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5,412,958 12 LIQUID/SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE/DRY CLEANING SYSTEM RELATED APPLICATIONS Thisisacontinuation-in-partofapplicationSer.No. 07/912,932, ?led Jul. 13, 1992, and now US. Pat. No. 5,267,455. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention generally relates to an energy ef?cient drycleaningsystemthatemployssupercriticalcarbon dioxide and that provides improved cleaning with de creasedredepositionofcontaminants,andreducesdam agetopolymersubstrates. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cleaningcontaminantsfrommetal,machinery,preci sionparts,andtextiles(drycleaning)usinghydrocarbon and halogenated solvents has been practiced for many years. Traditional dry cleaning machines operate typi cally as follows: a soiled garment isplaced into a cylin drical “basket” inside a cleaning chamber which is then sealed.A non-polarhydrocarbonsolventispumped into the chamber. The garment and solvent are mixed together by rotating the basket for the purpose of dis solving the soils and stains from the garment into the solvent, while the solvent is continuously ?ltered and recirculated in the chamber. After the cleaning cycle, 30 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning system in which an environmen tally safe non-polar solvent such as densi?ed carbon dioxide can be used for rapid and ef?cient cleaning, with decreased damage to solid components such as buttons and increased performance. It is another object of the present invention to pro vide a cleaning system with reduced redeposition of contaminants, that is adaptable to the incorporation of activecleaningmaterialsthatarenotnecessarilysoluble inthenon-polarsolvent. Yet another object is to provide a cleaning system that employs a rotatable inner drum designed to hold _most of the solvent is removed, ?ltered, and reused. Recently the environmental, health, and cost risks associated with this practice has become obvious. Car bon dioxide holds potential advantages among other phase gas where the phase is then shifted between the liquid state and the supercritical state by varying the temperature. The phase shifting is said to provide re moval of a variety of contaminants without the neces sityofutilizingdifferentsolvents. However,theproblemsofrelativelyslowprocessing, limited solvent power, and redeposition have seriously hindered the usefulness of carbon dioxide cleaning methods. Another particularly serious obstacle to commercial acceptabilityofdensegascleaningisthefactthatwhen certainsolidmaterials,suchaspolyesterbuttonson fabrics or polymer parts, are removed from a dense gas treatment they are liable to shatter or to be severely 15 misshapened.Thisproblemofsurfaceblisteringand cracking for buttons or other solids has prevented the commercial utilization of carbon dioxide cleaning for consumer clothing and electronic parts. non-polar solvents for this type of cleaning. It avoids manyoftheenvironmental,health,hazard,andcost35 thesubstrateduringcleaningandasysteminwhichthe problems associated with more common solvents. Liquid/Supercritical ?uid carbon dioxide has been suggested as an alternative to halocarbon solvents in cleaning?uidisrecycled. A stilfurtherobjectoftheinventionistoprovidea means for imparting a dense gas-soluble or dispersible adjuncts, such as means for scenting, to the substrate so removingorganicandinorganiccontaminantsfromthe surfacesofmetalpartsandincleaningfabrics.Forex 40 astoaestheticallyorcommerciallyimprovethesub ample, NASA Technical Brief MFA-296ll entitled “Cleaning With Supercritical CO2” (March 1979) dis cusses removal of oil and carbon tetrachloride residues frommetal.Inaddition,Maffei,US. Pat.No.4,012,194, issuedMar.15,1977,describesadrycleaningsystemin45 rotatabledrumadaptedforholdingthesubstrate,a which chilled liquid carbon dioxide is used to extract soils adhered to garments. Such methods suggested for cleaning fabrics with a dense gas such as carbon dioxide have tended to be restrictedinusefulnessbecausetheyhavebeenbasedon standard extraction processes where “clean” dense gas ispumped into a chamber containing the substrate and “dirty” dense gas is drained. This dilution process se verelyrestrictsthecleaningef?ciency,whichisneeded forquickprocessing. Anotherproblemwithattemptstousecarbondioxide in cleaning is the fact that the solvent power of dense carbon dioxide isnot high compared to ordinary liquid solvents. Thus, there have been attempts to overcome this solvent limitation. German Patent Application 3904514, published Aug. 23,1990,describesaprocessinwhichsupercritical?uid or ?uid mixture, which includes polar cleaning promot ersandsurfactants,may bepracticedforthecleaningor washingofclothingandtextiles. PCT/US89/04674,publishedJun.14,1990,describes aprocessforremovingtwoormorecontaminantsby contacting the contaminated substrate with a dense cleaning ?uid storage vessel, and a gas vaporizer vessel for recycling used cleaning ?uid. The drum ismagneti cally coupled to an electric motor so that it can be rotatedduringthecleaningprocess. The inventivesystemisparticularlysuitedforauto mation so that the system can be regulated by a micro processor. Moreover, automation permits increased energyefficiencyastheheatingandcoolingeffectasso ciated with CO2 gas condensation and expansion can be 55 exploitedtoheatandcoolvariouspartsofthesystem. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic ?ow sheet showing the system of the invention. FIG. 2 isa cross-sectional view of the cleaning vessel. FIG. 3 graphically illustrates temperature and pres sureconditionswithinahatched areainwhich cleaning is preferably carried out for reduced button damage. 65 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS strate. In one aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for cleaning contaminated substrates. The system includes a scalable cleaning vessel containing a A cleaningsystemthatcanuseasubstantiallynon polar?uidsuchasdensitiedcarbondioxide(CO1)asthePDF Image | LIQUID SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE DRY CLEANING SYSTEM
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