Patent ID: 7356865

Claim:
An article cleaning apparatus for cleaning articles using a solvent based cleaning fluid and for cleaning the solvent based cleaning fluid without using distillation, the apparatus comprising: an air management mechanism; a cleaning basket assembly; a fluid processing mechanism comprising an ultrafiltration filter configured to remove bacteria from solvent based cleaning fluid by having a pore size of about 0.01 microns to about 0.2 microns; and a controller configured to clean the articles in the cleaning basket assembly using the solvent based cleaning fluid and to clean the solvent based cleaning fluid using the ultrafiltration filter to remove the bacteria from the solvent based cleaning fluid without using distillation on the solvent based cleaning fluid, wherein each of said air management mechanism, said cleaning basket assembly and said fluid processing mechanism is in dedicated communication with each remaining one of said air management mechanism, said cleaning basket assembly and said fluid processing mechanism; and said controller is in communication with said air management mechanism, with said cleaning basket assembly, and with said fluid processing mechanism.