Princeton Trade & Technology, Inc.

Olympus Corporation

Joseph J Murawski

Yacoob Tabani

Mohamed Emam Labib

Stanislav S Dukhin

Ching-Yue Lai

Ziye Qian

Mohamed Eman Labib

A method for cleaning an internal surface of a narrow diameter channel includes steps of: flowing a liquid cleaning medium and a gas through the narrow diameter channel under a flow regime that creates surface flow entities in contact with and sliding along the internal surface of the narrow diameter channel, the surface flow entities having three-phase contact lines and associated menisci, the surface flow entities detaching contaminants with which they come in contact from the internal surface of the narrow diameter internal surface of the narrow diameter channel; and rinsing the internal surface of the narrow diameter channel to remove residual liquid cleaning medium and detached contaminants from the channel.

Method for composition for cleaning tubular systems employing moving three-phase lines

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for cleaning interiors of passageways in endoscopes or other luminal medical devices by flow of liquid and gas therethrough. The liquid flow may include rivulets, droplets or other liquid entities which move on the internal surfaces of the passageways, and may include a three-phase contact interface between liquid and dry solid and gas.

Method for cleaning passageways using flow of liquid and gas

Method for cleaning passageways such an endoscope channels using flow of liquid and gas

The narrow diameter channel has a diameter of about 0.02 centimeter to about 1.6 centimeters and a length of about 0.75 meter to about 5 meters. The internal surface of the narrow diameter channel is hydrophobic, and the surface flow entities exhibit an advancing contact angle of greater than 50 degrees and a receding contact angle of greater than zero degree. The detachment of contaminants from the internal surface of the narrow diameter channel is produced by a sweeping of the internal surface of the narrow diameter channel with the three-phase contact lines of the surface flow entities, the cleaning medium is not predispersed in the gas before entering the channel, and less that 10% of the surface of the channel is covered by a contiguous annular film.

Method and composition for cleaning tubular systems employing moving three-phase contact lines

A method for cleaning interior surfaces of a header region of a hemodialyzer includes steps of: introducing an insertion device having an end portion and a shaft through a hemodialyzer plug port so that the end portion of the insertion device is within the header region; rotating the shaft at a speed sufficient to generate mechanical stresses for the removal of contaminants from interior surfaces of the header region; removing the insertion device from the header region; and rinsing and flushing away the removed contaminants from the header region. An apparatus and an insertion device for cleaning a header region of a hemodialyzer are disclosed.

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Plainfield, NJ, United States of America

Joseph J Murawski