CO2 jet spray system employing a thermal CO2 snow plume sensor

摘要

C0₂ jet spray cleaning apparatus (10) that monitors CO₂ snow plume characteristics. The present invention is a C0₂ jet spray cleaning system (10) that comprises a holding tank (12) for containing liquid C0₂ (15), a spray nozzle (14) coupled to the holding tank (12), a valve (13) coupled between the holding tank (12) and the spray nozzle (14), and a temperature sensor (11) coupled to the nozzle (14) for sensing the temperature of a plume (16) of C0₂ that is sprayed by the nozzle (14) and for providing a signal indicative thereof. The system (10) may also comprise a display (17) coupled to the temperature sensor (11) for displaying the temperature of the plume (16) of C0₂ to an operator, or an alarm (18) coupled to the temperature sensor (11) for alerting an operator that the temperature of the plume (16) of C0₂ has risen to a predetermined level. Either the displayed signal or the alert signal indicates that the quality of the plume (16) has diminished and that the liquid C0₂ (15) in the holding tank (12) should be replenished. The present C0₂ jet spray cleaning system (10) and CO₂ snow plume sensor (11) provide an indication of the proper CO₂ snow characteristics to an operator so that the system (10) cleans in a proper manner.