Patent ID: 8591664

Claim:
A chamber for cleaning and drying an article, wherein the article comprises two separate portions, the chamber comprising: a housing, wherein the housing comprises a first cleaning position for a first portion of the article and a second cleaning position for a second portion of the article; an unlocking mechanism disposed in the housing, wherein the mechanism is configured to unlock the first portion from the second portion of the article, wherein the mechanism is configured to perform the unlock action on an article supported by a movable robot; a liquid delivery system delivering a cleaning mixture to the portions of the article; a vacuum system delivering sub-atmospheric pressure to the chamber; a heater system delivering thermal energy to the portions of the article; and a robot mechanism, wherein the robot mechanism is configured to move the two portions of the article with the two portions locked to each other, wherein the robot mechanism is configured to move to engage the article with the unlocking mechanism to unlock the two separate portions of the article, wherein the unlocking mechanism unlocks the two portions of the article while the robot supports the article, wherein the robot mechanism is configured to move the two portions of the article together and to sequentially deposit the first portion to the first cleaning position and the second portion to the second cleaning position, wherein the article is cleaned and dried in the same chamber, wherein the article is liquid cleaned using the cleaning mixture, and wherein the article is vacuum dried using the thermal energy to avoid liquid freezing.