Patent Application
20190125908
Cleaning and sanitizing surfaces on a regular basis can help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Fats and proteins on surfaces can shelter pathogens and provide them with a source of food. Surfaces cannot be effectively rid of pathogens without removing these fats and proteins. Accordingly, most cleaning and sanitizing processes are two steps, first removing and/or denaturing of fats and proteins through cleaning and then sanitizing. Each of these steps requires spraying and then wiping, which is time consuming and leads to increased labor costs. Chemicals that can both clean and disinfect in a single step are often toxic and expensive to produce and maintain.
Systems and methods are known that electrolyze water containing alkali salts to produce acidic electrolyzed water and alkaline electrolyzed water. Acidic electrolyzed water, which typically has a pH between about 5.0 and about 6.0, generally comprises a disinfectant that is increasingly used in a variety of sanitizing applications including in the medical, agricultural and food processing industries and in other institutional environments. The alkaline (i.e., basic) electrolyzed water, which typically has a pH between about 12.0 and 12.5, also has a sanitizing as well as a detergent and denaturing effect and is useful in cleaning a variety of stains, including oil and grease stains. As with conventional cleaning solution, acidic electrolyzed water and alkaline electrolyzed water must be applied in separate steps when cleaning and sanitizing a surface. When the two solutions are mixed together so that they can be applied in a single step, the resultant solution typically has a pH of about 10.0 to about 10.5 which greatly reduces its ability to saponify or denature fats and proteins and kill pathogens. Thus, the resultant mixed solution is less effective as both a cleaner and a disinfectant.
Accordingly, in view of the foregoing, a general object of the present invention is to provide an improved system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that can be performed using a single spray and single wipe thus allowing the cleaning and sanitizing operation to be performed more quickly and easily than existing cleaning and sanitizing systems.
A related object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface of the foregoing type than reduces labor costs.
A further object of present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that is easier to operate and perform.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface of the foregoing type that is at least as effective as two spray/two wipe systems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that helps reduce repetitive motion injuries associated with cleaning and sanitizing operations.
A further object of present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that allows for use of safer and lower cost chemicals.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that is usable on a variety of surfaces.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings.
The present invention relates to a system and method for cleaning and sanitizing a surface that only requires a single spray and single wipe to both clean and sanitize the surface. The system and method may use electrolyzed solutions including, for example, an alkaline electrolyzed water solution as the cleaning solution and an acidic electrolyzed water solution as the sanitizing solution. Advantageously, the system and method minimizes mixing of the cleaner and sanitizer, which helps maximize effectiveness of the individual solutions. Additionally, as discussed further below, the capability of automatically discharging both a cleaner and a sanitizer with a single actuation of the system makes the system much easier for an operator to use. Thus, the system and method of the present invention can be operated and/or performed considerably more quickly than existing cleaning systems which can result in substantially lower labor costs in commercial cleaning operations.
The cleaning and sanitizing of the present invention uses electrochemically activated solutions including, for example, electrolyzed water solutions. In particular, the electrolyzed water solutions may be the result of a process in which a solution of water and an alkali salt is electrolyzed to produce acidic electrolyzed water and/or alkaline (i.e., base) electrolyzed water. Both acidic electrolyzed water (i.e., acid sanitizer) and alkaline electrolyzed water (i.e., base cleaner) have beneficial sanitizing and cleansing properties making them useful in a variety of applications including medical, agricultural, food processing and institutional. According to one embodiment, the water and salt solution is a saline or brine solution comprising water and sodium chloride. Depending on the process conditions, electrolysis of a brine solution comprising water and sodium chloride produces aqueous hypochlorous acid solution (e.g., an acid sanitizer) and aqueous sodium hydroxide solution (e.g., a base cleaner), each being an aqueous chemical solution. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the present disclosure is not limited to electrolysis of any particular solution or use in any particular application.
To provide improved cleaning and sanitizing of a surface, the cleaning and sanitizing system of the present invention is operable to separately store and then sequentially discharge the electrolyzed base cleaner and electrolyzed acid sanitizer upon a single actuation of the system. To this end, the system may include a single spraying device with a spray nozzle that is configured such that the spray nozzle is automatically fed alternately with the electrolyzed base cleaner and then the electrolyzed acid sanitizer upon triggering of an actuator on the spraying device. The system may be configured such that the time gap between the discharge of the electrolyzed base cleaner and the electrolyzed acid sanitizer may be electronically adjustable.
Referring to
To drive movement of the electrolyzed solutions from the base unit 18 to the spray device 16, a first cleaner feed pump 24 is provided in the base unit 18 that is arranged and configured to draw cleaner out of the cleaner container 20 and direct it through a cleaner feed line 26. Additionally, a second sanitizer feed pump 28 is provided in the base unit 18 that is arranged and configured to draw sanitizer out of the sanitizer container 22 and direct it through a sanitizer feed line 30. The cleaner and sanitizer feed pumps 24, 28 may each be driven by an associated electric motor 32, 34 that are powered by a power source 36 that is carried in the base unit 18. The power source 36 may be, for example, a rechargeable battery. The base unit 18 may further include a controller 38 that is configured to direct operation of the pumps 24, 28 and the spray device 16 as further described below. The pumps 24, 28, power source 36 and controller 38 may be arranged together in a casing 40 having a removable cover 42 that can be arranged between the cleaner container 20 and the sanitizer container 22 as shown in
For directing the electrolyzed base cleaner and electrolyzed acidic sanitizer to the spray device 16, the cleaner feed line 26 and the sanitizer feed line 30 extend from the base unit 18 to the spray device 16. More specifically, in the illustrated embodiment, the cleaner and sanitizer feed lines 26, 30 are secured together to form a single cord 44 attaching the spray device 16 to the base unit 18 as shown, for example, in
In the illustrated embodiment, the spray device 16 is configured as a hand-operated spray wand with an actuator, in this case, an actuator switch 48 arranged on a side thereof. The wand-like configuration of the spray device 16 helps the spray device to be easily gripped and aimed by an operator. The actuator switch 48 may be in communication with the controller 38, such as through the control leads 46. Moreover, the controller 38 may be configured such that upon actuation of the actuator switch 48 on the spray device 16 the controller 38 successively directs first the cleaner feed pump 24 to direct base cleaner from the cleaner container 20 to the spray device 16 and then directs the sanitizer feed pump 28 to direct acidic sanitizer from the sanitizer container 22 to the spray device. According to one embodiment, the actuator 48 may be configured as an electronic trigger which along with the controller 38 is configured such that once the actuator 48 is depressed once the spray device 16 will alternately spray cleaner and sanitizer as long as the actuator is depressed. Thus, spray is discharged automatically and in a continuous alternating sequence of cleaner and sanitizer (or vice versa) upon a single actuation of the actuator 48. This can significantly reduce the risk of repetitive motion injuries caused by repetitive squeezing of a trigger of, for example, a spray bottle.
For shaping and directing the discharging electrolyzed base cleaner and the electrolyzed acid sanitizer, the spray device 16 may be equipped with one or more removable and replaceable spray nozzles 50. In
A spray nozzle 50 with a dual configuration that also may be used with the spray device 16 of
An alternative embodiment of a cleaning and sanitizing system 10 according to the present invention is shown in
In use, according to one embodiment, an operator moves the spray device 16 across a surface to be cleaned and sanitized while triggering the actuator switch 48 on the spray device 16. Upon actuation of the switch 48, the electrolyzed cleaner and the electrolyzed sanitizer are discharged so as to produce side-by-side discharge patterns of the cleaner and sanitizer. This process can be repeated as the operator moves the spray device 16 across the surface. This results in substantially separate, but adjacent, discharge patterns of the electrolyzed base cleaner and the electrolyzed acid sanitizer. One example of the resulting discharge patterns of the cleaner and sanitizer are shown in
With embodiments of the invention producing simultaneous discharge of the cleaner and sanitizer (e.g., the embodiment of
As compared with existing cleaning and sanitizing processes that utilize separate cleaners and sanitizer, the process and system of the present invention allows the cleaning and sanitizing process to be performed more quickly and with less repetitive motion stress on the user because of the ability to discharge both the cleaner and sanitizer with a single actuation of the system. The dual dispensing of the cleaner and sanitizer also allows both to be captured in a single wiping action, which again saves time during the cleaning and sanitizing process. These time savings can help reduce labor costs in institutional or commercial cleaning and sanitizing operations. As compared to existing cleaning and sanitizing systems and processes that use a cleaner and sanitizer mixture, the system and process of the present invention allows for the use of lower cost and safer electrolyzed cleaning and sanitizing solutions that are useable on a wide variety of different surfaces. Additionally, the electrolyzed cleaning and sanitizing solutions allows for the use of reusable containers to store the cleaner and sanitizer, which again can result in a cost savings.
All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and “at least one” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The use of the term “at least one” followed by a list of one or more items (for example, “at least one of A and B”) is to be construed to mean one item selected from the listed items (A or B) or any combination of two or more of the listed items (A and B), unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/580,800, filed Nov. 2, 2017, which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62580800 | Nov 2017 | US |
