Process for Preparing Sorptive Substrates, and Integrated Processing System for Substrates

• US 20130031872A1
• Filed: 08/01/2011
• Published: 02/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Inventors: Blaiss, H. Dennis, Sene, Laurent H., Hall, Gregory T., Whittington, Randy H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,956,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/435
• CPC Class Codes: A47L 13/17 containing cleaning agents A47L13/19 takes precedence ; chemical compositions C11D17/049
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/143 Wipes
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/20 Cleaning of moving articles, e.g. of moving webs or of objects on a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/12 by sonic or ultrasonic vibrations washing or rinsing machines for crockery or tableware using sonic or ultrasonic waves A47L15/13; of natural teeth, of prostheses using ultrasonic techniques similar to those used for natural teeth A61C17/20; application of ultrasonic vibrations to chemical, physical or physico-chemical processes in general B01J19/10
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 5/023 Cleaning travelling work
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 7/028 Using ultrasounds
• CPC Class Codes: D06B 13/00 Treatment of textile materials with liquids, gases or vapours with aid of vibration
• CPC Class Codes: D06B 21/00 Successive treatments of textile materials by liquids, gases or vapours successive treatments in which the characteristics of a single treatment are of interest only, or in which all treatments have characteristics provided for in a single main group, see the relevant groups for the single treatment

Abstract

A process for treating a substrate comprised of sorptive material is provided herein. The sorptive material may be an absorbent synthetic material such as polyester. The material is designed to be used for cleaning surfaces in an ultraclean environment. The process first comprises unwinding a roll of sorptive material as a substrate into a cleaning system. The cleaning system utilizes several sections. These include a pre-washing section, an acoustic energy washing section, and a drying section. Preferably, the process of moving the substrate through the cleaning system is continuous. The acoustic energy washing section employs one or more acoustic energy generators. In one aspect, the process also includes cutting the substrate into sections to form wipers after moving the substrate through the drying section. Thereafter, the wipers are placed into bag, and the bag is sealed. An integrated processing or treating system for a sorptive material is also provided herein.

Claims

1. A process for treating a sorptive material, comprising:

unwinding a roll of sorptive material as a substrate into a cleaning system;

moving the substrate through an acoustic energy washing section in the cleaning system, wherein at least one of the front side and the back side of the substrate are exposed to energy pulses from one or more acoustic energy generators within a tank of a washing solution; and

further moving the substrate through a drying section in the cleaning system, wherein heat is applied to the cleaned sorptive material; and

wherein the cleaned and dried sorptive material uniformly has less than 150 fibers per square meter that are greater than 100 μ

m in length.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the sorptive material comprises a synthetic material.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein the sorptive material comprises primarily polyester.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the sorptive material is an absorbent material.

6. The process of claim 5,wherein the absorbent material has an absorbency of between about 300 mL/m² to 650 mL/m².

7. The process of claim 3, further comprising:

moving the substrate through a pre-washing section in the cleaning system, wherein a prepping fluid is sprayed onto the sorptive material before moving the substrate through the acoustic energy washing section.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein the prepping fluid in the pre-washing section (i) is a liquid that comprises primarily deionized water, (ii) is a gaseous fluid comprising carbon dioxide, steam, ozone, or mixtures thereof, or (iii) combinations thereof.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein moving the substrate through the pre-washing section, the acoustic energy washing section, and the drying section is continuous.

10. The process of claim 9, further comprising:

after moving the substrate through the drying section, cutting the substrate into sections to form individual wipers;

placing the wipers into a bag; and

sealing the bag.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the steps of cutting the substrate into sections and placing the wipers into a bag are substantially performed without a human hand touching the sorptive material.

12. The process of claim 11, wherein the step of cutting a length of the substrate is performed by using a laser cutter, a sonic knife, or a sonic horn.

13. The process of claim 10, wherein each wiper has between about (i) 30,000 and 70,000 particles and fibers per square meter that are between about 5.0 and 100 μ

m in length, (ii) 0.5×

10⁶ and 5.0×

10⁶ particles and fibers per square meter that are between about 0.5 and 5.0 μ

m in length, or (iii) both.

14. The process of claim 10, wherein each wiper has less than about 0.06 ppm potassium, less than about 0.05 ppm chloride, less than about 0.05 ppm magnesium, less than about 0.20 ppm calcium, and less than about 0.30 ppm sodium.

15. The process of claim 3, wherein:

the acoustic energy washing section comprises a first ultrasonic energy washer; and

the one or more energy generators comprises at least one transducer that operates at a frequency of about 20 to 80 kHz.

16. The process of claim 3, wherein:

the acoustic energy washing section comprises a second acoustic energy washer; and

the one or more energy generators comprises at least one transducer that operates at a frequency of about 900 kHz to 2.0 MHz.

17. The process of claim 3, wherein the acoustic energy washing section comprises:

an ultrasonic energy washing station having at least one acoustic transducer operating at a frequency of between about 20 kHz and 50 kHz;

a tank in the ultrasonic energy washing station for holding a volume of deionized water and surfactant while the substrate is moved through the ultrasonic energy washing station;

a megasonic energy washing station having at least one acoustic transducer operating at a frequency of between about 900 kHz and 2.0 MHz; and

a separate tank in the megasonic energy washing station for holding a volume of deionized water and surfactant while the substrate is moved through the ultrasonic energy washing station.

18. The process of claim 3, further comprising:

before moving the substrate through the drying section, moving the substrate through a rinsing section, wherein the substrate is rinsed with an aqueous solution comprising primarily deionized water.

19. The process of claim 7, further comprising:

placing a roll of sorptive material onto a shaft; and

wherein unwinding the roll of sorptive material comprises unwinding the roll from the shaft in order to introduce the substrate to the pre-washing section.

20. The process of claim 19, wherein:

the roll of sorptive material is wound around a core before being placed onto the shaft;

the roll of sorptive material has a length of at least 25 feet (3.31 meters) before being placed onto the shaft; and

unwinding the roll of sorptive material comprises rotating the shaft.

21. The process of claim 1, wherein the heat comprises warmed and HEPA-filtered air.

22. A treating system for receiving a roll of sorptive material as a substrate, and treating the sorptive material, the treating system comprising:

an acoustic energy washing section configured to expose at least one of the front side and the back side of the substrate to energy pulses from one or more acoustic energy generators within a tank of a washing solution;

a drying section configured to apply warmed and filtered air to the cleaned sorptive material;

a cutting section configured to continuously cut the substrate into individual wipers after the substrate has passed through the drying section, and to place the wipers into a stack; and

a packaging section configured to continuously receive each stack of wipers, and place them into a bag substantially without need of human hands.

23. The treating system of claim 22, wherein the sorptive material comprises primarily polyester.

24. The treating system of claim 22, wherein:

the sorptive material is an absorbent material, an adsorbent material, or both; and

after having been cleaned and dried, the sorptive material uniformly has less than 150 fibers per square meter that are greater than 100 μ

m in length.

25. The treating system of claim 22, wherein:

the sorptive material is an absorbent material; and

the absorbent material has an absorbency of between about 300 mL/m² to 650 mL/m².

26. The treating system of claim 22, further comprising:

a pre-washing section configured to receive the roll of sorptive material as a substrate, and to spray a prepping fluid onto the sorptive material before the substrate moves into the acoustic energy washing section.

27. The treating system of claim 26, wherein the prepping fluid in the pre-washing section (i) is a liquid that comprises primarily deionized water, (ii) is a gaseous fluid comprising carbon dioxide, steam, ozone, or mixtures thereof, or (iii) combinations thereof.

28. The treating system of claim 27, further comprising:

a rinsing section configured to continuously receive the substrate from the acoustic energy washing section, and rinse the substrate by spraying deionized water before drying;

a stand having a shaft for supporting the roll of sorptive material; and

a motor for rotating the shaft in order to unwind the roll of sorptive material as a substrate into the pre-washing section.

29. The treating system of claim 22, wherein:

the acoustic energy washing section comprises a first ultrasonic energy washer; and

the one or more energy generators comprises at least one transducer that operates at a frequency of about 20 to 80 kHz.

30. The treating system of claim 29, wherein:

each of the at least one transducers is a tubular resonator; and

each of the at least one tubular resonator operates at a frequency of about 20 to 50 kHz.

31. The treating system of claim 29, wherein the first ultrasonic energy washer comprises:

a first set of rollers for guiding the substrate around a first transducer such that the front side of the substrate is directly exposed to ultrasonic energy from the first transducer; and

a second set of rollers for guiding the substrate around a second transducer such that the back side of the substrate is directly exposed to ultrasonic energy from the second transducer.

33. The treating system of claim 22, wherein:

the acoustic energy washing section comprises a second acoustic energy washer; and

the one or more energy generators comprises at least one transducer that operates at a frequency between about 800 kHz and 2.0 MHz.

34. A method of cleaning a surface, comprising:

receiving a package of wipers, the wipers having been packaged in a processing system comprising;

an acoustic energy washing section configured to expose at least one of the front side and the back side of the substrate to energy pulses from one or more acoustic energy generators within a tank of a washing solution,

a drying section configured to apply warmed and filtered air to the cleaned sorptive material,

a cutting section configured to continuously cut the substrate into individual wipers after the substrate has passed through the drying section, and to place the wipers into a stack, and

a packaging section configured to continuously receive each stack of wipers, and place them into a bag substantially without need of human hands;

opening the package of wipers;

removing one of the wipers; and

using the removed wiper to wipe a surface in a cleanroom environment.