Method, a bubble generating nozzle, and an apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles
10293309 · 2019-05-21
Assignee
Inventors
- Yoshiaki TACHIBANA (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Kousuke TACHIBANA (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Kaoru Harada (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Souzou SASAJIMA (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Kunihiro Tamahashi (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Kyoko HONMA (Hitachinaka, JP)
- Yuuki Matsumoto (Hitachinaka, JP)
Cpc classification
B01F23/2323
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01F23/2373
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01F35/3204
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01F25/45211
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01J19/26
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01F23/23121
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B01F23/2319
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
B01J19/26
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Abstract
A new method for generating micro-nano bubbles that uses water hammering, a bubble generating nozzle, and an apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles are provided to construct a system. The system is for generating micro-nano bubbles in a large amount using only pure water, which does not include any nucleating agents, and for performing not only a clean washing and sterilization but also the generation of uncontaminated micro-nano bubbles. The method defined in the present invention uses water hammering power produced by a mutual collision of jets of dissolved-gas-including solution squirted from two or more spouts. The bubble generating nozzle by the present invention has a configuration, including: a hollow cylinder having two or more small through-holes arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof and a micro-nano bubble discharge port provided on the both ends of the hollow cylinder, wherein the small through-holes are arranged so that all of their extension lines passing through respective center of the cross-section of each of the small through-holes which intersect each other in the inside of the hollow of the cylinder. The apparatus for generating bubble by the present invention has such bubble generating nozzle and has a configuration that enables generation of micro-nano bubbles in a large amount.
Claims
1. A method for generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, using water hammering power, the method comprising: producing jets of a gas-including liquid by injecting the liquid from an outside of a cylinder via two or more through-holes in the cylinder, at a pressure higher than an atmospheric pressure, the two or more through-holes having a diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm, arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof with such a configuration that respective openings of the two or more through-holes are arranged facing each other in a same plane; creating a collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid inside the cylinder; and generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, by a mutual collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid, wherein, in order to maintain an inflow direction of the gas-including liquid unchanged until reaching an inlet position of the through-holes, the cylinder is either arranged perpendicularly to the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid so as to align the openings of the through-holes with the inflow direction thereof, or arranged in parallel to the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid using a cylinder which has one end formed into a closed tube-like shape and an outer wall with a smaller cross-sectional area than that of an introduction port of the gas-including liquid, provided inside a nozzle case for feeding the gas-including liquid to the cylinder.
2. The method for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 1, comprising: a sucking process that sucks a gas and a liquid; a pressurization process that pressurizes the gas and the liquid; a dissolved gas enriching process, wherein the pressurized gas-including liquid is mixed with another new gas; and a dissolved gas miniaturization process that generates micro-nano bubbles, wherein the pressurized gas-including liquid prepared at the dissolved gas enriching process is injected from the outside of the cylinder having the two or more through-holes with the diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm, arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof with such a configuration that the respective openings of the two or more through-holes are arranged facing each other in the same plane via the through-holes at a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to produce jets of the liquid, and the jets are collided mutually inside the cylinder.
3. The method for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 1, wherein the pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure is between 0.2 and 0.6 MPa, and the diameter of the through-holes leading to the hollow of the cylinder is between 0.1 and 3.0 mm.
4. The method for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 1, wherein the liquid of the gas-including liquid comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of ozone, oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, chloric acid, perchloric acid, and potassium permanganate.
5. The method for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 1, wherein the gas of the gas-including liquid comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas.
6. An apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, using water hammering power created by a mutual collision of jets of a gas-including liquid, comprising: a gas port, a liquid pipe and a regulating valve for sucking each of a gas and a liquid; a pump for pressurizing the gas and the liquid in a mixture and transferring them; a gas-liquid mixing vessel for enriching the dissolved gas by mixing the transferred liquid, which includes the gas, with new gas; and a bubble generating nozzle for generating micro-nano bubbles using the gas-including liquid prepared in the gas-liquid mixing vessel, wherein the bubble generating nozzle comprises: a hollow cylinder having two or more through-holes with a diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm, arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof with such a configuration that the respective opening of each of the two or more through-holes faces each other in the same plane; and a micro-nano bubble discharge port provided on at least one end of the hollow cylinder, wherein the through-holes are arranged so that all of their extension lines passing through respective center of the cross-section of each of the through-holes intersect each other in the inside of the hollow of the cylinder; wherein, in order to maintain the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid unchanged until reaching the inlet position of the through-holes, the hollow cylinder is arranged either perpendicularly to an inflow direction of the gas-including liquid so as to align openings of the through-holes with the inflow direction thereof, or arranged in parallel to the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid using a cylinder which has one end formed into a closed tube-like shape and an outer wall with a smaller cross-sectional area than that of an introduction port of the gas-including liquid, provided inside a nozzle case for feeding the gas-including liquid to the cylinder.
7. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the bubble generating nozzle has two or more hollow cylinders.
8. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the hollow cylinder has, in its longitudinal direction, two or more rows of the through-holes, each of the rows consisting of two or more of the through-holes with a diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm.
9. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the diameter of the through-holes that lead to the hollow of the hollow cylinder is between 0.1 and 3.0 mm.
10. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the diameter of the micro-nano bubble discharge port provided on at least one end of the hollow cylinder is equal to or larger than the diameter of a part of the hollow cylinder, wherein such part is such a part where the through-holes are arranged in a circumferential direction.
11. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein, in the bubble generating nozzle for generating micro-nano bubbles, the gas-including liquid is squirted at a pressure of 0.2 to 0.6 MPa through the through-holes of the bubble generating nozzle.
12. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the gas-liquid mixing vessel has the bubble generating nozzle for generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, and the liquid that includes the gas transferred by the pump for pressurizing is discharged into the gas-liquid mixing vessel by the bubble generating nozzle.
13. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the gas-liquid mixing vessel has a float valve inside or outside the vessel to maintain a volume of the gas and the liquid and the internal pressure inside the vessel always within a prescribed range by discharging excess gas from the vessel.
14. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein a pump or piping, or both, through which the gas-including liquid flows, is made of plastic.
15. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 14, wherein a pump or piping, or both, through which the gas-including liquid flows, is made of fluorine resin.
16. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the pump for pressurizing the liquid that includes the gas is a compressed-air driven or an electric motor driven bellows cylinder pump.
17. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the liquid of the gas-including liquid comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of ozone, oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, chloric acid, perchloric acid, and potassium permanganate.
18. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 6, wherein the gas of the gas-including liquid comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas.
19. The apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles according to claim 17, wherein the gas of the gas-including liquid additionally comprises at least one substance selected from the group consisting of carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas.
20. A method for generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, using water hammering power, the method comprising: producing jets of a gas-including liquid by injecting the liquid from the outside of a cylinder via two or more through-holes in the cylinder, at a squirting pressure of 0.2 MPa to 0.6 MPa, the two or more through-holes having a diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm, arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof with such a configuration that the respective openings of such two or more small through-holes are arranged facing each other in the same plane; creating a collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid inside the cylinder; and generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, by the mutual collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid, wherein, in order to maintain the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid unchanged until reaching the inlet position of the through holes, the cylinder is either arranged perpendicularly to an inflow direction of the gas-including liquid so as to align the openings of the through-holes with the inflow direction thereof, or arranged in parallel to the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid using a cylinder which has one end formed into a closed tube-like shape and an outer wall with a smaller cross-sectional area than that of an introduction port of the gas-including liquid, provided inside a nozzle case for feeding the gas-including liquid to the cylinder.
21. A method for generating micro-nano bubbles using water hammering power, the method comprising: producing jets of a gas-including liquid by injecting the liquid from the outside of a cylinder via two or more through-holes in the cylinder, at a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure, the two or more through-holes having a diameter of 0.1 to 6.0 mm, arrayed in the circumferential direction thereof with such a configuration that the respective openings of such two or more small through-holes are arranged facing each other in the same plane; creating a collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid inside the cylinder; and generating micro-nano bubbles having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, by the mutual collision of the jets of the gas-including liquid, wherein, in order to maintain the inflow direction of the gas-including liquid unchanged until reaching the inlet position of the through holes, the cylinder is arranged perpendicularly to an inflow direction of the gas-including liquid so as to align the openings of the through-holes with the inflow direction thereof, provided inside a nozzle case for feeding the gas-including liquid to the cylinder.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
(24) The following describes the best mode for carrying out the present invention, referring to drawings.
(25)
(26) These constituents are arranged as illustrated in a perspective view
(27) Next, the gas and the liquid are agitated by the pump 15 and are force-fed to the gas-liquid mixing vessel 14. The pump 15 used is mainly a bellows cylinder pump of compressed-air driven type but an electric motor driven type may be used. The gas and the liquid in the gas-liquid mixing vessel 14 are under the pressure generated by the pump 15; therefore, the gas is easily dissolved. The pressure that force-feeds the gas and the liquid from the pump 15 is watched by the pressure sensor 12. Increasing the quantity of the dissolved gas with this manner, the preparations are made for increasing the amount of generation of the micro-nano bubbles. In the micro-nano bubble generating system by the present invention, it is a practical manner to use the bellows cylinder pump as the pump 15. Depending on the use purpose however, conventionally known pumps are applicable. The applicable pumps include a reciprocating pump such as a piston pump, a plunger pump, or a diaphragm pump; or a rotary pump such as a gear pump, an eccentric pump, or a screw pump.
(28) The liquid entered under force-feeding into the gas-liquid mixing vessel 14 mixes with a gas to dissolve the gas thereinto and then is transferred to the micro-nano bubble generating nozzle attachment part 11. The micro-nano bubble generating nozzle attachment part 11 is a part to which a nozzle connects, wherein the nozzle generates, from the gas-including liquid, micro-nano bubbles in a large amount having a diameter of 60 m or smaller, preferably to be 15 m or smaller.
(29) At that time, the pressure sensor 12 senses variations of the liquid pressure at the section between the micro-nano bubble generating nozzle attachment part 11 and the gas-liquid mixing vessel 14 to watch the dissolving conditions of the gas-liquid mixture. By this, a constant pressure condition needed for stable generation of micro-nano bubbles is actualized.
(30) The process to be performed by the apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles to which the present invention is applied is as follows. Treatments that the gas sucking port 16, the liquid sucking pipe 17, and the gas sucking regulating valve 18 perform are the gas- and liquid-sucking process. The pressure is regulated by the pressure sensor 12. Next, the gas-including liquid is pressurized using the bellows cylinder pump 15; this treatment is the gas-liquid pressurization process. Following this process, the pressurized gas-including liquid is mixed with another new gas using the pump controller 13 and the gas-liquid mixing vessel 14; this treatment is the dissolved gas enriching process. After this, the bubble generating nozzle by the present invention, which nozzle will be mentioned later, is connected to the micro-nano bubble generating nozzle attachment part 11 to generate micro-nano bubbles. This process is referred to as the dissolved liquid miniaturization process, in which the micro-nano bubbles are generated by injecting the gas-including liquid from the outside of a cylinder, which has two or more small through-holes, via such small through-holes at a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure to produce jets of the liquid, and the jets are collided mutually at one point inside the cylinder.
(31) Next, explanation follows to describe a method for generating micro-nano bubbles in a large amount from the gas-including liquid that is in a gas-dissolved state.
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(33) The following explains how to generate the micro-nano bubbles using the water stream squirted from the high-speed liquid jet squirting nozzle. The gas-including liquid is discharged from the high-speed liquid jet squirting nozzle at the discharge pressure of 0.2 MPa to 0.6 MPa given by the high-pressure pump 15. The discharged liquid rapidly releases its pressure and collides violently each other producing a water hammering power. The explosive water hammering smashes the gas-including liquid and makes the liquid to be in a state that a large amount of micro-nano bubbles is involved therein. It should be noted that, depending on the method of release, there is a case where the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles becomes reduced. However, the micro-nano bubbles can be generated in a large amount with the method and the apparatus by the present invention.
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(36) The reason of feeding the liquid at a high-pressure is to increase the speed of the liquid in squirting from the small-hole. This means that making the liquid collision high-speed increases the impact energy and that a large amount of micro-nano bubbles of more minute size can be generated thereby.
(37) Assume that F is the power of collision. Also assume that the density of a liquid is , the size of a small-hole S, and the velocity of a liquid V. Then, the relationship of F=SV.sup.2 holds. For the optimal value of F, the optimum design that considers the relation between the size of hole S and the velocity V is needed.
(38) What is important here is that, if a pump capable of generating a higher pressure is used, there is a possibility that a further-large amount of micro-nano bubbles can be generated. For example, it is available to use a high-pressure pump that generates pressures of 0.5 to 250 MPa or so. If a pump of this kind is used, the liquid velocity V increases proportionally to the pressure and the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles greatly increases because the impact power of the water hammering power F increases with the square of V. However, for the application of such high-pressure pump to an apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles, it is difficult to meet various demands such as light weight, small size, metal-free, and low maintenance cost.
(39) In the present invention, by using the nozzle having a structure as illustrated in
(40) The micro-nano bubble generating nozzle by the present invention needs to have a diameter of 0.1 to 6 mm at its nozzle parts 3b and 4b shown in
(41) The small-hole flow passages 3a and 4a are enough when they are such a device as has a stream-narrowing function for feeding the gas-including liquid in a form of a high-speed jet; and when they are taper-shaped continuously toward the nozzle parts 3b and 4b, they may also be enough. The amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles is determined mainly by the dimension of the diameter of the nozzle parts 3b and 4b; therefore, the small-hole flow passages 3a and 4a may be omitted in the present invention.
(42) An example of another method for colliding the gas-dissolved liquid will be explained referring to
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(44) The experiment told that controlling the velocity of liquid V made the amount of generated micro-nano bubbles increased and the life of bubbles prolonged. When the velocity V exceeds 25 m/s as a guideline, the nozzle generates micro-nano bubbles stably.
(45) The same effect will be obtained at a lower liquid velocity by squirting the liquid toward center from every direction concentrating the water hammering at the center. This means that when the water hammering is given from every direction, the same or more effect will be produced even if the velocity is reduced to . For example, since F=2SV.sup.2, when eight holes are arranged so that the hammering among the jets concentrates in the center, the force at the center becomes F=S().sup.28=2SV.sup.2. Thus, when the small-hole of the nozzle is provided in a plural number for concentrating the water hammering produced by the liquid collision, the energy of the liquid collision becomes same even if the velocity V is low because the flowing quantity of liquid increases. Since the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles will be acceptably same if the energy in the collisions of the liquid is same, the pressure of discharging the liquid can be lowered and the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles will be secured as desired.
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(47) Discharging the liquid from a plurality of holes, as the nozzle illustrated in
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(49) Then, as illustrated in
(50) A float 31 illustrated in
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(52) Mixing the gas and the liquid requires its method to increase the dissolving efficiency of the gas into the liquid by enlarging the contact area of the gas and the liquid. If the efficiency lowers, shortage of the generation amount occurs due to a shortage of the gas, which is a fatal problem in the generating of micro-nano bubbles.
(53) We examined how much the amount of generated micro-nano bubbles will be increased depending on the degree of control over the amount of the gas and the liquid. As a result, it was understood that the following are points of interest. If the amount of the liquid in the volume ratio inside the gas-liquid mixing vessel occupies 60% and the amount of the gas occupies 40%, the gas-liquid ratio is the ideal balance of amounts. To stabilize the amount of generation of the micro-nano bubbles and to increase the amount of generated bubbles, it is necessary that the condition of the mixing of the gas to be dissolved and the liquid should be optimized by exhausting the excess gas from an excess gas exhausting port 48 of a float socket 47 using the buoyancy of the float 31 caused by the liquid for controlling their ratio automatically. In the present invention, for the purpose of increasing greatly the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles, it is preferable to control the volume ratio of the gas and the liquid in the gas-liquid mixing vessel within the range of gas to liquid ratio=50:50 to 5:95 so that the liquid will occupy more part in the volume ratio. Also in the present invention, the float 31 may be installed outside the gas-liquid mixing vessel, instead of installing inside. In this arrangement, connecting the inside and outside of the gas-liquid mixing vessel using such as a communication pipe permits controlling the volume ratio of the gas and the liquid.
(54)
(55) In
(56) When using a conventional apparatus that generates a less amount of micro-nano bubbles, a major method for generating an increased amount of micro-nano bubbles is as follows. The method is comprised of processes of: generating micro-nano bubbles once in a water tank; pumping up micro-nano bubbles generated in the water tank again; injecting an additional gas to be dissolved into the pumped bubble-containing liquid at the gas-liquid mixing vessel; and circulating the gas-injected bubble-containing liquid multiple times to bring the bubble-containing liquid to a state in which a large amount of micro-nano bubbles are involved. Thereby, micro-nano bubbles are generated in an increased amount.
(57) In this method, it is difficult to control the amount of generation of the micro-nano bubbles. Further, a circulating technique invites trouble such as occurrence of contamination. Because of that, an apparatus that is capable of generating a large amount of micro-nano bubbles in one process without use of a circulation technique is desired.
(58) Therefore, it is intended to generate micro-nano bubbles, without circulation in the gas-liquid mixing vessel to be used in the present invention, by a liquid-collision in the gas-liquid mixture state under the working of the micro-nano bubble generating nozzle 38, which is held on a nozzle holder 39, having a structure same as illustrated in
(59) In this situation, it is the requisite condition that the nozzle 38 arranged inside the gas-liquid mixing vessel should issue the liquid of the gas-liquid mixture state at a flow rate more than that of the nozzle 11 arranged at the distal end to increase the pressure inside the gas-liquid mixing vessel. If the flow rate of the nozzle 38 is smaller, micro-nano bubbles sometimes may not be generated from the nozzle attached at the distal end.
(60) The effect of the installing of the nozzle 38 inside the gas-liquid mixing vessel is that one-path of processing along the gas-liquid mixing vessel to the nozzle permits a stable generation of a large amount of micro-nano bubbles. Thereby, such technique enables provision of an apparatus suitable for washing process in semiconductor manufacturing line for example.
(61) In the present invention, configuring gas-liquid mixing vessels in a multi-stage cascade makes it possible to generate a larger amount of micro-nano bubbles; this is a useful means for generating a large amount of bubbles.
(62)
(63) As can be seen in
(64) Bubbles like this produced by the water hammering gives less damage to the nozzle structure, because collision occurs only between the liquid. Therefore, it is possible to make a bubble generating apparatus have a longer service life.
(65) The significant feature of the method and the apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles by the present invention is that they are compatible with using pure water as a gas-including liquid that does not include any foreign matters such as nucleating agents in an application to washing and sterilization of semiconductor devices and food. Granted that a use of the nucleating agents, or the like, is needed to increase the amount of generation of micro-nano bubbles, the quantity of addition of such material into pure water can be considerably reduced. In the present invention, tap water, well water, or spring water such as natural water other than pure water can be used in consideration of the supply state or usability. Further in the present invention, the strengthening of the oxidizing action of the dissolved liquid and the reformulating of the liquid for enhancing permeability required for impurity removing action may be practicable to increase the effectiveness of the washing and sterilizing.
(66) The method for strengthening the oxidizing action of the dissolved liquid stated above includes the use of the gas-including liquid which is an aqueous solution prepared by adding, to pure water, at least one of oxidant selected from the group consisting of ozone, oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, chloric acid, perchloric acid, and potassium permanganate. Among these oxidant, ozone and oxygen are preferable oxidant for the present invention, because they have little adverse effect as an additive and their environmental load is very small.
(67) As the method for enhancing the permeability for impurity removing action in the gas-including liquid stated above, it is a preferable method to add a gas selected from the group consisting of carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas, which has excellent permeability for impurity removing action. On generation of micro-nano bubbles, carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, or nitrogen gas invades easily the boundary surfaces between a semiconductor device and impurities, such as residuals of resist, adhering to its surface. Thereby, the effectiveness of the washing is largely increased. Further, since carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas is harmless to human body, such gas is suitable for the present invention as a reformulating additive.
(68) The structure and shape of the micro-nano bubble generating nozzle by the present invention will be detailed referring to concrete embodiments.
First Embodiment
(69)
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(71) A liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
(72) A liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
(73) A liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
(74) A liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
(75) As stated above, micro-nano bubbles, which were not generated without a high-pressure pump, can be generated in a large amount by optimizing the structure and arrangement of the through-hole of the liquid-collision nozzle even if the pump pressure is 0.2 MPa; thus this technique is able to actualize energy-saving.
Second Embodiment
(76) Referring to
(77)
(78) A liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
(79) In the present invention, either of the nozzles having the structure illustrated in
Third Embodiment
(80) Regarding a liquid-collision nozzle illustrated in
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(83) Thus, the diameter of the small through-holes of the liquid-collision nozzle is an important factor that determines the performance of the micro-nano bubbles. Although there is a difference in behavior depending on the nature of the liquid and the gas to be dissolved, the tendency is as described in the above. Therefore, the amount of micro-nano bubbles can be controlled by adjusting the diameter of the small through-holes of the liquid-collision nozzle.
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(85) As can be known from
Fourth Embodiment
(86) Micro-nano bubbles were generated using distilled water as the gas-including liquid with the apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles by the present invention as illustrated in
(87) Comparison of the results shown in
(88) As stated above, the method for generating micro-nano bubbles by the present invention generates micro-nano bubbles using the water hammering power. Therefore, the method is able to generate micro-nano bubbles in a large amount using pure water only without use of substances which are not necessarily needed such as nucleating agents. Accordingly, the method can realize a clean washing and sterilization. Since this water hammering power is maximized by the use of a bubble generating nozzle having an optimized structure and shape and by an apparatus that is able to stably perform the generation of a large amount of bubbles, the application of such combination makes it possible to perform the continuous and stable generation of bubbles in an efficient manner. Thereby, the amount of generation of small-size bubbles, not only of the size of micrometer order but also of nanometer order, can be increased together. This feature enhances the capability and function in the washing and sterilizing more than those in conventional techniques.
(89) Further, for a clean washing that is incompatible with metal ions which a wetted part generates, configuring a pump or piping, or both, in a washing apparatus with plastic or preferably with fluorine resin makes the apparatus become to have a high reliability and a clean feature. Thus, the apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles by the present invention is applicable to the clean washing for such as semiconductor wafers. Conventionally, the washing of semiconductor wafers has used processing with such as strong acid treatment, alkaline neutralization, and pure water rinsing. The process therefore has been complicated and the environmental load has been large because, for example, the process uses drug solutions. However, the present invention is able to solve this problem. Further, the process burden such as in the disposal of drug solutions is eliminated and the required scale for semiconductor manufacturing equipment becomes small and related process is made compact; these are a great industrial value.
(90) Further, in the semiconductor wafer washing, the use of a micro-nano bubble-generated liquid, other than pure water, improves the washing effect largely and makes the washing process very simple with the washing equipment downsized. The micro-nano bubble-generated liquid for such use is prepared by adding a gas having excellent oxidizing ability like oxygen or a permeable impurity removal agent such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas, and then followed by the micro-nano bubble generation process by the present invention. Thereby, the washing becomes environment friendly. Further, the process burden such as in the disposal of drug solutions is eliminated and the required scale for semiconductor manufacturing equipment becomes small and related process is made compact; these are a great industrial value.
(91) The micro-nano bubble generating system by the present invention is applicable to a medical use, because the system uses micro-nano bubbles generated by a clean system that uses pumps and wetted part made of fluorine resin. Therefore, it is expected that the field of the application of the invented system will expand greatly.
(92) Further, the capability of the washing and sterilization by micro-nano bubbles that uses oxygen or ozone as its constitution gas can be applied not only to the semiconductor field but also to fields of foods and vegetables. Thus, there is a possibility in that the application range may expand to the fields such as agriculture and fisheries; and the method for generating micro-nano bubbles, the bubble generating nozzle, and the apparatus for generating micro-nano bubbles by the present invention have a very high superiority in such field expansion movement.