Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Processes – Hollow work – internal surface treatment
Patent
1998-10-02
2000-03-21
Coe, Philip R.
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Processes
Hollow work, internal surface treatment
134167R, 239227, B08B 302, B08B 912
Patent
active
060390565
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to machines for the inner cleaning of all kinds of hygienic rooms, whet rooms, fermenters, reactors, containers or all kinds of tanks meant for manufacturing, transport or storage of all kinds of goods such as nutritions, beverages, chemicals or oil products. The cleaning is performed by means of at least one nozzle spraying a jet of cleaning liquid against the inner surfaces. The movement of the nozzle is such that the impingement point of the jet systematically covers all the surfaces to be cleaned, by means of which method all the contamination is removed.
The aim of the invention is to optimize the cleaning process as much as possible, meaning that a more thorough cleaning is done in a much shorter time, using a much lower amount of energy and washing water.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Numerous publications of tank washing machines already exist. Usually these machines rotate homogeneously about a vertical axis, whilst the nozzles making homogeneous or oscillating movements about a horizontal axis. Mostly the machines are driven by a turbine or a motor. The movement pattern of the nozzles is determined by a set of mechanical parts. A serious disadvantage is these machines are spreading the cleaning fluid in all directions with approximately the same intensity. The furthest places being jetted under the sharpest impingement angle receive relatively the smallest amount of washing water. Sometimes it is necessary to give special attention to places with a more rigid kind of contamination, such as the rim of burn-yeast in brewery tanks. The bottle-neck in the cleaning of the tank depends on the places receiving the smallest amount of washing water and having the most rigid kind of pollution. Most of its operational time conventional machines are spraying washing water to places that were already cleaned.
In many cases sanitation first needs spreading of a concentrated cleaning or disinfection agent. After a certain soaking time this agent and the contamination can be removed using fresh water. Usually in these cases the room is cleaned manually. In principle the existing tank washing machines are capable of spreading these agents, in practice, however, the high flow rates and the long time necessary to reach a complete coverage result in needed quantities of cleaning agent being so high, that their use is normally not economical.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention exists of an apparatus (robot) and a method of working followed accurately by the robot. Only by the combination of machine and method it is possible to obtain the optimum cleaning result.
In essence the robot has two independently controlled drives, which makes that the rotations about the two axes are no longer mechanically coupled, but can be considered as robotic degrees of freedom. By customizing data processed by a computer program, the movement of the jet can be steered into any direction and, within certain limits, be controlled at any desired speed.
The method of the invention defines in what way the nozzle should be steered in order to obtain the optimum cleaning result. The method consists of a number of rules, leading to different washing patterns, depending on size and shape of the surfaces to be cleaned. A distinction is made between the case where a cleaning agent is being distributed over the surface and the case where the pollution is being washed away. Since the robot is capable of performing both tasks in the shortest possible time, the invention is an alternative for the conventional tank washing machines as well as for the manual cleaning method.
The invention intends the rotational movements, about a horizontal axis and about a vertical axis of one or more nozzles, to be determined by flexible electronic information in a computer program instead of by mechanical parts. The robot can be embodied in different ways, all characterized by an electronic control of jetting direction. A characterization is that the driving of the one or several nozzles involves two, preferably
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