Process for Preparing Sorptive Substrates, and Integrated Processing System
First Claim
1. A process for treating a sorptive material, comprising:
- unwinding a roll of sorptive material as a substrate into a cleaning system, the roll being between about 4 inches (10.16 cm) and 18 inches (45.72 cm) in width;
moving the substrate through an acoustic energy washing section in the cleaning system, wherein each of a front side and a back side of the substrate are directly exposed to energy pulses from acoustic energy generators within a tank of a washing solution, with at least one of the acoustic energy generators in the washing section being a tubular resonator that operates at a frequency of between about 20 and 80 kHz, thereby producing a cleaned sorptive material for use in wiping surfaces in a cleanroom environment; and
further moving the substrate through a drying section in the cleaning system, wherein HEPA-filtered and heated air is applied to product a cleaned and dried sorptive material; and
wherein the cleaned and dried sorptive material uniformly has less than 150 contaminant fibers per square meter that are greater than 100 μ
m in length.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
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 a bag and the bag is sealed.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A process for treating a sorptive material, comprising:
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unwinding a roll of sorptive material as a substrate into a cleaning system, the roll being between about 4 inches (10.16 cm) and 18 inches (45.72 cm) in width; moving the substrate through an acoustic energy washing section in the cleaning system, wherein each of a front side and a back side of the substrate are directly exposed to energy pulses from acoustic energy generators within a tank of a washing solution, with at least one of the acoustic energy generators in the washing section being a tubular resonator that operates at a frequency of between about 20 and 80 kHz, thereby producing a cleaned sorptive material for use in wiping surfaces in a cleanroom environment; and further moving the substrate through a drying section in the cleaning system, wherein HEPA-filtered and heated air is applied to product a cleaned and dried sorptive material; and wherein the cleaned and dried sorptive material uniformly has less than 150 contaminant fibers per square meter that are greater than 100 μ
m in length. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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4. (canceled)
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21-33. -33. (canceled)
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34. A method of cleaning a surface, comprising:
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receiving a package of wipers, with each wiper uniformly having less than 150 contaminant fibers per square meter that are greater than 100 μ
m in length, and 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 rinsing section after the acoustic energy washing section, wherein the substrate is rinsed with an aqueous solution comprising primarily deionized water; a drying section configured to apply warmed and HEPA-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.
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Specification