The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 19, 1989
Filed:
Sep. 08, 1987
John Asmus, La Jolla, CA (US);
Keith Boyer, Los Alamos, NM (US);
Maxwell Laboratories, Inc., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
As a method of decontaminating a surface covered with a chemical contaminant, a light-absorption agent providing a relatively high neutral density is applied to the surface in intimate contact with the contaminant. Then one or more flashes of high intensity, broad-band frequency, incoherent light is applied to the surface, whereupon, the light-absorption agent converts the absorbed light energy to heat, resulting in vaporization and/or decomposition of the contaminant. The heat generated by the short duration flash is localized at the material on the surface and at a very thin surface layer, and vaporization of the surface material dissipates the heat that is generated, whereby, the surface is substantially unaffected by the process.