System and method for quietly and efficiently cleaning and removing particles from a copier/printer machine

A. system for cleaning and removing particles from a printer comprising:

• a) a separator having an inlet, a cleaned gaseous stream outlet and a particles outlet, the separator being adapted to separate particles from a gaseous stream containing particles passed into the separator to produce a cleaned gaseous stream, the cleaned gaseous stream being recovered via the cleaned gaseous stream outlet, with particles being recovered via the particles outlet;
• b) a blower operable at varied speeds, in fluid communication with the separator cleaned gaseous stream outlet to withdraw the clean gaseous stream therefrom and create a vacuum suction at the separator inlet;
• c) a controller for control the blower at selected varied power levels;
• d) a vacuum system adapted to perform at least one of the functions of:
• drawing a gaseous stream containing particles from at least one location in the printer during normal operation into the separator inlet;
• drawing a gaseous stream from at least one location in the printer at a high rate during special cleaning from selected areas of the printer and into the separator;
• and,
• e) a switch adapted to select at least one of a first vacuum level supplied to the blower at a normal operation level and a second increased vacuum level during the special cleaning.

A method for removing particles from a printer machine, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) positioning a separator in the printer machine, the separator having an inlet, a cleaned gaseous stream outlet and a particles outlet, the separator being adapted to separate particles from a gaseous stream containing particles passed into the separator to produce a cleaned gaseous stream, the cleaned gaseous stream being recovered via the cleaned gaseous stream outlet, with particles being recovered via the particles outlet, the separator being in fluid communication with a vacuum system adapted to perform at least one of the functions of drawing a gaseous stream containing particles from at least one location in the printer machine during normal operation into the separator inlet;
• drawing a gaseous stream from at least one location in the printer machine at a high rate for special cleaning;
• b) providing a blower operable at varied speeds, in fluid communication with the separator cleaned gaseous stream outlet to withdraw the clean gaseous stream therefrom and create a vacuum suction at the separator inlet;
• c) operating the blower at a relatively low speed during normal operation;
• and,
• d) increasing the blower speed during at least one of the removal of particles during special cleaning.

A method for cleaning and removing particles from a printer machine, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) positioning a separator, having an inlet and a clean gaseous stream outlet, in the printer machine in fluid communication with a vacuum system and adapted to perform at least one of the functions of drawing a gaseous stream containing particles from at least one location in the printer machine during normal operation into the separator inlet;
• drawing a gaseous stream containing particles from at least one location in the printer machine at a high rate during a special cleaning mode and into the separator;
• b) a blower operable in fluid communication with the separator clean gaseous stream outlet to withdraw the clean gaseous stream from the separator and create a vacuum suction at the separator inlet;
• and,
• c) controlling the blower to operate in both normal and special cleaning modes.