Principle of autoclave
With high temperature and high pressure sterilization, not only can kill the general bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms, spores, spores also have killing effect, is the most reliable, the most common physical sterilization method.
Using high temperature saturated water vapor in a certain period of time can denaturate the protein of microorganisms and lead to the death of microorganisms, to achieve the purpose of sterilization of wet and heat resistant articles. Because the steam in the closed cabinet can not overflow, as the pressure continues to rise the boiling point of water will continue to increase, so that the internal temperature will also increase, the internal temperature can reach 121℃ under 0.22mpa pressure. At this steam temperature a variety of bacteria can be quickly killed.

Working principle of water bath sterilization
Using the high temperature circulating water as the sterilizing medium, the article is heated, sterilized and cooled by water shower. During the whole working process, the superhot water runs in a relatively closed circulation system. The equipment has a series of advantages such as good temperature uniformity, wide temperature control range (60-134℃), and effectively prevent secondary pollution in the working process.
It is important to consider the following differences between autoclaves and water baths to understand their effectiveness in providing disinfection in different environments.
Each piece of equipment uses a very different disinfection method. It is important to consider the following differences between autoclave sterilizers and water baths to understand their effectiveness in providing disinfection in different environments.
1. The water bath reaches the maximum boiling point of water at 100 °C (212 °F). The ideal operating temperature of the autoclave is 120 °C (248 °F) with a maximum temperature of 133 °C (273 °F).
2. In the autoclaving cabinet, the steam fluidity, uniform contact with the bottle wall is poor, the remaining space filled with drugs is less and there is a “dead Angle” to the steam flow resistance, so that the temperature uniformity in the cabinet is worse than that in the water bath.
3. The high-pressure steam sterilization cabinet adopts steam directly sprayed into the cabinet and heated in contact with the glass bottle, so the heat exchange cannot be effectively controlled. The glass bottle may produce microcracks or even explode because of the fusion of temperature, and the water bath type does not have the phenomenon of explode bottle.
4. The water bath provides sterilized items that need to be air-dried or manually dried. Autoclaves provide sterilized items that do not need to be dried after sterilization.
5. The autoclave reduces the risk of injury or burns to the operator, while the use of water baths may be hazardous to the operator.
6. Most types of materials can be put into an autoclave to be sterilized. Can wrap delicate items to reduce the risk of damage or breakage. Water bath sterilizer is more suitable for various specifications of bottles, bags of liquid sterilization operation.
While autoclaves and water baths can both provide effective sterilization and eliminate pathogens and microorganisms, it is important to remember that the equipment is used in a specific environment, industry or environment to achieve the best results.