Method and Apparatus for Using Steam in a Commercial Laundry Machine as an Environmentally-Friendly Replacement of Conventional Dry Cleaning or Wet Cleaning Processes

A commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine configured to use steam as a primary cleaning agent for garments, the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine comprising:

• a drum operatively connected to a front-loading door and a drum motor of the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine, wherein the drum is configured to rotate inside the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine by a rotational force provided by the drum motor;
• a first steam injector and a second steam injector at least partially exposed to an inner surface of the drum, wherein the first steam injector and the second steam injector are configured to provide a microcontroller (MCU)-controlled fresh steam injection into the drum during a cleaning cycle of the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine;
• a steam-in duct operatively connected to the first steam injector, the second steam injector, and an external water boiler system outside the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine, wherein the steam-induct is configured to carry fresh steam produced from the external boiler system outside the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine into the first steam injector and the second steam injector of the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine;
• a control panel operatively connected to the microcontroller (MCU) of the commercial steam-cleaning laundry machine, wherein the control panel enables a user to select, initiate, or halt a particular garment-cleaning program using steam as the primary cleaning agent;
• an air-in duct operatively connected to the drum, wherein the air-in duct is configured to bring fresh outside air continuously or periodically during an operation of the particular garment-cleaning program;
• a debris and clean steam/air separation chamber operatively connected to an outtake port inside the drum, wherein the debris and clean steam/air separation chamber is designed to separate, filter, and/or clean an incoming mixture of debris, steam, moisture, chemicals and/or air from the drum;
• and
• an air-out duct operatively connected to the debris and clean steam/air separation chamber, wherein the air-out duct is configured to evacuate filtered and/or cleaned steam, air, and/or condensed water from the debris and clean steam/air separation chamber.

A method for using steam in a steam-cleaning laundry machine, the method comprising:

• rotating a drum in a steam-cleaning laundry machine to provide dust filtering and loosening of garments;
• transmitting fresh steam from a standalone water boiler system used in a commercial laundry operation to the steam-cleaning laundry machine using a steam-in duct;
• injecting a predetermined amount of the fresh steam into the drum of the steam-cleaning laundry machine while the drum containing the garments continue to rotate, wherein the predetermined amount of the fresh steam is calculated by a particular garment cleaning program a user selected;
• adding detergent and/or fabric conditioner into the drum;
• circulating air into and out of the drum for each clean cycle periodically or continuously, wherein the step of circulating the air into and out of the drum also assists evacuation of moistures, chemicals, and/or debris from the drum;
• raising an internal temperature of the drum for a press-friendly preliminary drying of the garments;
• and
• continuing to rotate the drum in the steam-cleaning laundry machine until a last air circulation from the steam-cleaning laundry machine is complete.