Cleaning and drying

A number of washing and drying applications have been completed. The machine shown here washed hockey sticks. The four pressure nozzles delivered 1,500 psi to all 4 sides of the sticks at the same time.

One requirement for this project was that the water needed to be re-used. This meant that 15 GPM needed to be filtering to protect the high pressure pump. Therefore, filters, a charge pump, a water cooler, and various controls and sensors were all incorporated into the design. This machine did a great job in cleaning the sticks.

To the right of the picture was a drying tunnel where an air knife removed most of the water before the sticks were dried with heated forced air. The entire machine was about 18 feet long.

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The project cleaned and dried glass parts in a clean room application. The parts were transferred through the system via an automatic transfer arm, (ie. dedicated robot). The parts were first washed in an ultrasonic DI tank, (shown at the top of the picture). The drying section, (shown at the bottom of the picture) was an Isopropal Alcohol De-greaser.

This process did a beautiful job but the IPA violated a number of fire and safety codes. Variances were obtained as the result of a number of safety features that were designed into the equipment.

An automatic drain cycle at the end of the shift, a flame and automatic Halon fire suppression system, and a load lock coupled with an exhaust system were all employed.

The result of this project were very clean and dry glass parts.