Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to cleaning equipment, and more particularly to a cleaning system and a method of cleaning. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    In present days, people live in a highly pathenogenic environment because of frequent contact with other people and appalling sanitation. Therefore, it is more and more important to keep a clean public environment and a good personal hygiene. 
         [0005]    In various pathenogenic bacteria, anaerobic bacteria are highly concerned in the medical field. More than 50% surgical infections are caused by anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria lead to serious thoracic/abdominal infections and abscesses, and lead to soft tissue necrosis as well. Typically, there are five groups of anaerobic bacteria, including 1).  Bacteroides fragilis;  2).  Prevotella  and  Porphyromonas;  3).  F. nucleatum;  4).  Peptostreptococcus;  and 5).  C. perfringenes  and  C. ramosum.  The anaerobic bacteria live in lots of organs, such as oral cavity, nasal cavity, throat, and nose. 
         [0006]    In oral cavity, more than 50% anaerobic bacteria live in salive, and most of them live in tartar and periodontal pocket. Toothbrush is the commonest tool to clean teeth and oral cavity. However, there still are anaerobic bacteria remained in oral cavity after brushing teeth, and it will lead to halitosis and calculus. After a long time, people have to see dentist for calculus removal. Ultrasonic scaler is the commonest equipment for dentist to remove calculus. The ultrasonic scaler provides an ultrasonic water jet for the dentist to remove calculus with a hand piece. The conventional ultrasonic scaler only provides ultrasonic water jet to scale calculus off. However, it can&#39;t remove the anaerobic bacteria in the same time, so that calculus will grow in a short time, and people have to see the dentist frequently. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In view of the above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a cleaning system and a method of cleaning, which provides oxygenated water for cleaning and disinfecting at the same time. It is effective for a medical purpose, especially in inhibition of anaerobic bacteria. 
         [0008]    The present invention provides a cleaning system, including an oxygen supplier, an exchanging unit, and an oxygenated water provider. The oxygen supplier provides pure oxygen to the exchanging unit. The exchanging unit receives water from a water source and the pure oxygen from the oxygen supplier to dissolve the pure oxygen into the water in a first pressure so as to obtain oxygenated water. The oxygenated water provider receives the oxygenated water from the exchanging unit and releases the oxygenated water in a second pressure. 
         [0009]    The present invention further provides a method of cleaning an object, including the following steps: 
         [0010]    (a). Dissolve pure oxygen into water in a first pressure to obtain oxygenated water; and 
         [0011]    (b) Release the oxygenated water in a second pressure to clean an object. 
         [0012]    The present invention is applied in environment cleaning, medical purpose, or healthcare for calculus removal, prevention of anaerobic bacteria&#39;s growth, and sterilization. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    The present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of the cleaning system of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the cleaning system of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the cleaning system of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a cleaning system  1  of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, which includes an oxygen supplier  10 , an exchanging unit  20 , an oxygenated water provider  30 , and a pressurizing unit  40 , which is a motor in the present embodiment. 
         [0019]    The oxygen supplier  10  has an oxygen cylinder  11  to supply pure oxygen. It may have two or more oxygen cylinders according to the requirement. 
         [0020]    The exchanging unit  20  has a tank  21 . The tank  21  has a first water inlet  202 , a first water outlet  204 , and a first gas inlet  206 . The first water inlet  202  is on a top of the tank  21 , and the first water outlet  204  and the first gas inlet  206  are on a bottom. A water source W is connected to the first water inlet  202  to supply the tank  21  with water. The pressurizing unit  40  pressurizes the water from the water source W before it flows into the tank  21 . The water of the water source W preferable is drinking water, such as water from a reverse osmosis (RO) system or sterile water. The oxygen supplier  10  has a controller  12  and a solenoid valve  14 . The oxygen supplier  10  is connected to the first gas inlet  206  of the tank  21 , and a user may control the controller  12  and the solenoid valve  14  to adjust an oxygen flow to the tank  21 . The water from the water source W falls down via the first water inlet  202 , and the pure oxygen of the oxygen supplier  10  goes up via the first gas inlet  206 , so that they will impact and mix in the tank  21 . Furthermore, we keep a pressure in the tank  21  in a first pressure, between 120 psi and 170 psi, that would speed up the process of mixing and dissolution to obtain 100 ppm or higher oxygenated water. 
         [0021]    The oxygenated water provider  30  has a second water inlet  302 , a second water outlet  304 , and a manual switch  32 . A jet member  33 , which is a nozzle in the present embodiment, is connected to the second water outlet  304  of the oxygenated water provider  30 . The second water inlet  302  is connected to the first water inlet  204  of the exchanging unit  20  through a pipe. The manual switch  32  is on the pipe to turn on and turn off the oxygenated water. The oxygenated water comes out via the jet member  33  in a second pressure. In an embodiment, the second pressure is 90 psi, and the jet member  33  provides an oxygenated water jet to clean environment, prevent bacteria&#39;s growth, or clean oral cavity for medical purpose. 
         [0022]      FIG. 2  shows a cleaning system  2  of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Basically, the cleaning system  2  of the second preferred embodiment is the same as the cleaning system  1  of the first preferred embodiment, except that 
         [0023]    The cleaning system  2  further has an ultrasonic generator  34  between the oxygenated water provider  30  and the jet member  33 . The ultrasonic generator  34  provides ultrasonic weaves in the oxygenated water, so that the cleaning system  2  may be used to remove calculus. In addition, the exchanging unit  20  further has a pressure controller  22  and a flow controller  24 . The pressure controller  22  is in the tank  21  to sense a pressure in the tank  21 . If the pressure controller  22  found a low pressure in the tank  21  (lower than the first pressure) the pressure controller  22  starts the pressurizing unit  40  to pressurize water from the water source W that would recover the pressure in the tank  21 . The flower controller  24  is on a pipe, which is connected to the first water outlet  204  of the tank  21  to sense a volume of the oxygenated water coming out from the exchanging unit  20 . When a specific volume is found, the flower controller  24  activates the controller  12  and the solenoid valve  14  to provide pure oxygen into the tank  21 . The tank  21  further has a water outlet  208 . The water outlet  208  connects to a wastewater exhaust unit  50  to exhaust wastewater of the exchanging unit  20 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  shows a cleaning system  3  of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention. Basically, the cleaning system  3  of the third preferred embodiment is the same as the cleaning system  2  of the second preferred embodiment, except that the jet member  33  is a toothbrush  36  for a user to clean his/her oral cavity with oxygenated water when he/she brushes teeth. 
         [0025]    A method of cleaning an object by the cleaning system  1 ,  2 , or  3  includes the following steps: 
         [0026]    (a). Pressurize water from the water source W by the pressurizing unit  40 , supply the pressurized water to the tank  21  through the first water inlet  202 , supply pure oxygen to the tank  21  through the first gas inlet  206 , and keep a pressure in the tank between 120 psi and 170 psi (the first pressure). The pure oxygen is dissolved in the pressurized water in the tank  21  to obtain oxygenated water (100 ppm or higher). 
         [0027]    (b). Release the oxygenated water in the tank  21  in a second pressure (90 psi) to clean an object. The cleaning method of the present invention may remove calculus, prevent anaerobic bacteria&#39;s growth, and sterilize. 
         [0028]    The advantages of the present invention are: 
         [0029]    1. The present invention may be applied in various fields of cleaning or sterilization, especially for medical purposes or healthcare, to reduce the risk of infection. 
         [0030]    2. The present invention may be applied in dentistry field to replace the conventional ultrasonic scaler, and to reduce the usage of antibiotics. 
         [0031]    3. The present invention provides the water coming down from top and pure oxygen going up from bottom that will speed up the mixture in the tank and obtain high oxygenated water. The whole size of the cleaning system is small enough for usage at home. 
         [0032]    It must be pointed out that the embodiments described above are only some preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent structures and manufacturing methods which employ the concepts disclosed in this specification and the appended claims should fall within the scope of the present invention.

Technology Category: 1