Apparatus and method for cleaning a conduit
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsMing-Yi Lee, Ying-Hsiang Chen
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Abstract
The present invention discloses an apparatus and method for cleaning an exhaust conduit that has chemical substances deposited on its inside wall by utilizing a shaft that has a plurality of scraping elements mounted thereto capable of making vertically or radially oscillating motions inside the exhaust conduit such that the chemical substances can be dislodged from the inside wall and the exhaust conduit can be effectively cleaned. The apparatus may optionally include fluid nozzles provided in the shaft for dispensing a cleaning fluid during the cleaning process to further enhance the efficiency. The apparatus may further include a vacuum device for effectively removing the debris dislodged from the inside wall during such cleaning process.
Claims17
An apparatus for removing chemical substances deposited on an inside wall of a conduit in a cleaning process comprising:
- a movable shaft having an upper portion and a lower portion,
- a plurality of scraping elements attached to said upper portion of the shaft,
- drive means attached to said lower portion of the shaft for providing both vertical and circumferential motions of said shaft,
- a housing adapted for receiving said shaft and said plurality of scraping elements, and
- a controller for controlling said cleaning process by a plurality of scraping elements driven by said movable shaft to scrape said chemical substances deposited on the inside wall of said conduit.
An apparatus for cleaning an exhaust conduit in a cleaning process comprising:
- a shaft having an upper portion and a lower portion,
- a plurality of scraping elements attached to the upper portion of the shaft,
- a plurality of fluid nozzles provided ins aid upper portion of the shaft,
- drive means attached to the lower portion of the shaft for providing motions in the circumferential and vertical directions of said shaft,
- a housing for receiving said shaft and said plurality of scraping elements, and
- a controller for controlling said cleaning process by a plurality of scraping elements driven by said movable shaft to scrape said chemical substances deposited on the inside wall of said conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.