An electromagnetic propulsion system for electrically conductive articles, such as aluminum beverage cans. Currents in coils disposed along a passageway induce currents in aluminum cans in the passageway. The electromagnetic fields produced by the coil currents and the eddy currents in the cans interact to produce forces that propel the cans along the passageway. A coil drive supplies the coils with a low-frequency current to propel the cans and a high-frequency current to heat the cans. The coils are arranged as solenoids encircling the passageway or as planar arrays bracketing the passageway. Besides being used to propel aluminum cans, the coils can be used to spin cans. The electromagnetic propulsion systems are shown in can washers and dryers.

An assembly for feeding/picking up containers for washing machines includes an external feeding station provided with a delivery area, an internal washing station, and an external output station. The assembly further includes at least one support which can move by the action of respective actuators between at least one first configuration of alignment with a respective external station and at least one second configuration of alignment with the internal washing station. The support is provided with a plurality of grip clamps, each clamp is constituted by a pair of mutually opposite jaws, the internal faces of which are substantially concave and contoured.

According to embodiments disclosed herein, an apparatus may hold and retain glass articles during processing. The apparatus may define a plurality of receiving volumes for holding glass articles. The apparatus may include a bottom support floor, a glassware-securing member positioned above the bottom support floor, and a cover plate positioned above the glassware-securing member. The bottom support floor may include a plurality of fluid passages, the glassware-securing member may include a plurality of glassware-retaining openings, and the cover plate may include a plurality of fluid passages. Methods for the use of such apparatuses are also disclosed herein.

According to embodiments disclosed herein, an apparatus may hold and retain glass articles during processing. The apparatus may define a plurality of receiving volumes for holding glass articles. The apparatus may include a bottom support floor, a glassware-securing member positioned above the bottom support floor, and a cover plate positioned above the glassware-securing member. The bottom support floor may include a plurality of fluid passages, the glassware-securing member may include a plurality of glassware-retaining openings, and the cover plate may include a plurality of fluid passages. Methods for the use of such apparatuses are also disclosed herein.

An apparatus and associated methods are disclosed for washing a plurality of beverage containers. The apparatus may include an enclosure, a holder positioned in the enclosure, a receptacle for a beverage container in the holder, and an injector coupled to the enclosure. The holder may rotate in the enclosure about an axis of rotation. As the holder rotates, the receptacle may move (e.g., rotate) through a plurality of positions about the axis of rotation. The receptacle may be positioned to receive a beverage container in a first position about the axis of rotation. When rotated to a second position about the axis of rotation, the receptacle may be aligned with the injector and the injector may provide a fluid inside the beverage container in the receptacle. The receptacle may be positioned to drain the fluid from the beverage container in the receptacle in the second position or after being rotated to a third position.

An EUV cleaner system and process for cleaning a EUV carrier. The EUV cleaner system comprises separate dirty and cleaned environments, separate cleaning chambers for different components of the double container carrier, gripper arms for picking and placing different components using a same robot handler, gripper arms for holding different components at different locations, horizontal spin cleaning and drying for outer container, hot water and hot air (70 C) cleaning process, vertical nozzles and rasterizing megasonic nozzles for cleaning inner container with hot air nozzles for drying, separate vacuum decontamination chambers for outgassing different components, for example, one for inner and one for outer container with high vacuum (e.g., <10.sup.6 Torr) with purge gas, heaters and RGA sensors inside the vacuum chamber, purge gas assembling station, and purge gas loading and unloading station.

The present disclosure provides a compact and automated single device capable of washing, drying, and sterilizing a bottle and its accessories, along with preparing and filing milk in the cleaned bottle. The device receives the bottle and the accessories in two separate towers, and wash them properly by creating a whirl of heated water inside and around the bottle and accessories. Further, the device dries the washed bottle and accessories with clean and filtered heated air to prevent contamination of the bottle and accessories during drying. UV lights are also provided inside the two towers to completely sterilize the dried bottle and accessories to kill any microorganism present on their surface. The device further includes an inbuilt milk dispenser to prepare and dispense milk in the cleaned bottle. The device is remotely operable as well as monitorable by users using mobile devices.

An automated can adjustment system for a can cleaning system and associated method is disclosed. The automated can adjustment system can store different stage height information corresponding to various cans with different heights in a controller. The stage height information corresponding to the different can heights is associated with and recallable by various preset buttons operatively coupled with the controller. The controller is configured to communicate with the one or more drive mechanisms to adjust one or more stage heights based on the stage height information recalled when a particular preset button is selected. Different stage heights may be changed by then selecting a different preset button associated with a can having a different height.

An automated can adjustment system for a can cleaning system and associated method is disclosed. The automated can adjustment system can store different stage height information corresponding to various cans with different heights in a controller. The stage height information corresponding to the different can heights is associated with and recallable by various preset buttons operatively coupled with the controller. The controller is configured to communicate with the one or more drive mechanisms to adjust one or more stage heights based on the stage height information recalled when a particular preset button is selected. Different stage heights may be changed by then selecting a different preset button associated with a can having a different height.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for ion exchanging glass articles. Methods for ion exchanging glass articles include receiving processing instructions from one or more user input devices, loading a cassette containing a plurality of glass articles into a molten salt bath of one or more ion exchange stations automatically with a robotic lift based on the processing instructions, removing the cassette from the molten salt bath automatically with the robotic lift after a predetermined time based on the processing instructions, and rotating the cassette automatically to drain fluid of the molten salt bath from the cassette.