Patent ID: 7858035

Claim:
A method for cleaning an in-process sensor for a process in which a surface of the sensor is exposed to one or more contaminants, comprising: (a) providing a reaction vessel having an interior region and having a process fluid located therein, wherein the process fluid is selected from the group consisting of biological, pharmaceutical and hazardous material; (b) positioning the surface of the sensor on the interior region of the reaction vessel such that the surface of the sensor is capable of contacting the process fluid and having a build up of the contaminants thereon, the region surrounding the sensor being coated with hard-facing material, the sensor being an infrared or near-infrared probe; wherein the contaminants comprise liquid and gaseous phases; and (c) providing a scouring jet having an inlet in contact with the process fluid and through which the process fluid enters the jet and an outlet from which the process fluid is emitted, the outlet of the scouring jet being positioned so that the process fluid is emitted in a direction toward the surface of the sensor to impinge on the surface of the sensor whereby the impinging process fluid has a scouring action capable of removing one or more of the contaminants from the surface of the sensor; and wherein the process fluid emitted from the scouring jet does not contain a cleaning fluid.