Rotating Brush Mist Cleaning for Fine Particle Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning devices require large amounts of water to wet particles, making it difficult to separate small dry particles from air, necessitating multiple passes over a surface and frequent emptying of debris containers, and pose health risks due to unremoved particles.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning device with a rotatable brush that expels work fluid droplets as a mist into a coalescing space, where they collide with airborne particles, forming coalesced particles that are larger and easier to separate from the air, using centrifugal forces and flexible brush elements to enhance particle capture and separation efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If large amounts of washing water are applied to the surface to ensure all dust particles become wet, then particle capture efficiency is improved, but the need for frequent emptying of the debris collecting container increases and water consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a coalescing chamber as an intermediary space between the brush and the debris collecting container. In this chamber, small water droplets expelled from the rotating brush coalesce with airborne particles, forming larger coalesced particles that are easier to separate. This mediator chamber enables effective particle capture with reduced water consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and size parameters of water droplets through the coalescing process. Small droplets (initial state) are transformed into larger coalesced particles (final state) through the coalescing chamber, making them easier to separate from air and collect, thereby improving capture efficiency while reducing water usage.
2Quantity of substance
If relatively small particles do not become wet, then water consumption is reduced, but these small particles might still be transported by air to the water collecting container and are difficult to separate
Solution Approach 1:
The coalescing chamber serves as an intermediary zone where airborne particles that have not been wetted by the brush are exposed to water droplets expelled from the brush. This chamber provides the necessary space and conditions for droplet-particle coalescence, ensuring effective separation without requiring excessive water application.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces direct mechanical wetting (brush contact) with a fluid dynamics-based coalescing process. Instead of relying on the brush to directly wet all particles, the system uses centrifugal force to expel droplets into the air stream, where coalescence occurs naturally in the coalescing chamber, providing a more efficient separation mechanism.
3Reliability
If a cleaning device needs to be moved twice over the surface, a first time to perform a washing operation and a second time to remove the contaminated fluid, then thorough cleaning is achieved, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the washing function and the contaminated fluid removal function into a single integrated operation. The brush simultaneously applies water to wet particles and expels droplets into the coalescing chamber where they capture airborne particles. The vacuum system concurrently removes both surface contaminants and airborne particles in one pass, eliminating the need for separate washing and removal passes.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning device is designed with multi-functionality, where the same brush and vacuum system perform multiple functions: wetting surface particles, expelling droplets into the air stream, coalescing droplets with airborne particles in the coalescing chamber, and removing both surface and airborne contaminants simultaneously. This universal design enables thorough cleaning in a single pass.
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 device effectively captures small particles with a reduced amount of fluid, improving health safety by ensuring thorough removal in a single pass and reducing the need for frequent container emptying, while maintaining efficiency with a compact design.
Implementation Method 1
the brush is rotatable at such a rotational speed and is of such a dimension that in use the droplets of the work fluid are being expelled as a mist of droplets from the flexible brush elements into a coalescing space of the device
Implementation Method 2
the droplets of the work fluid are being expelled as a mist of droplets from the flexible brush elements into a coalescing space of the device, the dirtied air received by the inlet being receivable by the coalescing space, to form coalesced particles of the droplets expelled from the brush elements and particles in the dirtied air
Implementation Method 3
the coalesced particles being conveyable from the coalescing space to the cleansing unit for separating at least a portion of the coalesced particles from the air
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a cleaning device (1) for removing particles from a surface (11). Thereto the device sprays droplets (200) of a fluid (201) into a space (213). The droplets (200) are expelled from a rotatable brush (3) as a mist of droplets. Air carrying dirt particles (202) is exposed to the mist, whereby dirt particles coalesce with droplets in the mist in the space (213). The coalesced particles (22) are conveyed to a cleansing unit (14) to be separated from the air. Finally, clean air exits from the device (1).