Apparatus and method for using a compressed air flow and a vacuum to clean surfaces

Abstract

The basic invention uses a positive air pressure port to loosen foreign objects into a cavity and a negative air pressure port to vacuum these objects from the cavity. The positive air pressure port can be used as a substitute for a mechanical beater brush. Removing the beater brush allows the weight of the housing unit to be reduced. The number of positive air pressure ports can be reduced to increase the exit velocity of the air flow out of a single port focusing the energy of the compressed air to a smaller area of the surface which loosens hard to remove foreign objects from the surface. A motor can be used to sweep a single positive air pressure port in a back and fort motion to automatically clean the surface. Finally, the housing unit can be made transparent to view the surface as it is being cleaned.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.