Determination of composition and structure of a CO;composite spray

• US 9,227,215 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: CleanLogic LLC
• Inventors: Jackson, David, Marian, Liviu
• Primary Examiner(s): HWU, DAVIS D
• Application Number:
  US14/308,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20140367483A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 239 67- 69, 239/71, 239/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/082 responsive to a condition of the discharged jet or spray, e.g. to jet shape, spray pattern or droplet size
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 7/1486 for spraying particulate material in dry state
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 7/00 Cleaning by methods not provided for in a single other subclass or a single group in this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: B24C 1/003 using material which dissolves or changes phase after the treatment, e.g. ice, CO2
• CPC Class Codes: B24C 7/0046 the abrasive material being fed in a gaseous carrier
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/42 Filling or charging means
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/752 characterised by the use of specific products or propellants

Abstract

A method and apparatus for analyzing, maintaining or adjusting the chemical and physical structure of a CO₂ Composite Spray in real-time. A light beam is passed through a portion of the CO₂ Composite Spray plume, following which the transmitted light is collected using a detector and analyzed using a computer processing device. Light absorption, reflection and/or florescence data are correlated with CO₂ particle density and particle size, spray plume length, organic and inorganic spray additives, and water vapor content. The treatment spray geometry is used to optimize and control a CO₂ Composite Spray in precision cleaning, machining, and cooling processes.

Claims

1. An apparatus for maintaining a specific characteristic of a CO₂ treatment spray in real-time comprising:

a CO₂ composite spray generator and a CO₂ composite spray applicator;

said CO₂ Composite Spray generator and said CO₂ composite spray applicator create a CO₂ composite spray plume;

said CO₂ composite spray plume has a geometry, which comprises a width, a height, a length, a composition or a CO₂ particle density;

adjusting propellant gas pressure, propellant gas temperature, additive concentration, or CO₂ particle concentration changes said geometry of the CO₂ composite spray plume;

a light source transmits a light beam perpendicular to said CO₂ composite plume from a first position to a second position;

the first position to the second position defines the length of the CO₂ composite spray plume;

a light receptor is mounted perpendicularly to the CO₂ composite spray plume and captures the attenuated light beam passing through or being reflected from the CO₂ composite spray plume;

a computing device;

whereby the computing device analyzes a change in the attenuated light beam passing through or being reflected from the CO₂ composite spray plume and adjusts the propellant gas pressure, the propellant gas temperature, the additive concentration, or the CO₂ particle concentration of said CO₂ composite spray generator to adjust said geometry to maintain the specific characteristic or a spray profile index of the CO₂ composite spray plume.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light source includes halogen light, deuterium light, Laser light or LED light.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the light source operates in ultraviolet, visible or infrared regions.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light receptor includes a photodiode detector, a radiance detector or a UV-VIS-IR spectrophotometer.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the light receptor measures light absorption, light reflection or light florescence.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said computing device calculates a light attenuation profile index value for the geometry of CO₂ composite spray plume.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said light attenuation profile index value changes with CO₂ particle density and particle size, the propellant gas temperature and the propellant gas pressure, organic and inorganic additives, or water vapor content within the CO₂ composite spray plume.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the CO₂ composite spray plume geometry is controlled in real-time.

9. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein at least one light source is used.

10. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein at least one light receptor is used.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the CO₂ composite spray plume is moved from a first position to a second position.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light source and the light receptor are moved from a first position to a second position perpendicular to said CO₂ composite spray plume.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a metrological instrument is used to correlate the spray plume geometry to a spray plume performance metric.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said metrological instrument comprises a temperature measurement system, a OSEE measurement system, a FTIR analysis system, an impact shear stress measurement system or a surface particle counting system.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the spray plume performance metric comprises cooling capacity, impact particle shear stress, contamination removal rate, surface finish, or surface cleanliness level.

16. A method for monitoring and maintaining a specific characteristic of a CO₂ treatment spray in real-time comprising:

a. Passing at least one light beam through a CO₂ composite spray plume;

b. Measuring at least one attenuated light beam passing through said spray plume for at least one position along a traverse of said spray plume;

c. Calculating a spray profile index value using a computing device;

d. Adjusting propellant gas pressure, propellant gas temperature, additive concentration, or CO₂ particle concentration of the spray plume based upon said spray profile index value;

Whereby the spray profile index is unique for the particular spray composition, the propellant gas pressure, the propellant gas temperature, the additive concentration and the CO2 particle concentration.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said at least one light beam comprises halogen light, deuterium light, Laser light or LED light.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said at least one light beam operates in ultraviolet, visible or infrared regions.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said at least one attenuated light is measured by radiance, fluorescence, absorbance or spectrophotometry.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said at least one attenuated light comprises absorbed light, reflected light, or fluorescent light.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the spray profile index value is correlated to a spray plume performance metric.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said spray plume performance metric comprises cooling capacity, impact particle shear stress, contamination removal rate, surface finish, or surface cleanliness.