Automated parts cleaning

REQUIREMENTS

The demand for a high degree of automation in industrial parts cleaning does not simultaneously necessitate the use of complex cleaning systems with a high investment requirement, but can in individual cases also be realised in quite a simple way.

In some processes, our units can be integrated semi- or fully automatically into the process chain. This comes to bear successfully, for example, in the manufacture of solar elements, of flanges, connecting rods and in pipe cleaning, whereby robots are in some cases also used.

Pipes, for example, can be cleaned very effectively with the help of a nozzle ring and units of the 2000 series, which deliver a correspondingly high throughput.

OUR SOLUTION: LOW-PRESSURE HOT-WATER CLEANING AS A SPACE-SAVING AND LOW-COST CLEANING SYSTEM

ph-cleantec provides solution approaches that meet a high degree of automation while requiring little space.

The base technology is low-pressure hot-water units. The high cleaning performance of the systems is achieved by hot water with a temperature of up to 95°C and a pressure of up to 7.5 or up to 14 bar. The performance can be distributed over several nozzles and thus reduced to about 3 bar per nozzle. This low pressure ensures that there is no damage to the workpieces, and also that no splash-back effects occur and thus the system manages without a special enclosure.

The components can be brought into the cleaning station via simple transport systems and go on to the further processing steps after cleaning. The actual cleaning cell can be built very compactly, depending on the part geometry.

In a specific case, in which connecting rods had to be cleaned in series production, our unit was converted for continuous operation. The spray guns were replaced by ring nozzles operated by a slow solenoid valve. For cleaning, the cooling lubricant of the machine tool was used. This was run in a circuit, with correspondingly optimal lubrication and corrosion-protection properties and minimal costs for procurement and disposal.

Integration into the automation takes place via simple control technology, whereby the cleaning unit was integrated into the control technology of the system.

OUR SOLUTION: ROBOT WITH LOW-PRESSURE HOT-WATER PROCESS

Alternatively, a robot can take over the handling of the parts or the nozzles. In this case, the robot can work in a dry cell that is connected to an adjacent wet cell via a revolving door or similar device. The actual parts cleaning takes place in the wet cell with a ph-cleantec unit, e.g. a 1000 SR.

The parts are placed by the robot on a turntable, rotated under the spray jet through the revolving door, and after cleaning rotated back and cleared away. Thus, robots that do not meet the IP65 requirements can also be used.

The cleaning technology can therefore be integrated into existing automation systems with minimal effort.

The process water can be processed via our special sedimentation process and run in a circuit.

YOUR BENEFITS

• Efficiency/quality: Fast and thorough cleaning. With the right spray accessories, possibly in combination with a robot, easy cleaning even of complex surfaces.
• No damage: Thanks to the low pressure, no damage to sensitive parts.
• Thanks to various nozzles, extremely flexible and usable for all types and sizes of (metallic) components.
• Simple design ensures manageable investment with the shortest realisation time.
• Extremely space-saving system that can be inserted into an existing layout without any problem.
• Full integration into the existing parts transport system.
• Cleaning of the parts also possible with the cooling lubricant of the machine tool – thus optimal lubrication and corrosion-protection properties.
• No splash-back, no droplet clouds, no aerosols; an elaborate enclosure can thus be avoided.
• Occupational and environmental protection, chemicals: Little or no chemicals needed; this spares the environment, increases occupational safety and reduces costs.
• Recycling of the process water via a special sedimentation process and dirty-water filtration.
• Overall: Exceptionally low investment and hardly any running costs, but in return high efficiency and quality.

SEE ALSO

The video Cleaning robot shows how such systems can work in practice.

DOWNLOAD

Automated parts cleaning (PDF)