Hexagonal Cell Contact Cleaning Surface for Uniform Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rubber or elastomeric cleaning rollers wear unevenly due to their microscopically roughened surfaces, leading to inconsistent cleaning performance and potential film wrapping issues during the cleaning of substrates.
Innovation Solution
A contact cleaning surface with a polymeric layer featuring recessed cells, each with a hexagonal footprint and perpendicular walls, ensuring consistent wear and efficient contaminant collection across the surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a microscopically roughened surface is used to collect contaminating particles, then contaminant collection capability is improved, but wear uniformity deteriorates leading to inconsistent cleaning performance
Solution Approach 1:
The surface is segmented into multiple recessed cells with uniform cross-sections instead of a continuous roughened surface. Each cell acts as an independent contaminant collection unit with consistent geometry, ensuring uniform wear distribution across the entire surface while maintaining effective contaminant capture capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of a uniformly roughened surface, the invention creates localized recessed cells with specific geometric properties (uniform cross-section, perpendicular walls). This local structural differentiation allows each cell to maintain consistent dimensions during wear, ensuring uniform wear patterns while preserving contaminant collection function.
2Duration of action of moving object
If the cleaning surface area changes during wear, then wear occurs, but cleaning performance consistency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the surface structure by creating recessed cells with uniform cross-sections and perpendicular walls. This parameter optimization ensures that as the roller wears, the cells maintain consistent dimensions, preserving the surface area and cleaning performance consistency throughout the service life.
3Quantity of substance
If a microscopically roughened surface with irregular asperities is used, then contaminant particles can be received, but wear consistency deteriorates across the surface
Solution Approach 1:
The surface is divided into multiple discrete recessed cells rather than a continuous roughened surface. Each cell has a defined uniform cross-section, creating segmented contaminant collection zones that wear consistently while maintaining adequate contaminant particle capacity through the collective effect of multiple cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses symmetric, regular geometric shapes for the cells (with perpendicular walls and uniform cross-sections) rather than the asymmetric, irregular asperities of conventional roughened surfaces. This geometric symmetry ensures uniform wear patterns while the cumulative volume of multiple cells provides sufficient contaminant capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a contact cleaning surface (10), for a contact cleaning roller, configured to collect and/or remove contaminating particles from a contaminated substrate, including a frame defining a plurality of recessed cells (14), the frame having at least one wall defining the perimeter of each cell, the at least one wall having a pair of parallel opposing surfaces upstanding substantially perpendicularly from a base and terminating in a contact surface configured to contact the contaminated substrate, the at least one wall having a cross-sectional area that is substantially the same between said base and said contact surface. There is also provided a contact cleaning and an apparatus, each configured to collect and/or remove contaminating particles from a contaminated substrate, and method of collecting and/or removing contaminating particles from a contaminated substrate.