Entre Ciencia e Ingeniería · 2023

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Resumen

Autoclaves are vital equipment in the hospital sterilization processes. They are so important in any hospital center that a failure in the equipment can result in the total suspension of surgical activity, as they represent the main tool when it comes to prevent the spread of infections to which medical procedures are exposed [1]. Vacuum pumps are essential elements in the operation of autoclaves, since a successful sterilization process depends on their performance. This article intends to introduce a method to automatically detect the failure condition of an autoclave's vacuum pump, based on the characteristics of the acoustic signal produced by the equipment during its operation. Initially, the acoustic signals emitted by the pump in both normal and failure conditions were captured. The results obtained by different signal analysis methods were compared, and it was determined which of them ended up being more suitable in order to perform a diagnosis of the equipment's operating condition. The results obtained showed that, in order to identify the specific type of failure analyzed, the analysis within the time domain ended up being more suitable than the analysis within the frequency domain. Finally, an algorithm that detects the presence or absence of water in the vacuum pump of the autoclave was obtained.