposure to a hazard will occur.

Rodenticide

A product that destroys rodents.

Sanitizer

A product that reduces the level of microorganisms present by significant numbers or to acceptable levels established by federal or provincial health authorities.

Shower Cleaner

A product that prevents build up of soap scum, mildew stains and hard water deposits without rinsing, wiping or scrubbing, and without leaving a dull residue or streaks.The products contain surfactants to help clean and prevent soap scum and hard water deposits and to aid water in sheeting off shower surfaces. Some products contain builders or chelates, and alcohol or solvents to assist in the continual cleaning process. Some also contain antimicrobial agents to kill germs, including mould and mildew.

Solvent

An ingredient that prevents separation or deterioration of ingredients in liquid products, dissolve organic soils and clean without leaving residue.

Spot treatment

Using a pest control product on a small spot.

Starch, fabric finish or sizing

A product used in the final rinse or after drying to give body to fabrics, make them more soil-resistant and make ironing easier.

Suds control agent

An ingredient that ensures optimum sudsing (foaming) level needed for a cleaning job.

Suds stabilizer

An ingredient that maintains high sudsing where suds level is an important indicator of cleaning power.

Suds suppressor

An ingredient that controls sudsing where suds would interfere with cleaning action.

Surfactant

An ingredient in soaps and detergents that makes liquids foam.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

A product that maintains a clean and pleasant smelling toilet bowl by clinging to the sides of the toilet bowl, freshening the bowl or releasing active ingredients into the bowl with each flush of the toilet.Surfactants plus oxidants or acids are the primary ingredients for soil removal. The presence of acids or sequestrants facilitates removal of stains caused by hard water deposits and iron. Specific organic stains are cleaned by oxidizing agents present in some products. Toilet bowl cleaners with disinfecting action contain antimicrobial agents, such as quaternary ammonium salts.To dissolve stubborn rust and hard water stains, some products may contain strong acids, such as hydrochloric acid. Products containing sodium hypochlorite as the oxidizing agent also include alkalis, such as sodium hydroxide, sodium metasilicate or sodium carbonate. Most toilet bowl cleaners contain a pleasing fragrance.

Tub, Tile and/or Sink Cleaner

A product that removes not only the normal soils found on bathroom and kitchen surfaces, but also hard water deposits, soap scum, rust stains and discolourations due to mould growth, which are common to these areas.Almost universally, such cleaners contain surfactants to penetrate and loosen soil. In addition, they may contain special sequestering agents and specific solvents to dissolve and keep calcium (hardness) deposits, soap scum and metal discolourations in solution.Products designed to remove mildew stains may also contain an oxidant, such as sodium hypochlorite, antimicrobial agents to attack mould and mildew, and alkaline ingredients, such as sodium carbonate, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide.

Volatile Organic Compound

Organic gasses at room temperature.

Water softener

A product added to the wash or rinse to inactivate hard water minerals. Since detergents are more effective in soft water, these products increase cleaning power.

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Abrasive cleaner A cleaner that comes in powder and liquid form and contains a kind of built-in elbow grease, which helps cut down on the hard rubbing required to remove soil. These products are designed to remove relatively heavy amounts of soil often found in small areas. Algaecide A product that destroys algae.

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