Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Including use of vacuum – suction – or inert atmosphere
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-12
2003-02-11
Snider, Theresa T. (Department: 1744)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Including use of vacuum, suction, or inert atmosphere
C015S320000, C015S340100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06517639
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a method and a device for decontaminating interior spaces.
For decontaminating various items, in particular small items of equipment and clothing, as well as for decontaminating personnel and large items of equipment and areas of land, decontamination devices accommodated in containers or superstructures on transport vehicles are usually used. To allow decontamination to be carried out, it is necessary for tents to be erected, equipment to be converted and lines to be laid in order to set up a decontamination station. Small items of equipment and clothing as well as personnel to be decontaminated are then transported to the decontamination station, where they are decontaminated. A procedure of this type is known from DE 35 45 488 A1.
When the term decontamination is mentioned hereafter, it is to be understood as meaning not only the decontamination of radioactively contaminated items but also the decontamination of biologically contaminated items and the decontamination of chemically contaminated items.
The method mentioned at the beginning has been found to be particularly successful for decontaminating small items of equipment and personnel. For decontaminating interior spaces, however, it can be used only to a restricted extent, that is only if the interior spaces are in the direct vicinity of the decontamination station. If, for example, the interior spaces of helicopters, transport aircraft or vehicles are to be decontaminated, to do so it is necessary to set up the complete decontamination station alongside the interior space to be decontaminated. This entails an extremely high level of expenditure and in many cases is not feasible in practice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method by which the interior space of an item which cannot be brought to a decontamination station can be decontaminated in a simple way.
This object is achieved according to the invention in the case of a method of the type described at the beginning by providing a base station and at least one mobile subunit, the base station having a supply of decontamination agent and fuel for the subunit and the subunit having decontamination equipment and a tank for decontamination agent, by the subunit being supplied with decontamination agent and fuel at the base station and transported to the item with the interior space to be decontaminated, the decontamination of the interior space being carried out there and subsequently the subunit being returned to the base station to be re-supplied with decontamination agent and fuel. A method of this type makes it possible for example to set up a central decontamination station which serves as the base station and ensures that the mobile subunits are supplied with decontamination agent and the required fuel, in particular motor fuel. A mobile subunit can then be transported, preferably by a single operator, to an item requiring decontamination of its interior spaces, and the decontamination can be carried out by means of the subunit; the mobile subunit has the required decontamination equipment for this purpose. As explained below, the equipment in question may be, for example, a spray-extraction device, with which a decontamination solution or emulsion can be applied to the surface of the interior space, which is for example radioactively contaminated, and can subsequently be extracted again. For this purpose, in addition to a storage tank, the mobile subunit comprises a receiving tank for the used decontamination agent, which can then be emptied, for example pumped out, at the base station once the subunit has returned.
The invention is also based on the object of providing a device for decontaminating interior spaces, in particular for carrying out the method explained above.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a device for decontaminating interior spaces which comprises an off-road, automotive undercarriage with a drive motor, a storage tank for a decontamination liquid and a receiving tank for used decontamination liquid as well as a spray-extraction device for applying the decontamination liquid to an interior surface to be decontaminated and for taking up the used decontamination liquid from the surface and transferring the liquid into the receiving tank, and has a generator.
A device of this type forms a mobile subunit for the method described above. The required mobility is ensured by the use of the off-road automotive chassis. Used as decontamination equipment is a spray-extraction device, with the aid of which interior surfaces can be decontaminated. For this purpose, a decontamination liquid is sprayed onto the contaminated surface. The liquid is subsequently extracted again, together with the contamination, and transferred into a receiving tank disposed on the undercarriage. Once the device forming a mobile subunit has returned to the base station, for example a central decontamination station, the receiving tank can be emptied and the storage tank can be refilled with decontamination liquid.
The device according to the invention also comprises a generator for supplying power to the spray-extraction device.
It is advantageous if the device has at least one electrical connection element for the connection of electrically operated additional equipment, so that electrically operated additional equipment can be supplied with electrical power. For mounting the additional equipment, the device according to the invention preferably has corresponding mounting elements.
An example of additional equipment which may be provided for increasing the effectiveness of radioactive decontamination (A decontamination) is a wet-dry suction device, while an aerosol generator is advantageously used for biological decontamination (B decontamination), allowing a biologically effective aerosol to be sprayed. Furthermore, a steam-extraction device may be provided, so that decontamination can be carried out with minimal use of chemicals or even without any chemicals, just water vapor. In a way corresponding to the spray-extraction, in the steam-extraction the waste products occurring during decontamination, i.e. the contaminants, reaction products and condensed water vapor, are extracted again after application and fed into the receiving tank.
It is advantageous if the receiving tank comprises a suction-removal connection for the extraction of the used decontamination liquid. The emptying of the receiving tank at the base station can then be simplified considerably as a result.
For the deployment of the spray-extraction device, two tanks are provided on the undercarriage of the device, that is a storage tank for the ready-to-use decontamination liquid and a receiving tank for the used decontamination liquid, i.e. for the waste products from decontamination. To minimize the dimensions of the device according to the invention and consequently make it particularly easy to handle, it is provided in a preferred configuration that the storage tank and the receiving tank each form a chamber of a combined double tank, the two chambers being separated by means of a variable intermediate wall. The latter may be formed for example as a flexible membrane.
A configuration of this type results in a significant reduction in the required tank volume, since the storage tank can be completely filled with decontamination liquid at the beginning of deployment and the volume for the receiving tank can be reduced to a minimum on account of the flexible intermediate wall that is used. During the decontamination, the decontamination liquid is applied to the surface to be decontaminated, for example of the interior of a vehicle, by means of the spray-extraction device. At the same time, the waste products from decontamination, that is to say the used decontamination liquid contaminated with contaminants and reaction products, are extracted again and transferred into the receiving tank of the combined double tank. While the proportion of ready-to-use decontamination liquid decreases continuously, the proportion of us
Dratchnev Dimitri
Hellstern Ruediger
Kurz Roland
Reinhardt Ulli
Toepfer Hans-Joachim
Alfred Kaercher GmbH & Co.
Lipsitz Barry R.
McAllister Douglas M.
Snider Theresa T.
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