US 2007/0175496 A1Published application

Cleaning method with chemical agent and cleaning apparatus with chemical agent

AssigneeHitachi High-Technologies Corporation

InventorBRIAN RATTRAY

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus with chemical agent circulation is provided, in which the apparatus airlock resulted from the air intrusion into the circulating path caused by bubbles generated by the cleaning process can be prevented. When the chemical agent is discharged from the overflow tank, spiral vortexes may generate near the outlet depending on the liquid level. A liquid level detecting sensor is provided to detect that the liquid level has arrived at a position at which no spiral vortex is generated, which is slightly above the height of the liquid level. The chemical agent cleaning is performed when the chemical agent is stored in the overflow tank, so that no air bubbles is generated in the chemical agent discharged from the overflow tank or mixed into the spiral vortexes or sent to a side of the chemical agent storing tank.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A chemical agent cleaning method, in which a product is immersed into a chemical agent in a chemical agent rinse tank, the method comprising the following steps:

providing the chemical agent from a chemical agent storing tank to the chemical agent rinse tank, wherein the chemical agent storing tank is disposed in a position lower than that of the chemical agent rinse tank;
storing the chemical agent overflowed from the chemical agent rinse tank in an overflow tank temporarily;
and
refluxing the chemical agent from the overflow tank to the chemical agent storing tank at a time point when an amount of the chemical agent stored in the overflow tank arrives at a first setting value, which is at a position lower than the upper end portion of a wall of the overflow tank, and ceasing the chemical agent to reflux from the overflow tank to the chemical agent storing tank, and maintaining the chemical agent being stored in the overflow tank at a time point when the amount of the chemical agent stored in the overflow tank arrives at a second setting value due to the refluxing of the chemical agent, which is at a position lower than the first setting value.

1 more element

A chemical agent cleaning apparatus, in which a product is immersed into a chemical agent to be cleaned, comprising:

a chemical agent rinse tank, for storing a chemical agent for cleaning the product;
an overflow tank, for temporarily storing the chemical agent overflowed from the chemical agent rinse tank;
a chemical agent storing tank, disposed in a position lower than those of the chemical agent rinse tank and the overflow tank, for storing the chemical agent provided to the chemical agent rinse tank, and storing the chemical agent refluxed from the overflow tank;
a first detecting means, for detecting that the amount of the chemical agent stored in the overflow tank has reached a first setting value, which is at a position lower than the upper end portion of a wall of the overflow tank;
a second detecting means, for detecting that the amount of the chemical agent stored in the overflow tank has reached a second setting value, which is at a position lower than that of the first setting value;
a controlling means, for allowing the chemical agent to reflux from the overflow tank to the chemical agent storing tank according to a detection signal from the first detecting means, and allowing the chemical agent to stop refluxing from the overflow tank to the chemical agent storing tank according to a detection signal from the second detecting means, and maintaining the chemical agent being stored in the overflow tank.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.