Patent Grant
10081906
This invention relates to a method of washing carpets and a carpet washing service by using a transportable carpet washing equipment capable of washing and drying a carpet fast enough to avoid a need for replacement carpets.
Known mechanical carpet washing apparatuses generally comprise a wet or dry cleaning apparatus, water rinsing apparatus, and a separate drying apparatus. The separate drying apparatus is, for example, a tumble drier. In addition, from the state of the art there is also known carpet washing apparatuses, which also include a drying unit. In this case the washing step is however; performed as dry cleaning because drying the carpet with the known methods to reach sufficiently low moisture sufficiently fast is impossible. Such carpet washing apparatuses known from the state of the art are without exception located in stationary carpet laundries, which cannot be moved from one place to another.
With the above stated state of the art as the starting point, the inventor's first objective was to achieve equipment for washing carpets, which equipment can be used both in wet and dry cleaning for a continuous cleaning of carpets so that the washing, rinsing and drying of the carpet would be done with the same equipment. A second objective of the invention was to achieve equipment, which can be effortlessly moved from one place to another. The third objective was to provide an equipment that is capable of washing and drying a carpet fast enough to enable a carpet washing service where customer's carpet is washed and dried while waiting.
In the equipment of this disclosure the same frame includes a conveyor for transferring the carpet between the washing and drying units of the equipment, a control unit for controlling the operation of the equipment, at least one washing unit and at least one drying unit located after the washing unit/units in the transport direction, and means for receiving production goods to the equipment. In the equipment, the conveyor can move the carpet from a first feeding end through the washing and drying units to the second delivery end of the equipment at the same speed. The washing unit comprises at least one wet cleaning unit and additionally may comprise a dry cleaning unit. Said washing unit comprises also at least one brush and means for moving the carpet (M).
Each drying unit contains at least one blowing apparatus blowing compressed air onto the carpet, the blowing apparatus being able to blow compressed air with a pressure of 2-15 bars, preferably 2-6 bars onto the pile side of the carpet (M), the blowing pressure being dependent on the carpet type and/or carpet's transfer speed at the drying station of the drying unit; and with the drying equipment it is possible to blow such an amount of compressed air onto the carpet that the carpet exits from the drying station tack free. When the equipment is located in a vehicle a water aggregate may be provided for receiving water from outside and with a machine unit having means for receiving operating energy and means for converting the received operating energy into medium pressure and volume flow for the medium needed by the equipment, into heating energy for the water to be used in the equipment, and into electric energy needed by the units in the equipment. In addition, the underside of the carpet to be washed with the equipment is so air proof that the air flow blown onto the carpet bounces essentially back from the carpet's underside. Importantly, the system allows moving the carpet at a constant speed from the first feeding end to the second end through the washing unit where the rolling brush brushes the pile side underneath the water level and through the drying unit where the blowing device blows compressed air on the pile side of the carpet at a constant speed that is fast enough to enable the washing and drying within a time period short enough to wash and dry the carpet while waiting and thus avoiding need of a replacement carpet.
The method of the invention for washing a carpet using the equipment of the invention comprises the following steps:
The invention is based on several matters. Even if the equipment of this invention may be used stationary, in the preferred embodiment the carpet washing equipment is transportable and is placed in a vehicle for moving the equipment from one place to another. For a fast carpet cleaning service the carpets are washed and dried in situ, at the customer's location so that the carpets are fetched from the customer and returned back almost immediately without moving them to be washed elsewhere or without intermediate storage. Thus, the customer gets the same carpet back immediately after the washing process, and there is no need for intermediate storage or replacement or temporary carpets.
For achieving the objectives above, the equipment is placed into a vehicle so that the water circulation of the equipment is closed and the equipment is made self-sufficient in relation to production goods. This means that no production goods are brought into the equipment when the continuous carpet washing process is in operation.
The equipment is arranged to be continuously operating so that the carpet can be received from the customer and the same carpet can be returned back almost immediately. This also means that the carpets need not to be kept in an intermediate storage for giving the customer a temporary replacement carpet for the time of washing. In order to make the carpet washing functions continuously operating, the carpet is first washed using wet cleaning, and the water remaining in the carpet after the washing is removed by blowing moisture and water off from the carpet piles. In order to make the drying transaction sufficiently efficient, first, drying means is used in the drying unit of the equipment of the invention for removing water and moisture from the surface of the carpet's pile side by blowing onto it a large amount (e.g. 10 m3/min) of high pressure air (2-15 bars, preferably 2-6 bars). Secondly, only carpets with an air proof underside are washed with the equipment of the invention so that the air flow bounces back from carpet's the air proof underside, intensifying further the drying unit's effect for removing moisture from the carpet. The bouncing is possible when the air is blown on the carpet pile side with air blowers directing the air on to the carpet piles in an angle of 40-50 degrees, preferably in an angle of 45 degrees against the moving direction of the carpet. This means that the mean angle of incident of air to be blown onto the carpet and plane of said carpet is 35-55 degrees depending on the quality of carpet's pile, such as pile length, material, etc.
The equipment is self-sufficient in relation to production goods so that the equipment has its own energy generating unit, which is adapted to be fitted to the operating energy source, such as a vehicle's diesel motor. The equipment further has conversion means for converting the operating energy taken from outside into production goods needed by the carpet washing equipment, i.e. into pressure and volume flow for the medium, such as air, electric energy, and heating energy. No other production goods besides operating energy need advantageously be brought to the equipment from outside, the operating energy achieving by means of a hydraulic pump a certain volume flow and pressure to the hydraulic liquid circulating in the equipment.
Production goods refer here to any energy form needed by the units of the equipment or volume flow and pressure of a medium, such as air or liquid.
A tack free carpet refers in this application to that the carpet can be moved along a hard base, such as a plastic or wooden floor without it leaving visible moisture onto the base. The moisture content of a tack free carpet is at most 10-20 w-%.
An intermediate storage refers in this application to storage, which is located outside the vehicle in which the carpet washing equipment of the present invention is located. Intermediate storing again refers to storing in an intermediate storage.
A transportable carpet washing equipment refers to equipment that is capable of being transported.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention the equipment is placed onto a base in a vehicle, and it is provided with a hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pump is used for taking energy from the vehicle to achieve a volume flow and pressure for hydraulic liquid. The flow and pressure of the hydraulic liquid is used for generating compressed air, heating energy and electric energy by means of suitable devices, such as an electric generator, compressor, and compressor cooler driven by hydraulic motors. The pumping energy needed by the hydraulic pump is advantageously obtained by the vehicle's own motor, such as diesel motor. This achieves the advantage that the equipment and base are formed as an independent entity, inside which it is possible to convert the energy brought onto the base into other energy forms, such as pressure and volume flow in the hydraulic liquid or compressed air, heating energy and electric energy. The base is, for example, a container or body of a vehicle.
Further, in one embodiment of the invention the equipment has closed water circulation, which contains a water tank for water, pipework for leading water from the fresh water tank into a rinsing unit/units, pipework for leading water from the water tank into a washing unit/units, pipework for leading the water used in the rinsing unit/units and washing unit/units into a grey water tank, and means for heating the water used in the rinsing unit/units and washing unit/units. The water circulation is closed so that both the volume of the fresh water tank and the volume of the grey water tank are such that a certain number of carpets can be washed with the equipment without bringing fresh water into the equipment and/or removing sewage from the equipment.
Drying of the carpet is based mainly on quick blowing of moisture or water from the carpet's pile rather than on the slow evaporation of water by means of outside heating energy. For this reason when carpets with an essentially air proof underside are taken through the equipment, it is possible to perform the washing, rinsing and drying steps at a constant speed without slowing the process at the drying phase. This again enables a continuous carpet washing and drying process. Because the equipment is placed onto a base located in a vehicle, into which it is not necessary to bring other production goods from outside besides (the pump's) operating energy and possibly water, the equipment can be easily moved from one place to another, for example, in a vehicle's container or truck's body.
The drying unit consists advantageously of an apparatus, which advantageously uses the so-called coanda principle so that the amount of compressed air blown with the blower itself is approximately 1/30- 1/40 of the total amount of air arriving at the carpet. The high pressure, relatively narrow air jet achieved by the apparatus absorbs a 30 to 40-fold amount of secondary additional air from the environment in relation to the amount of primary compressed air blown from the equipment before the whole air mass comes onto the carpet surface. Thus the equipment generates a considerably large amount of blown air with a small power consumption of the equipment. Because the apparatus takes a significant amount of additional air from space surrounding the drying unit it is important to keep this space open.
The distance between the head of air blower and the level of the carpet's pile free, upper end should be very short, preferably 2-15 mm. In case the blower is set in a vehicle the distance should be 2-10 mm and in case the blower is set up in a stationary carpet laundry with higher energy supply, the distance may be 2 to 25 mm.
An essentially air proof carpet underside refers to a carpet, which generally lets very little air through the underside. Examples of commonly used underside materials are rubber, neoprene, vinyl, and latex. However, the underside may have places that are less tight than the rest of the underside, such as more worn places, which let through more air.
An advantage of the fast air drying unit used in the apparatus is thus that although the pile side of the carpet is brushed in the washing unit below the water surface (wet cleaning), the carpet can be made so dry (tack free) with the said drying unit that it is possible to transfer the carpet through the washing, rinsing and drying units at the same speed. In this case the washing, rinsing and drying of the carpet can be performed continuously for several successive carpets.
In one embodiment of the invention the drying unit consists of two or several longitudinal air blowers, which are situated sequentially in the longitudinal direction, transverse to the transport direction of the carpet. The advantage of such a drying unit is that the width of the air jet coming from the blower can be adjusted to be equivalent to the width of the carpet travelling through the equipment.
In another embodiment of the invention the equipment comprises several drying units and/or rinsing units and/or washing units located sequentially in the transport direction of the carpet. In addition, counter-clockwise to the transport direction of the carpet there may be located one or several brushes or suction devices before the washing unit/washing units for dry brushing or vacuuming the carpet before it arrives at the washing unit/washing units.
In another embodiment of the invention the carpet rinsing station with a rinsing unit is located in relation to the wash basin so that rinsing water travels by gravity from the rinsing station to the wash basin. Thus the advantage is achieved that rinsing water can also be used as carpet washing water, which reduces the amount of fresh replacement water needed in the water circulation.
Still in another embodiment of the invention the carpet rolling unit is located after the drying unit.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for an in situ carpet washing service, said service comprising the steps of:
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for washing and drying a carpet, said method comprising the steps of:
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method to dry a previously washed wet carpet tack free within less than 5 minutes, said carpet having an air tight lower side and an upper pile side, said method comprising the steps of:
The invention is illustrated with the following figures.
The main parts of the washing and drying equipment 1 are illustrated in
In
The main parts of the water circulation 500 seen in
The conversion of the operating energy 1000a brought to the hydraulic pump 15 of the equipment from the diesel motor into medium (air) pressure and volume flow 200, electric energy 300 and thermal energy 400 can be seen in
In the equipment 1 of the invention the conveyor 3 is used for transporting and supporting the carpet M during transport. The conveyor 3 consists of an endless belt 32 and support rolls 31 moving and supporting the belt. The conveyor belt 32 is preferably a meshed wire belt or mesh-structured plastics to enable the water going through the belt. The width of the belt 32 is approximately the same as the width of the frame 10 and the wash basin in the transverse direction of the equipment. The endless belt 32 is moved in the roll nip between the support rolls 31 in the support roll pairs 30 in the direction of the arrow K. At the first end 10; 10a of the frame, in front of which there is located the feed unit 8, the carpet M is fed onto the belt 32 of the conveyor 3. From the first end 10; 10a the belt is moved to the vicinity of the bottom of the wash basin 40 and further to the rinsing station 61 at the upper edge of the wash basin and to the drying station 21. From the drying station the endless belt 32 is transported to the second end 10; 10b of the frame, where the rolling unit 7 is located. From the second end 10b of the frame 10 the endless belt 32 is then circulated back to the first end 10a of the frame 10.
The washing unit 4 consists of the wash basin 40 embedded in the frame 10 and of the brush 41 placed in the vicinity of the wash basin bottom and rotating round its longitudinal axis of rotation, and of the longitudinal cylindrical support rolls 31; 31′, 31″ located on both sides of the brush and belonging to the conveyor 3. Both the brush 41 and the support rolls 31 extend in the transverse direction from the first longitudinal side of the basin 40 to the second longitudinal side. The longitudinal sides of the basin 40 refer to the sides of the basin, which are parallel with the transport direction K of the carpet. The transverse direction of the basin 40 refers to the transport direction K indicated by an arrow and, at the same time, to the transverse direction of the equipment frame 10 in relation to the vertical axis. In
In the transport direction K of the carpet M indicated by an arrow, the rinsing unit 6 is located next after the washing unit 4. The rinsing unit 6 has a longitudinal injector 60 which is located transverse in relation to the longitudinal direction of the frame 10 and/or the conveyor belt 32 and extending from the first longitudinal side to the second longitudinal side, it being able to achieve a transverse water curtain in relation to the transport direction K. Such a device is, for example, a jet bar with holes in the lower part or a device, which consists of successive jet nozzles. Longitudinal sides of the frame 10 or the conveyor belt 32 refer to sides, which are parallel with the transport direction K of the carpet M. Rinsing water is fed by the injector 60 to the rinsing station 61 located perpendicularly below the device 60, the carpet M being moved through the rinsing station at a certain speed. The rinsing station 61 is located in the upper part of the wash basin 40 higher than the washing unit 4, because of which water travels from the rinsing station 61 to the washing unit 4 by means of gravity.
The drying unit 2 is located after the rinsing unit 6 in the transport direction K of the carpet M. The drying unit 2 has a two-part air blowing device 20 (cf.
High pressure air is blown through the very thin air slot at the head of the air knife 20 and exactly as a parallel thin laminar jet to the drying station 21 below the air knife 20. The breadth of the air slot at the air blower head is only, 0.5-1.5 mm to keep the air jet laminar.
The high pressure air travelling through the air knife head takes along from the open environment approximately 30 to 40-fold amount of air in relation to the amount of air blown through the head of the air knife 20. The amount of air taken along by the air flow travelling through the head of the air knife 20 depends directly on the distance of the air knife head and the carpet M in the drying station 21. Thus, for example, if the distance of the air knife head and free end of carpet's pile in the drying station 21 is 2 mm, the jet is 51 mm thick when arriving onto the carpet. If again the distance of the air knife head and the carpet in the drying station 21 is 10 mm the jet is 102 mm thick when arriving onto the carpet. When the carpet M provided with an air proof underside is transported pile side up through the drying station 21, the water removing effect of the air knife 20 is intensified further, because the air flow blown onto the carpet pile bounces back from the air proof underside of the carpet, simultaneously removing more water from the pile. A suitable blowing capacity for compressed air by the blower 20 is 2-6 bars, and the amount of air blown from the end of the blower 20 is 5-15 m3 air per minute. The pressure and amount of blown air is dimensioned on the basis of the type of the carpet M and the carpet's transfer speed through the drying station 21. However, generally the blowing capacity of 2-12 bars is used, and most preferably the blowing capacity of 2-6 bars. With the drying unit 2 it is the intention to dry the carpet approximately tack-free, i.e. to the moisture of approximately 1-20 w-%, preferably to 10-15 w-%, when the carpet can be transported through the carpet drying station 21 as fast as it is transported through the rinsing and washing units.
After the drying unit 2 in the transport direction K of the carpet, the rolling unit 7 is seen in
The equipment 1 of the invention comprises further the control unit 5, which has been shown diagrammatically in
In
The exemplary hydraulic machine unit 100 illustrated in
The respective pipework sections 17b and 17c lead to the hydraulic motor 400a for the compressor cooler and to the generator's hydraulic motor 300a. The pipework sections 17c and 17b have the corresponding control circuits 12; 12′ and 12; 12″, which are used for adjusting the volume flow and pressure of the hydraulic liquid arriving at the compressor cooler's hydraulic motor 400a and the generator's hydraulic motor 300a from the pipework sections 17b and 17c. The control circuits 12; 12′ and 12; 12″ have similar flow control elements, which consist of the valve 12a switching the flow on and off, the pressure relief valve 12b, and the volume flow relief valve 12c. The flows discharging from the compressor's hydraulic motor 200a, compressor cooler's hydraulic motor 400a, and electric generator's hydraulic motor 300a join the same pipework section 17e, which leads back to the tank 19 on the suction side of the hydraulic pump 15. Before arriving at the tank 19, the liquid flowing in the pipework section 17e is cooled with the cooler 13. In addition, the pipework section 17e has the pressure relief valve 18; 18c and the counter valve 18; 18b restricting the direction of flow.
The water circulation 500 used in the equipment 1 of the invention has the water pipework 50, the fresh water tank 510 with the water aggregate 510a for receiving water from outside the equipment, the heat exchanger 520, the water feed means 530 to the rinsing unit 6, the water feed and discharge means 540; 540a, 540b to the wash basin 40, and the grey water tank 550.
From the fresh water tank 510, water is lead according to need through the pipework 50 to the jet apparatus of the carpet rinsing unit 6 and to the wash basin 40 of the washing unit 4. Both the pipework section 51 leading to the rinsing unit 6 and the pipework section 52 leading to the washing unit's water basin 40 have cut-off valves 530; 530a and 540; 540a. Before arriving at the rinsing unit 6 and the water basin 40, water arriving from the tank 550 is heated by the heat exchanger 520, the liquid flowing on the primary side of which is heated by the compressor's loss heat 200. The water basin 40 has a sensor detecting the upper limit for the water surface. The control unit 5 opens and closes the water discharge valve 540; 540b, if the water surface level V1 in the water basin exceeds the predetermined upper limit. Water can be removed from the basin 40 also as overflow when the water surface exceeds a certain level. Water removed from the basin travels to the grey water tank 550 along the pipework section 53. The volume of the tank 550 is such that it can receive a sufficient amount of water used for the washing and rinsing of a certain number of carpets without it being necessary to empty the said tank in-between. The tank 550 will be emptied from time to time, for example, at the end of the working day. Also the fresh water tank 510 is preferably dimensioned so that its volume is sufficient to retain the amount of water, which is enough to wash and rinse a certain number of carpets so that washing and rinsing water need not be added to the tank in-between. In the closed water circulation 500 described above and because of the fresh water tank 510 and grey water tank 550 located in it, the equipment 1 need not be located near sewerage or water intake point. This renders a possibility to perform the carpet washing independent of water intake or discharge.
The operation of the equipment of the invention is as follows:
The carpet M is placed pile side up onto the conveyor's endless belt 32 at the first end 10a of the frame. The carpet's M underside facing the endless belt 32 is made of air proof material. The carpet M is transferred from the conveyor's 3 belt 32 first through the wash basin 40 of the carpet washing unit 4 at a certain speed v1. In this case, the carpet M is moved by the conveyor belt 32 to below the water surface V1, under the rotating brush 41 so that its pile side is brushed. When brushing the carpet, the water surface V1 in the basin 40 is kept above both the brush 41 and the transport rolls 31; 31′ and 31; 31″ on both sides of the brush so that the washing of the carpet M is performed as wet cleaning.
The carpet M is moved by the endless belt 32 of the conveyor 3 from the washing unit 4 to the rinsing unit 6 located at the edge of the basin 40 at the same speed v1 as when transferring it through the wash basin 40 in the washing unit 4. The carpet is moved through the rinsing station 61 below the spray apparatus 60 generating a water curtain in the rinsing unit 6 at the speed v1 and, at the same time, water is sprayed onto the carpet by the injector 60. From the rinsing unit 6 the carpet M is further transported to the drying unit 2 at the speed v1. The air knife 20 in the rinsing unit 2 blows compressed air onto the pile side of the carpet in the drying station 21 below the blower. The pressure of the compressed air blown was approximately 5-15 bars, and the volume flow 5-15 m3/min. When arriving onto the carpet, the volume flow increased to be 30-fold in relation to the volume flow passing through the air knife head, i.e. to approximately 150-450 m3/min, preferably to 300 m3/min, as the carpet's transport speed was 0.5 m/min so that the effect removing moisture from the carpet pile was considerably big. The amount and pressure of the compressed air blown depend on the water adhered to the pile of the carpet in the washing and rinsing steps, the type of the carpet, and the carpet's transport speed v1 in the drying station 21. The farther away the blower is from the carpet's surface, the more additional air is taken from the environment by the compressed air flow coming from the blower so that the width of the air jet grows. The thickness and volume flow of the air jet is thus transversely comparable to the distance between the carpet in the drying station 21 and the blower head of the air blower 20; if more air is desired to be fed onto the carpet moving through the drying station, the blower is taken farther away from the carpet's surface; and when again less air is desired to be fed onto the carpet moving through the drying station, the blower is brought closer to the carpet surface. In both cases the amount of air leaving the air knife head increased 30-fold per each distance unit.
Thus the carpet M is transported by the conveyor 3 through the equipment units 4, 6, 2 at the same speed v1, i.e. the carpet passes through washing, rinsing and drying at the same constant speed v1. After drying, the carpet is transferred to the rolling unit 7, where it is rolled to the roll M1. After rolling, the carpet is lowered down and taken to the customer.
The hydraulic pump 15 of the hydraulic machine unit 100 is driven, for example, by the diesel motor 1010. The hydraulic pump 15 generates a liquid flow with a certain pressure and volume flow to the pipework 17. The pressure and volume flow of the hydraulic liquid flowing in the pipework sections 17a, 17b and 17c are controlled by control circuits 11 and 12; 12′ and 12; 12″. Thus, the liquid flow going to the compressor's hydraulic motor 200a in the pipework section 17; 12a is adjusted by the control unit 11, the liquid flow going to the compressor cooler's hydraulic motor 400a in the pipework section 17; 17b is controlled by the control circuit 12; 12′, and the liquid flow going to the generator's hydraulic motor 300a is controlled by the control unit 12; 12″. In this way the volume flow and pressure 200 of compressed air needed by the air knife 20 of the drying unit 2 is generated by the compressor driven by the hydraulic motor 200a. The hydraulic motor 400a is used for driving to the compressor cooler, which received the loss heat 400 freed from the compressor. The loss heat 400 received by the cooler is then led to the primary side of the heat exchanger 520 in
Above there has been illustrated only some embodiments of the invention and one skilled in the art would recognize that it is possible to carry out the invention in many other ways within the inventive idea disclosed in this disclosure.
Thus, the blower 20 can be used for blowing also steam or superheated steam in addition to compressed air. In addition to the blower 20, the drying unit can also comprise, for example, a hot air blower or heat radiator.
In the embodiment of the invention described above, the equipment 1 comprises only one washing, rinsing and drying unit. However, the equipment can also comprise several washing units or rinsing units or drying units arranged sequentially in the transport direction K.
The carpet can be brought onto the conveyor belt 32 pile side down, in which case it will also be brushed pile side down.
When an apparatus is used as the blower 20, in which the amount of air from the apparatus head multiplies when arriving onto the carpet's surface, it is possible to exclude the rinsing unit 6, because the blower 20 blows the dirty water and loose mud and sand away from the carpet's pile. Therefor according to one embodiment of the invention a service may be provided where a wet carpet is rinsed and dried in the drying unit, and the rinsing is conducted without water by the air blow blowing dirty water and any dirt particles off from the pile of the carpet.
The equipment can also comprise a dry brushing and/or vacuuming unit before the washing unit 4, in which unit solid material and larger pieces of rubbish are brushed and vacuumed from the carpet's pile.
A water purification apparatus, such as a clarification basin can also be connected to the water circulation for reducing the amount of new replacement water to be taken to the water circulation.
In one example according to this invention an average speed of the conveyor belt moving the carpet through the washing, optional rinsing and the drying unit is 1 m/min.
In some embodiments the speed may be 0.5 m/min and in some other embodiments it can be 5 m/min depending on the type of the carpet and the pile of the carpet. The speed of the conveyor is adjusted to be slower when the carpet has longer pile, and faster when the carpet has shorter pile. A typical carpet is 1 to 10 meters long. If the speed of the conveyor belt is adjusted to 0.5 m/min speed, a 10 meters long carpet is washed and dried in the equipment of this disclosure in 20 minutes. If the speed is 1 m/min a carpet of 10 meter is washed in 10 minutes, and a 5 meter carpet is washed in 5 minutes. In each case the turnover is so fast that a client can expect to get the washed carpet back within such a short time that no replacement or temporary carpet is needed.
Thus within the scope of this invention is an in situ cleaning service is illustrated in
Thus the service according to this disclosure may be an situ carpet washing service comprising the steps of:
It is also possible to use mobile service in combination with any disclosed or claimed methods.
One skilled in the art would also recognize that the equipment can be used for drying of carpets washed elsewhere. In such case a wet carpet would be brought to the washing drying station and the equipment would be used for drying the wet carpet.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20085383 | Apr 2008 | FI | national |
This application is Continuation in Part application of U.S. Ser. No. 12/990,295 having a filing date of Jan. 5, 2011 as a US national phase application of PCT/F109/50338 filed on Apr. 29, 2009 and claiming priority of Finnish national application F120085383 filed on Apr. 29, 2008, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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| 2733824 | Feb 1979 | DE |
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| Entry |
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| Machine translation: JP 2006218389; Takaoku et al.; dated 2006. |
| European Patent Office, Supplementary European Search Report issued on EP09738281, dated Sep. 5, 2017. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160150935 A1 | Jun 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12990295 | US | |
| Child | 15017716 | US |
