Barrier Pressure Vessel for Clean Textile Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing textile cleaning systems fail to maintain the cleanliness of textiles destined for clean room environments, as they introduce cleaned textiles into unclean environments, risking contamination and invalidating the extensive cleaning process, particularly in sensitive industries like semiconductor and pharmacology where high cleanliness standards are required.
Innovation Solution
A densified fluid cleaning system that spans a barrier, using a pressure vessel with separate sealable openings to access both environments, allowing soiled articles to be cleaned with liquid carbon dioxide and then transferred into a clean environment without exposing them to contaminants, utilizing a movable basket and actuator system to facilitate cleaning and prevent contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If textiles are cleaned in a traditional cleaning system, then the textiles are cleaned effectively, but they are introduced into an unclean environment which risks contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning system is divided into two separate sealed chambers: a first chamber for receiving soiled textiles and a second chamber for removing cleaned textiles. This segmentation allows the cleaning process to occur in isolation, preventing contamination from the external unclean environment while maintaining the effectiveness of the cleaning process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary barrier system consisting of sealed doors and transfer mechanisms between the cleaning chamber and the external environment. This intermediary structure allows cleaned textiles to be transferred without direct exposure to contaminants, resolving the contradiction between effective cleaning and contamination prevention.
2Reliability
If a pressure vessel with separate openings is used to span a barrier, then cleaned textiles can be transferred to a clean environment without contamination, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure vessel is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as both the cleaning chamber and the transfer mechanism. The vessel can be pressurized to move cleaned textiles through sealed doors into the clean environment, combining cleaning and transfer operations into a single multi-functional device rather than requiring separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes pressure changes as a controllable parameter to manage the transfer of cleaned textiles. By pressurizing the vessel, the system can move textiles through sealed openings into the clean environment without compromising the barrier, using parameter changes to simplify the operational complexity of the sealed transfer mechanism.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures that cleaned textiles are maintained at a high level of cleanliness by preventing contamination during transfer, meeting stringent clean room standards and reducing the risk of introducing contaminants into sensitive environments.
Implementation Method 1
liquid carbon dioxide passes through the textiles, removing soil
Implementation Method 2
The liquid carbon dioxide passes through the textiles, removing soil and is thereafter passed to an evaporator
Implementation Method 3
The evaporator vaporizes the carbon dioxide leaving the soil or other contaminants behind
Implementation Method 4
The evaporator vaporizes the carbon dioxide leaving the soil or other contaminants behind
Implementation Method 5
The carbon vapor dioxide is thereafter pumped to a condenser after which the liquid carbon dioxide is produced
Data Source
AI summary
A densified fluid barrier cleaning system is disclosed in which a pressure vessel encases a movable basket positioned so as to cross a barrier such that one opening of the pressure vessel resides in a first environment and a second opening of the pressure vessel resides in a second environment. A tubular basket within the pressure vessel is positioned such that its central longitudinal axis is aligned with both the first and second opening of the pressure vessel. Responsive to the successful completion of a cleaning cycle, soiled articles that are introduced to the basket via the first opening from the first environment can be removed through the second opening and into the second environment thus bridging the barrier without fear of introducing contaminants from the first environment to second environment.