Abstract: An automatic control system is provided for acid concentration in an aluminum strip cleaning line wherein an aluminum strip is contacted with an acid solution while passing through an acid cleaning bath and the concentration of the acid in the bath is adjusted by adding either concentrated acid or water to the bath. A conductivity probe is provided in the acid bath and generates a first signal approximately proportional to the free acid concentration of the bath. An on-line process titrator periodically samples the acid bath and by a dual endpoint titration obtains the free acid concentration and total acid concentration of the bath and thereby generates a second signal indicative of the actual free acid concentration and the total acid concentration. These first and second signals are fed to a programmable logic controller, which based on the signal from the titrator calculates a correction factor for the signal from the conductivity probe to thereby obtain a corrected value for free acid concentration.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a mothod for preventing the formation of additional surface stains on destained steel sheet processed in a continuous pickle line operation.

Abstract: The pickling process of the present invention is designed for pickling electrical steel strip in a continuous fashion. It comprises at least one pickling tank equipped with at one sprayer designed to spray the top and bottom surfaces of a steel strip with a solution comprised of hydrogen peroxide prior to and/or after the strip is immersed in a solution contained in a pickling tank. Upon exiting the final pickling tank, the strip is brushed/scrubbed to loosen any residual scale to form a clean strip.

Abstract: A method of cleaning substrates is provided. Prior to, during or prior to and during a cleaning process, fluid is applied to a substrate surface to form a fluid film thereon. Ice crystals are introduced into the fluid film on the substrate surface. The ice crystals have a temperature that is lower than the temperature of the fluid such that the fluid changes the ice crystals into a gaseous state to form a pulse generated in the fluid film. The depth of penetration of the ice crystals into the fluid film is controlled such that the ice crystals do not strike the substrate surface. The substrate surface is cleaned with the pulse.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for pickling hot rolled, hot rolled & annealed, and cold rolled & annealed stainless steel strip in a continuous fashion. The process comprises a series of pre-pickling tanks and pickling tanks, and optionally includes a scrubber-brush tank, a de-smutting tank, a filtration unit and a heat exchanger.

Abstract: Systems and methods for prevention of condensation of ambient water vapor due to evaporation of frozen carbon dioxide particles used to clean data storage tapes. Various embodiments maintain conditions under which condensation cannot form in the ambient environment immediately surrounding a portion of a rigid surface on which the tape is maintained in thermodynamic contact and under tension (e.g., a metallic capstan around which the tape is wrapped).

Abstract: A system and process for removing unwanted fibers from a forming fabric during a wet papermaking process is disclosed. The system includes a scarfing shower configured to emit a cleaning fluid that contacts the forming fabric. In particular, the cleaning fluid tangentially contacts the forming fabric while the forming fabric is being guided around a turning roll. Preferably, the cleaning fluid is emitted in a direction that is opposite to the direction at which the forming fabric is moving.

Abstract: A composition and apparatus and method of using the composition for aqueous spray descaling or conditioning of scale or oxide on metal surfaces, especially stainless steel strip or the like, in one embodiment, although it can be used to descale or condition oxide or scale on other work pieces such as metal bar, or even discrete objects. An aqueous solution having a base composition of an alkali metal hydroxide, such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or a mixture of alkali metal hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide is used. The aqueous solution may contain certain additives to improve the descaling performance of the salt. In one embodiment, the solution is used to condition the scale or surface oxide on a strip of stainless steel. The strip of steel is at a temperature between the melting point of the alkali metal hydroxide in anhydrous form and a temperature at which the Leidenfrost effect appears.

Abstract: A method of applying a fluid to a brush is provided. The method includes outputting a flow of fluid from a shaft to an area between the shaft and a distributor where the flow of fluid is restricted by the distributor to generate a uniform pressure buildup inside of the distributor. The method further includes delivering the fluid from the area through at least one opening in the distributor to an outer surface of the distributor where the outer surface of the distributor abuts an inner surface of a housing. The method additionally includes dispensing the fluid from between the outer surface of the distributor and the inner surface of the housing to an outer surface of the housing through at least one perforation in the housing, the housing being attached to a brush. The method also includes applying the fluid through the brush where the fluid is received from the outer surface of the housing.

Abstract: An automatic control system is provided for acid concentration in an aluminum strip cleaning line wherein an aluminum strip is contacted with an acid solution while passing through an acid cleaning bath and the concentration of the acid in the bath is adjusted by adding either concentrated acid or water to the bath. A conductivity probe is provided in the acid bath and generates a first signal approximately proportional to the free acid concentration of the bath. An on-line process titrator periodically samples the acid bath and by a dual endpoint titration obtains the free acid concentration and total acid concentration of the bath and thereby generates a second signal indicative of the actual free acid concentration and the total acid concentration. These first and second signals are fed to a programmable logic controller, which based on the signal from the titrator calculates a correction factor for the signal from the conductivity probe to thereby obtain a corrected value for free acid concentration.

Abstract: An automatic system is used for controlling the cleaning stage of a strip cleaning line, e.g. an aluminum strip cleaning line. The cleaning line includes a chemical cleaning section and at least one rinse section, with cleaning solution being sprayed onto the top and bottom faces of the aluminum strip as it passes through the cleaning section. A programmable logic controller has a dwell time set point for each coil of aluminum strip, which gives for standard conditions of chemical concentration and temperature the time the strip should be exposed to the spray. The controller receives input signals based on the measured temperature and concentration of the cleaning solution and adjusts the dwell time of the cleaning solution spray on the aluminum strip accordingly.

Abstract: A wheel for a conveyor system for transporting semiconductor wafers includes a first section for supporting a semiconductor wafer at a first level and a second section for supporting the wafer at a second level, with the first level being higher than the second level. In one embodiment, each of the first and second sections is semicircular. The first level may be substantially the same as a level at which the wafer is subjected to a wafer cleaning operation, and the distance the second level is below the first level may be in a range from about one sixteenth of an inch to about three sixteenths of an inch. A conveyor system for transporting wafers and a method for transferring wafers from a conveyor system to a wafer processing station also are described.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for removing a first chemical from a web of filtration membrane material using a vacuum roller or other vacuum pressure application device. Embodiments of the method involve applying vacuum pressure to a surface of the membrane web, immersing said membrane web in a flushing chemical and removing the membrane web from the flushing chemical. Embodiments of the system may include one or more vacuum rollers, positioning rollers and a flushing chemical in which a portion of the membrane web may be immersed.

Abstract: A method of spraying a mist of cleaning fluid onto the record medium—e.g., motion picture film—and wiping it off, preferably with a soft material such as velvet. Then, the film is dried with air, including thin air jets to spread the liquid evenly, and heated, ionized air. The device has a closed housing and air in the housing is evacuated and sent to a still to recover much of the cleaning liquid and prevent its escape into the atmosphere.

Abstract: Process and equipment for pickling a metal strip, in particular a rolled strip, by means of a pickling plant, through which the metal strip passes and in which the metal strip is pickled using a pickling liquid, the pickling result being a function of pickling parameters. The pickling result is measured and at least one pickling parameter is automatically varied, as a function of the measurement of the pickling result, so as to improve the pickling result.

Abstract: Oxides on the surfaces of metal are reduced by directing reducing gases at them in a forceful and turbulent manner. In a preferred version, the gas is passed through at least two reducing zones designed to maintain a higher concentration of reducing gas in at least one of them than would be the case in a single reducing zone. The oxide-bearing surface is heated at the beginning of the process..

Abstract: Oxides on the surfaces of metal are reduced by directing reducing gases at them in a forceful and turbulent manner. In a preferred version, the gas is passed through at least two reducing zones designed to maintain a higher concentration of reducing gas in at least one of them than would be the case in a single reducing zone. The oxide-bearing surface is heated at the beginning of the process.

Abstract: Oxides on the surfaces of metal are reduced by directing reducing gases at them in a forceful and turbulent manner in an enclosure. The oxide-bearing surface is heated to at least 900 degrees F.

Abstract: An apparatus for spraying a liquid on the surface of assemblies that are moving through wash and rinse stations.

Abstract: A method for cleaning thin gauge metal foil strip material using a plurality of wiper (12, 16, 20) and solvent application (14, 18) stages. The solvent used in the solvent application stages is an aliphatic petroleum type which is applied using low pressure to avoid atomization or separation of solvent components. The wipers of a first wiping station are made of a solid bar of polymer impregnated fiber material. The wipers of the second wiping station are spaced apart blades of urethane-based elastomer material.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for evenly immersing a wafer in a solution held in a solution chamber, which comprises the following steps: (1) placing at least one disk-shaped wafer inside a wafer holder which is used for vertically holding at least one wafer, (2) immersing the wafer holder into the solution vertically so that each wafer in the wafer holder can be vertically immersed into and react with the solution, (3) vertically rotating the wafer holder in the solution so as to invert each wafer in the wafer holder upside down, and (4) removing the wafer holder from the solution vertically after immersing the wafer in the solution for a predetermined period of time.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for cleaning a transport belt of a machine for the production or processing a web. The apparatus includes at least one nozzle device composed of a rotatable nozzle head having at least one cleaning nozzle, a transport device including a crosspiece extending substantially crosswise to a transport belt travel direction, in which the at least one nozzle device is coupled to the transport device and adapted for displacement along the crosspiece. A traversing speed of the nozzle device is very low and falls within a range of between approximately 1 mm/min and 10 mm/min. Alternatively, the at least one nozzle is positionable in a plurality of cleaning positions that are successively arranged crosswise to the transport belt, and the at least one nozzle is held stationary in each respective cleaning position for a predefined time period.

Abstract: In a motion picture recording process, filming defects are reduced by enabling the collection of particles generated over time on a film, just before the exposure of the film in the recording motion-picture camera.

Abstract: A cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method for cleaning an object are provided. In the cleaning apparatus, a drying chamber 42 and a cleaning bath 41 are separated from each other up and down, respectively. Thus, a space in the drying chamber 42 can be insulated from a space of the cleaning bath 41 through rotary doors 59a and a slide door 72. In the cleaning method, a cleaning process in the cleaning bath 41 is carried out while sealing it by the rotary doors 59a. On the other hand, a drying process in the drying chamber 42 is accomplished while sealing and closing it by the slide door 72. Consequently, there is no possibility that, during the drying process, the object is subjected to a bad influence from a chemical treatment.

Abstract: A method of removing organic impurities from a surface of a substrate that is used for feeding or processing web material, wherein a jet of an atmospheric plasma is directed onto the surface of the substrate.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for cleaning a moving surface, for example a roller, wire or conveyor belt. The surface is cleaned by a doctor blade having several separate blades which move in a direction transverse to the surface to be cleaned so that the blades can be serviced and repaired during operation of the moving surface.

Abstract: Cold-reduced flat-rolled low carbon steel strip is surface cleansed of ferromagnetic contaminants including iron fines, iron oxide particulate and associated debris which result from gauge-reduction operations. Such ferromagnetic contaminants are permanently removed from the strip steel hot-dip galvanizing system by dynamically concentrating such contaminant which are flushed to a magnetically-assisted particle separation container, formed from paramagnetic sheet material, which retains such contaminants, while cleansing solution at a desired purity level, is returned to the surface cleansing system; with sedimentation tank means providing for diminishing waste disposal concerns by separating sludge and recycling liquid.

Abstract: Guide rollers in a web-fed rotary printing press are cleaned by a web of material that is provided with signal information, such as a bar code or a punch code. The retrievable signal information is used by one or more signal reading devices that are used to apply cleaning agent to the web and to create a speed differential between the guide roller and the material web.

Abstract: A method for cleaning an object to be processed in which the atmosphere in a drying chamber is replaced by an inert gas prior to placing an object to be cleaned from an external environment into the chamber. The object is then transported by an elongated retaining member from the drying chamber through a lower opening in the chamber into a processing bath disposed below the chamber. The object is then cleaned in the processing bath. The object is then transported from the processing bath to the drying chamber where it is dried by filling the atmosphere of the drying chamber with organic solvent. The cleaning process in the cleaning bath is carried out while the bath is screened by a nitrogen-gas curtain. The method also includes opening a lid of the chamber prior to insertion of the object into the chamber and closing the lid after insertion of the object, as well as the opening and closing of the lower opening in the chamber.

Abstract: A method of operating a counterflow cascade washer for wet-chemical treatment of a surface of a metal strip and including branching a portion of a water flow, which circulates through a rinsing water circuit associated with each of the washer units off in form of a bypass stream, and feeding the bypass stream to a washer unit located immediately upstream of respective washer unit, and an apparatus for effecting the method.

Abstract: The wet treatment liquid feed nozzle of the invention comprises an introducing path 10 having an introducing port 7, a discharging path 12 having a discharging port 15, a crossing section 14 formed by causing the introducing path 10 and the discharging path 12 to cross at the other ends thereof, a nozzle assembly 50 having an opening section 6 opening to an object to be treated 1, provided at the crossing section 14, and pressure control means 13, for controlling the difference between the pressure of the wet treatment liquid in contact with the object to be treated 1 and the atmospheric pressure provided at least on the discharging path 12 side so that the wet treatment liquid having been in contact with the object to be treated 1 via the opening section 6 does not flow to outside the discharging path 12.

Abstract: Rolls of a strip line are cleaned by directing jets of a cleaning liquid thereagainst from nozzles which are mounted so that their distances from the roll to be cleaned can be set or controlled.

Abstract: The invention includes compositions and methods for sanitizing ware without staining, spotting or corroding. In its most preferred mode, the method comprises the steps of washing the ware in an automated ware washing machine and rinsing the ware at either high or low temperatures with a sanitizing rinse composition. The destaining, sanitizing concentrate composition preferably comprises peroxyacetic acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide using higher levels of acetic and peroxyacetic acid and a lower level of hydrogen peroxide. The sanitizing rinse composition may preferably be used at a concentration of peroxyacetic acid of at least 30 ppm.

Abstract: A method of cleaning an embossing roll used in an embossing process. The method includes steps of passing a paper web between a pair of embossing rolls and preventing or cleaning deposits from the surface of at least one embossing roll. Pressurized air is forced through an air nozzle having an elongated narrow outlet that directs the pressurized air as an air knife against the patterned surface of the embossing roll after the patterned surface rotates out of contact with the web. The air knife extends an embossing width of the embossing roll. A lubricant or solvent may be mixed with the pressurized air.

Abstract: An image forming material formed on a paper sheet and containing a color former, a developer and a decolorizer, is decolored by heating of the image forming material, contacting the image forming material with a solvent optionally containing a decolorizer, and removing a residual solvent from the paper sheet.

Abstract: Oxides on the surfaces of metal are reduced by directing reducing gases at them in a forceful and turbulent manner in an enclosure. The oxide-bearing surface is heated to at least 900 degrees F.

Abstract: In high speed strip pickling and other treatment such as rinsing and cleaning, the acid or other liquid treating medium tends to be carried along with the strip, which reduces the efficiency of contact of the acid with the strip. The invention addresses this problem by providing a segmented bath, each segment having a deflector over the strip to cause a flow reversal of the acid, which is then guided by an inclined separator panel to the upstream end of the segment and deposited again on the strip. The exit of the segment also includes a constriction to cause the acid to accelerate, creating turbulence, and, on the exit side of the constriction, causing a decrease in pressure, whereby acid is drawn down from above the separator panel, which in turn assists the circulation of acid through the flow reversal.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for removing material from an elongated member having known dimensions and traveling through known air densities, in which applied compressed air removes the material from the elongated member in a chamber configured to optimize the decompression and acceleration of the air.

Abstract: Cold-reduced flat-rolled low carbon steel strip is surface cleansed of iron fines, iron oxide particulate and associated debris which result from cold-reduction operations. Such ferromagnetic contaminants are permanently separated from the strip steel production and finishing system by continuous regenerative processing of alkali cleansing solution, in which contaminants are continuously filtered and concentrated and are flushed from a continuous-flow filtering apparatus for magnetically-assisted separation of such contaminants which are retained for complete and permanent disposal from the system, providing uniform cleansing solution, on a continuing basis, free of large-volume periodic dumping of contaminated solution, and free of interruption of operations for surface cleansing purposes.

Abstract: In high speed strip pickling and other treatment such as rinsing and cleaning, the acid or other liquid treating medium tends to be carried along with the strip, which reduces the efficiency of contact of the acid with the strip. The invention addresses this problem by providing a segmented bath, each segment having a deflector over the strip to cause a flow reversal of the acid, which is then guided by an inclined separator panel to the upstream end of the segment and deposited again on the strip. The exit of the segment also includes a constriction to cause the acid to accelerate, creating turbulence, and, on the exit side of the constriction, causing a decrease in pressure, whereby acid is drawn down from above the separator panel, which in turn assists the circulation of acid through the flow reversal.

Abstract: The invention includes compositions and methods for sanitizing ware without staining or spotting. In its most preferred mode, the method comprises the steps of washing the ware in an automated ware washing machine and rinsing the ware at either high or low temperatures with a sanitizing rinse composition. The destaining, sanitizing concentrate composition preferably comprises peroxy acetic acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide. The sanitizing rinse composition may preferably be used at a concentration ranging from about 600 ppm to 4000 ppm.

Abstract: A heated high pressure air and/or a high pressure water are spouted through nozzles. Therefore, the coated layer is removed without crushing the bumper unlike in the conventional method, and therefore, a plurality of process steps can be skipped. Thus the bulk of the apparatus can be reduced, the operating cost can be lowered, and the environment can be protected. The method for removing a coated layer includes the step of installing a bumper to be subjected to a removal of the coated layer. Then the coated layer is removed from the bumper by spouting water and/or a pre-heated air to the bumper. Then the bumper is carried to a predetermined psition after removing the coated layer, and then the bumper is detached. The apparatus includes an installing/detaching means for installing/detaching the bumper to be subjected to a removal of the coated layer.

Abstract: For cleaning a wafer by a cleaning apparatus, a cleaning liquid is contained in a cleaning bath. Leaving two brushes open, the wafer is inserted to the cleaning bath, placed on oscillation and rotation rollers and retained by the rollers. The brushes are closed and the wafer is held by the brushes. Next, the two brushes are rotated while the wafer is oscillated and rotated by the rollers and so on. Furthermore, ultrasonic vibrations are applied to the cleaning liquid in the cleaning bath by an ultrasonic generator. Scrub cleaning with the two brushes and ultrasonic cleaning by ultrasonic vibrations are thereby performed on the wafer.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for pickling the surface of stainless steel strip feeds the stainless steel strip through a plurality of pickling tanks containing a hydrochloric acid pickling acid. The pickling acid bath is maintained at a temperature of at least about 40° C. An oxidizing agent is added to the acid solution in an amount to maintain at least about one third and preferably at least about half of the soluble iron in the form of ferric chloride based on the total amount of iron in the acid solution.

Abstract: An apparatus having a processing chamber for processing a semiconductor wafer under evacuated conditions that is capable of transfer of the wafer from the processing chamber under conditions that are substantially equal to the pressure of an adjacent environment. In a preferred embodiment, the processing chamber is pressurized and vented with a source of high purity dry gas that is diffused into the chamber through a diffuser to pressurize the processing chamber after processing of the wafer is completed. A chamber equalization port between the processing chamber and the adjacent environment is opened to maintain the pressure within the chamber at or slightly above the pressure of the adjacent environment, and the chamber valve is then opened. The wafer can then be removed from the processing chamber, and a new wafer can be inserted. The chamber is then sealed by closing the chamber valve and the equalization port, and the atmosphere within the processing chamber is evacuated to a desired level.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for removing dust from a base film effectively so that electrostatic charges of the base film are reduced while the cleaning effect is kept high. After a cleaning solvent is applied onto one surface of a base film by a precoater, a rod member is pressed against the base film while the cleaning solvent remains on the base film, so that deposits on the base film are separated and scraped together with the cleaning solvent from the base film by the rod member. Just after the deposits are scraped from the base member, a solvent, of the same kind as the cleaning solvent or a mixture of a solvent of the same kind as the cleaning solvent and an additive mixed thereto, is applied onto the base film while the surface of the base film coated with the cleaning solvent is not exposed to an atmospheric air space.

Abstract: A method for washing rod elements used in reactor pressure vessels with a fluid that includes the steps of (a) moving the rod elements from a pressure vessel through an open centered frame; (b) during the performance of step (a), impinging at least one fluid under pressure on the rod elements from at least one outflow orifice on the frame; and (c) simultaneously with the performance of step (b), withdrawing the fluid impinged upon the rod elements during step (b) under suction at at least one suction extraction orifice on the frame at a location peripherally spaced from the outflow orifices.

Abstract: A method of cleaning a web of photo film during manufacturing, wherein the web of photo film is transported in its lengthwise direction, and a cleaning tape made of felt is pressed onto an entire area or a side portion of a surface of the photo film or a side edge of the photo film, while the photo film and the cleaning tape are transported in opposite directions.

Abstract: Oxides on the surfaces of metal are reduced by directing reducing gases at them in a forceful and turbulent manner in an enclosure. The oxide-bearing surface is heated to at least 900 degrees F.

Abstract: In the invention pickling process, steel and nickel or chromium alloys are pickled with an acidic pickling solution employing an oxidant, particularly hydrogen peroxide, and in which liquor is recirculated through inlets comprising a nozzle feeding liquor into a diffuser such that liquor is withdrawn from the bath and the volume of liquor flowing through the diffuser is a multiple of flow through the nozzle. Steel or the alloys are pickled with an acidic solution containing iron and free hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of up to 0.1 gpl. The process can operate effectively at a free fluoride concentration of from 20 to 30 gpl and a sulphuric acid concentration of from 80 to 110 gpl. The lifetime of the bath before it needs to be replaced can be lengthened by the process compared with using an air agitation system.