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:
Oct. 19, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1998
Gary W Ferrell, Half Moon Bay, CA (US);
Thomas D Spencer, Milbrae, CA (US);
Rob E Carter, Arlington, MA (US);
Other;
Abstract
Methods for cleaning and/or drying objects that may have been wetted or contaminated in a manufacturing process. The objects are submerged in a rinse liquid in an enclosed chamber, and aerosol particles from a selected liquid are introduced into the chamber above the rinse liquid surface, forming a thin film on this surface. As the rinse liquid is slowly drained, some aerosol particles settle onto the exposed surfaces of the objects, and displace and remove rinse liquid residues from the exposed surfaces, possibly by a 'chemical squeegeeing' effect. Surface contaminants are also removed by this process which may be performed at about room temperature. Chamber pressure is maintained at or near the external environment pressure as the rinse liquid is drained from the chamber. Inert gas flow is employed to provide aerosol particles of smaller size and/or with greater dispersion within the chamber. Continuous filtering and shunt filtering are employed to remove most contaminants from the selected liquid. A flow deflector redirects initial flow of the selected liquid to a supplementary filter, to remove most of the contaminant particle 'spike' that appears when a system is first (re)activated. An improved surface for aerosol particle production is provided.