Cleaning and liquid contact with solids – Apparatus – With movable means to cause fluid motion
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2003-11-11
Gulakowski, Randy (Department: 1746)
Cleaning and liquid contact with solids
Apparatus
With movable means to cause fluid motion
C134S001000, C134S001300, C134S12200P, C134S147000, C134S186000, C310S326000, C068S012030, C366S114000, C366S115000, C366S127000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06644327
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic cleaner for irradiating an object to be cleaned in a cleaning liquid with ultrasonic waves generated from an ultrasonic transducer and to a wet treatment nozzle comprising the same.
2. Related Art
Heretofore, an ultrasonic shower cleaner
450
as shown in
FIG. 21
has been used to clean liquid crystal panels and semiconductor wafers. In this ultrasonic shower cleaner
450
, a hollow portion
452
for storing a cleaning liquid S is formed in the inside of a housing
451
and a liquid feed port
453
for supplying the cleaning liquid S into the hollow portion
452
is formed in an upper portion of a side wall of the housing
451
as shown in the figure. A nozzle
454
for discharging the cleaning liquid S is formed in the lower portion of the housing
451
and an ultrasonic transducer
455
is installed on the top surface of the housing
451
. To clean an object P to be cleaned, this object P is caused to pass under the ultrasonic shower cleaner
450
and the cleaning liquid S is poured upon the surface of the object P by driving the ultrasonic transducer
455
by means of an unshown ultrasonic wave generator.
However, as the amount of the cleaning liquid is large in this cleaning method, a water-saving ultrasonic cleaner
460
shown in
FIG. 22
is conceivable. This ultrasonic cleaner
460
has a housing
461
whose center portion
461
a
is depressed and whose end portion
461
b
is formed like a visor, an ultrasonic transducer
462
is placed on the surface of the center portion of the housing
461
, and the object P passing through the cleaning liquid S under the housing
461
is irradiated with ultrasonic waves to be cleaned by vibrating the ultrasonic transducer
462
.
An ultrasonic cleaner
470
shown in
FIG. 23
is also conceivable though its cleaning method is similar to the above cleaning method. This ultrasonic cleaner
470
has a first housing
471
whose center portion
471
a
is depressed and whose end portion
471
b
around the center portion
471
a
is formed like a visor and a second housing
472
surrounding this first housing
471
, whose center portion
472
a
is depressed and whose end portion
472
b
around the center portion
472
a
is formed like a visor. A packing
473
is sandwiched between the end portions
471
b
and
472
b
of these housings
471
and
472
, and a hollow portion
474
is formed between the first housing
471
and the second housing
472
. Further, a liquid for preventing empty heating, such as water
475
, is filled in this hollow portion
474
and an ultrasonic transducer
476
is installed on the surface of the center portion of the first housing
471
so that the object P passing through the cleaning liquid S under the second housing
472
is irradiated with ultrasonic waves through water
475
in the hollow portion
474
to be cleaned by vibrating the ultrasonic transducer
476
.
In the case of the ultrasonic cleaner
460
shown in
FIG. 22
which is of a water-saving type, the vibration energy of the ultrasonic transducer
462
vibrates the bottom surface of the housing
461
and is radiated onto the object P through the cleaning liquid S. However, it also vibrates the wall surface of the housing
461
, resulting in the waste of energy.
In the case of the ultrasonic cleaner
470
shown in
FIG. 23
, the thickness of the packing slightly differs according to clamping force, whereby the thickness of the hollow portion
474
, that is, the depth of water filled in the hollow portion
474
differs. In this system that the object is irradiated with ultrasonic waves through water, sound pressure radiated from the sound wave radiation surface which is the bottom surface of the center portion of the second housing greatly changes according to variations in the depth of water from the relationship between the wavelength of an ultrasonic wave and the depth of water. In other words, the radiation sound pressure is greatly affected by the clamping force of the packing and lacks stability. When the depth of water is not appropriate and radiation sound pressure from the ultrasonic wave radiation surface is small, part of energy radiated from the ultrasonic transducer which is not used effectively may be used and wasted as energy for vibrating the wall surface of the second housing and may affect other devices by the vibration of the housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic cleaner which facilitates the control of ultrasonic wave radiation efficiency and a wet treatment nozzle comprising the same.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic cleaner which comprises a housing having an U-shaped cross section, an ultrasonic transducer placed on the inner surface of the U-shaped portion of the housing and a weight provided on the housing to prevent the vibration of the wall of the housing.
According to this constitution, ultrasonic energy is radiated efficiency from the bottom as ultrasonic waves without leaking to the wall.
The above weight may be placed on the inner wall surface or outer wall surface if it improves the rigidity of the housing. It may be placed on at least one of the outer wall surface and inner wall surface of the housing.
The above weight prevents energy from the ultrasonic transducer from escaping to the housing. If it is placed on the inner bottom surface where the ultrasonic transducer is installed, ultrasonic energy does not leak to the outside from the weight installation portion. Therefore, it may be placed on the inner bottom surface of the housing in an area where vibration caused by the ultrasonic transducer is not prevented.
The above weight may be formed by changing the thickness of the housing itself as means of improving the rigidity of the housing because the same function can be achieved by making the thickness of a predetermined portion larger than other portions.
Preferably, the above weight is provided on the entire surface of the wall of the housing to improve the rigidity of the housing and prevent energy from the ultrasonic transducer from propagating to the wall by shifting the characteristic frequency of the wall from the frequency of vibration input to prevent the resonance of the wall.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wet treatment nozzle which comprises an introduction passage for introducing a treatment liquid on one side, an exhaust passage for exhausting the treatment liquid after a wet treatment on the other side, and a vibration guide member for guiding the treatment liquid introduced from the introduction passage to an object to be treated and wet treating the object while vibrating it, wherein the vibration guide member is the above-mentioned ultrasonic cleaner.
With this nozzle, the treatment liquid can be supplied onto the surface to be treated and the used treatment liquid can be suitably exhausted through the exhaust passage, thereby making it possible to always treat the surface with a fresh treatment liquid and prevent the surface from being contaminated by the used treatment liquid again.
Since the treatment liquid is held in a space between the surface to be treated and the vibration guide member with pressure balance such as interfacial tension, the surface can be wet treated with the required minimum of the treatment liquid and ultrasonic vibration can be provided to the surface to be treated without fail.
Since the ultrasonic cleaner having the weight is used as the vibration guide member, ultrasonic energy required for a wet treatment is obtained and an extremely good treatment can be made with the required minimum of the treatment liquid.
This wet treatment nozzle is provided with pressure control means of controlling a difference between the pressure of the treatment liquid in contact with the object to be treated and atmospheric pressure to prevent the treatment liquid in contact with the object to be treated from flowing into a passage ot
Fujie Akio
Haga Nobuaki
Iwasaki Mineo
Kasama Yasuhiko
Mitsumori Ken'ichi
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Gulakowski Randy
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