APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATING A SUBSTRATE WITH SOLID PARTICLES IN A ROTATABLY MOUNTED DRUM
Apparatus for use in the treatment of substrates with a solid particulate material comprising a housing having mounted therein a rotatably mounted drum having an inner surface and an end wall and access means for introducing said substrates into said drum, wherein a partition (1) is disposed within the drum to divide the interior thereof into a storage compartment (15) for storing said solid particulate material and a treatment compartment (14) for said treatment of substrates, wherein the storage compartment (15) is adjacent the end wall and the treatment compartment (14) is adjacent the access means, wherein said partition (1) comprises one or more apertures (3,6) to allow flow of solid particulate material between the storage compartment (15) and the treatment compartment (14), wherein the flow of solid particulate material from the storage compartment towards the treatment compartment is facilitated by the rotation of said drum in a dispensing direction and the flow of solid particulate material from the treatment compartment towards the storage compartment is facilitated by the rotation of said drum in a collecting direction opposite to the dispensing direction, and wherein said partition (1) comprises a front panel (2) facing the treatment compartment and a back panel (5) facing the storage compartment, whereby the front panel (2) comprises at least one front panel aperture (3, 4) and the back panel (5) comprises at least one back panel aperture (6,7) which allows flow of solid particulate material between the storage compartment (15) and the treatment compartment (14) and at least one cavity, at least one collecting deflector surface (17a,17b,17c,27a,27b,27c), and at least one dispensing deflector surface (16a,16b,16c,23a,23b,23c) are disposed between the front and rear panels,wherein said at least one collecting deflector surface (17a,17b,17c,27a,27b,27c) is configured to deflect solid particulate material in said at least one cavity (9,10) towards the storage compartment (15) and said at least one dispensing deflector surface (16a,16b,16c,23a,23b,23c) is configured to deflect solid particulate material in said at least one cavity (9,10) towards the treatment compartment (14).