Importance

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Abstract

The presence of a drape on a thermal treatment system for ensuring sterility of a sterile medium contained within a thermal treatment system basin is determined by the use of a drape identifier and corresponding detector. When a drape containing the identifier is placed on the corresponding thermal treatment system, a detector senses and verifies the drape identifier to determine the presence of the drape on the thermal treatment system. A controller receives a signal from the detector indicating whether or not a drape is present on the thermal treatment system. If a drape is not present on the thermal treatment system, the controller prevents thermal treatment system operation. Various drape identifiers may be utilized to indicate the presence of the drape on the thermal treatment system, such as bar codes, mechanical and optical keys, light filter patches disposed on the drape passing various intensities or bands of light, reflective material segments disposed on the drape or reflective material used to construct the drape itself for reflecting light from a light source toward a light detector, and magnetic media in the form of magnetic strips disposed on the drape or a magnetic pigment or resin additive incorporated into the drape material.

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First Claim