RFID Journal Staff asked 3 years ago The products we make require sterilization during the manufacturing process. I have seen some reports of tags designed to withstand gamma sterilization. Our process uses ethylene oxide, commonly referred to as EtO gas. With your vast resources, do you recall seeing anything regarding products that have been tested in these conditions?
It may also be desirable to add an EtO sensor to the tags to detect cycles out of the specified operating range, or to integrate the tags into our existing systems. We had an occurrence recently in which a pump valve remained stuck open and the gas was over-supplied to the chamber. Sensors built into the tag could have the cycle time or pressure parameters programmed in, and could even tell the sterilizer itself when to shut off.
Any guidance or help would be much appreciated.
—Fort Worth, Texas
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AXCESS International has a tag that can detect the presence of ethylene oxide, ammonia and other chemicals (see AXCESS Adds Ammonia Detection Capability to RFID-based Sensor Tags). One would assume that if the tag can detect these chemicals, it is designed to withstand them. We don't know whether the tag could be used to shut off the sterilizer machine, but perhaps someone from AXCESS will comment on that topic.
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