Plasma Cleaning System With Differential Vacuum Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning systems are ineffective and often use hazardous solvents, which damage items and are not suitable for a wide variety of articles, and face challenges in accessing internal surfaces like pressure gauges, necessitating the development of a contaminant cleaning system that uses reactive substances to chemically react with contaminants.
Innovation Solution
A plasma cleaning system utilizing low energy plasma generated from selected reactive gases, which reacts with contaminants, and a differential vacuum/pressure system to transfer reactive substances and byproducts between chambers for analysis, ensuring thorough cleaning and safety by eliminating hazardous solvents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hazardous solvents are used for cleaning, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but item damage and environmental harm increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical state and reactivity parameters of cleaning agents by using plasma-generated reactive substances instead of traditional solvents. The plasma process creates highly reactive species (radicals, ions) that effectively remove contaminants through chemical reactions rather than dissolution, eliminating the need for hazardous solvents while maintaining cleaning effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs plasma-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that act as strong oxidizing agents. These reactive substances chemically react with and break down organic and inorganic contaminants on surfaces, providing effective cleaning through oxidation reactions without requiring hazardous solvents that cause item damage or environmental harm.
2Ease of operation
If traditional cleaning methods are used, then simple cleaning is achieved, but access to internal surfaces like pressure gauges is impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses differential pressure systems to drive plasma reactive substances into complex internal geometries. By creating pressure differentials between chambers, the system forces cleaning plasma through narrow passages, holes, and internal surfaces that are inaccessible to traditional liquid solvents or manual cleaning methods, thereby achieving versatility in accessing internal surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical cleaning methods (brushes, sprays, manual intervention) with plasma-based chemical cleaning. The plasma reactive substances can penetrate and clean internal surfaces without requiring physical contact or access, substituting mechanical cleaning limitations with chemical reaction capabilities that work remotely through plasma generation and differential pressure delivery.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If reactive substances are used for cleaning, then item safety is improved, but system complexity increases due to multiple chambers and differential pressure requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cleaning system into separate functional chambers (reaction chamber, transfer chamber, analysis chamber) that can be independently controlled. This segmentation allows each chamber to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall system safety through isolated pressure and chemical control, managing complexity through modular functional separation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates analysis chambers with mass spectrometers or other detection devices that provide real-time feedback on cleaning effectiveness and reactive substance concentration. This feedback enables automated control of plasma generation and differential pressure, ensuring item safety by preventing over-exposure to reactive substances while maintaining cleaning effectiveness, thereby managing system complexity through intelligent control.
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
The system effectively removes contaminants from both internal and external surfaces of items by using reactive plasma gases that react with contaminants, with the ability to analyze byproducts to determine cleaning completion, ensuring thorough and safe cleaning without damaging the items.
Implementation Method 1
low energy plasma, e.g., selected reactive gas or gas(es) comprising reactive materials including ionized reactive gases, free radicals
Implementation Method 2
reactive substances that chemically react with contaminants on or inside of items to be cleaned
Implementation Method 3
Differential pressure can also be used to move reaction byproducts, reactions of the activated reactant, or reactive substances or materials
Data Source
AI summary
Contaminant cleaning systems and related methods are provided. Exemplary embodiments include a reactive substance generator to produce or transfer reactive substance(s) that react with contaminant(s) on an item into a cleaning chamber. An analysis section can be attached to the cleaning chamber to perform gas analysis on gas samples brought into the analysis chamber that measure reaction byproducts from the reactive substance(s) interaction with the contaminants. An exemplary valve system can selectively couple the reactive substance generator, the analysis section, and the cleaning chamber. An exemplary pumping system, in combination with the valve system, can selectively generate differential pressure/vacuum levels between the reactive substance generator vs cleaning chamber as well as between the cleaning chamber and analysis section. For example, the analysis chamber can be configured to have a higher vacuum than the cleaning chamber to facilitate passage of gas test samples into the analysis chamber.