JPH0243979A - Article washing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an article washing device, and in particular is used for the purpose of removing foreign matter adhering to the surface of articles by using a low boiling point solvent such as fluorocarbon as a cleaning liquid. This invention relates to improvements in wet type article washing equipment.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional equipment for immersing and cleaning objects using low-boiling solvents usually involves arranging several types of cleaning tanks in series, transferring the objects sequentially while immersing them in each tank, and finally drying them. Trying to complete the cleaning process. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a conventional device of this type. The device shown in the figure has a boiling/boiling ultrasonic cleaning tank 1, an ultrasonic cleaning tank 2, a cooling rinse tank 3, and a steam generation tank 4 connected in series. They are placed adjacent to each other.

The boiling ultrasonic cleaning tank 1 is equipped with a heater 5A, an ultrasonic vibrator 6A, a cleaning liquid filtration means consisting of a circulation pump 7A and a filter 8A, and the ultrasonic cleaning tank 2 is equipped with an ultrasonic vibrator 6B. There is. A cooling coil 9C is attached to the cooling rinse tank 3, and the cooling rinse tank 3 is connected to the ultrasonic cleaning tank 2 via an overflow chamber 10, and also includes a circulation pump 7B and filters 8B and 8C. The circulating filtrate is cooled by a circulating filtration means consisting of a rinse tank 3, an overflow chamber 10, and an ultrasonic cleaning tank 2.
are cycled through sequentially. In order to reduce the consumption of solvent vapor generated from the boiling ultrasonic cleaning tank 1 and the steam generation tank 4, a cooling coil 9A for steam condensation is installed on the upper part of the tank wall.
9B and 9D are installed.

When cleaning an object to be cleaned using such an article washing device, the object to be cleaned 11 is grasped and transferred by a gripper 13 provided at the tip of the conveyor arm 1.12, but first, most of the foreign matter adhering to it is removed. For this purpose, the sample is immersed in a boiling ultrasonic cleaning tank 1 and irradiated with ultrasonic waves for a certain period of time in a boiling solvent liquid (approximately 47°C in the case of Freon). Next, for the purpose of final cleaning, it is transferred to an ultrasonic cleaning tank 2, immersed therein, and similarly irradiated with ultrasonic waves. Next, for final rinsing and lowering the temperature of the object 11 to be cleaned, the object 11 to be cleaned is immersed in a cooling rinse tank 3 to lower the temperature sufficiently, and then passed through the steam zone 14 at the top of the tank for steam cleaning, and then dried as it is for the next process. It is set to be transferred.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional article washing apparatus using a low boiling point solvent, the upper limit of the washing temperature is limited by the solvent used, and it is difficult to use a low boiling point solvent such as Freon 113 or methylene chloride. When performing an integrated treatment, there is a problem in that sufficient cleanliness cannot be obtained because the cleaning effect cannot be expected to improve due to an increase in the solvent temperature. Furthermore, in order to ensure cleanliness, it is conceivable to install boiling ultrasonic cleaning tanks in multiple stages for cleaning, but in such a case, there is a problem that the space becomes large and the size of the apparatus is unavoidable.

The present invention has focused on the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to provide an article washing apparatus that can increase the temperature of a low boiling point solvent and improve cleanliness while having a compact apparatus configuration.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the article washing apparatus according to the present invention includes a sealable pressure regulating chamber into which the objects to be washed are carried, and a washing tank into which the washing liquid is heated and circulated. The pressure regulating chamber and the cleaning tank are formed so as to be airtightly separable, and
At least the pressure regulating chamber is connected to an exhaust means and a pressure means.

(Function) According to the above configuration, the pressure regulating chamber and the cleaning tank, which are in a pressurized state in advance, are shut off to seal the cleaning tank, and at the same time, the internal gas of the pressure regulating chamber is exhausted to make it equal to the outside pressure. The items to be washed are brought in. After that, the pressure regulation chamber is isolated from the outside, and the internal pressure is increased to the same as the internal pressure of the cleaning tank, thereby establishing communication between the pressure regulation chamber and the cleaning tank.

Thereby, the object to be cleaned carried into the cleaning tank can be cleaned with the pressurized cleaning liquid.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 2, the saturation pressure of a low boiling point solvent such as Freon 113 increases as the liquid temperature rises. Moreover, the higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity.

For this reason, by using a low boiling point solvent as the cleaning liquid in the article washing apparatus according to the present invention, the liquid phase can be maintained even if the heating temperature of the circulating cleaning liquid supplied to the cleaning tank is increased. . As a result, the object to be cleaned can be cleaned with a high temperature, low viscosity cleaning liquid, and even if the shape of the object to be cleaned is complex, a high cleaning effect can be exerted, and even if the cleaning tank is small, a sufficiently high cleaning effect can be obtained. Can be done.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the article washing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of an article washing apparatus according to an embodiment. As shown in this figure, the article washing apparatus is provided with a cleaning tank 20 constituting a cleaning chamber in the center of the main body and a pressure regulating chamber 22 above the cleaning tank 20.
A cleaning liquid such as No. 3 is put therein, and the object 24 to be cleaned is immersed in this liquid. An ultrasonic vibrator 26 is attached to the side wall of the cleaning tank 20, and when activated, the object to be cleaned 24 immersed in the cleaning tank 20 is ultrasonically cleaned. Further, the cleaning tank 20 has an overflow type tank structure, and the overflow liquid is once received in a group provided on the inner circumferential wall, and is then sent to a heating tank 28 provided outside the cleaning chamber. The heating tank 28 is equipped with a heater 30 and a temperature sensor 32 to heat the cleaning liquid in the heating tank 28 to a predetermined temperature. The heating tank 28 is provided with a circulation path to the cleaning tank 20, and a circulation pump 34 is connected to this.
and filters 36 (36A, 36B) are arranged so that the temperature is controlled and the circulating and filtered cleaning liquid is returned to the cleaning tank 20.

A pressure regulating chamber 22 is provided in the upper part of the cleaning tank 20, and this is communicated with through the upper inlet opening of the cleaning tank 20. That is, an introduction cylinder part 3, which constitutes the side wall of the pressure regulating chamber 22 and which introduces the object to be cleaned 24 into the cleaning chamber, is integrally provided in the upper part of the cleaning tank 20. The upper end inlet opening of the introduction cylinder 38 serves as an inlet and outlet for the object to be cleaned 24, but it is maintained at a constant pressure (for example, a gauge pressure of 1 kg/c).
It can be opened and closed by a sliding door 40 that can withstand +1), and a cleaning chamber consisting of a pressure regulating chamber 22 and a cleaning tank 20 can be hermetically shut off. A cooling coil 42 is disposed inside the pressure regulating chamber 22 along the inner wall of the introduction tube 38, and the cooling coil 42 cools the freon vapor to prevent vapor leakage.

The cleaning tank 20 and the pressure regulating chamber 22 that constitute such a cleaning chamber are further configured to be able to be separated in a hermetically sealed manner.

That is, a disk-shaped article holding table 46 is provided in the cleaning tank 20.
is provided so as to be movable up and down via a lifting iron 48, and when this article holding table 46 rises and comes into close contact with the inlet opening of the cleaning tank 20, it is partitioned off from the pressure regulating chamber 22, and the cleaning tank 20 Ventilation is cut off between the pressure regulating chamber 22 and the pressure regulating chamber 22. Further, the article holding table 46 receives the object 24 introduced into the pressure regulating chamber 22 in a partitioned state, and then moves downward to immerse the object 24 in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank 20, thereby performing ultrasonic cleaning. The object to be cleaned 24 is moved to a possible position.

In the cleaning chamber configuration as described above, the cleaning tank 20 including the pressure regulating chamber 22 and the heating tank 28 is connected to an exhaust means and a pressure air means. First, an exhaust valve 44 is connected to the introduction cylinder portion 3 of the pressure regulating chamber 22 so that the internal gas can be discharged to the outside.
It is attached to the wall of 8. And the pressure regulation chamber 22,
Compressed air supplied via a compressor 50 is supplied to each of the cleaning tank 20 and the heating tank 28 through an air valve 52 (
52A, 52B, 52C), and can be cleaned by an in-line air filter 54 (54A, 54B, 54C) and introduced individually. Therefore, the pressure in each chamber can be adjusted by the action of the exhaust valve 44, the activation of the compressor 50, and the opening/closing operation of the air valve 52. In order to detect the pressure state, pressure sensors 56 are attached to the pressure regulating chamber 22, the cleaning tank 20, and the heating tank 28.

In addition to the above-mentioned cleaning chamber configuration, a container body 5 is provided which surrounds the pressure regulation chamber 22 and has a large spatial volume and includes a built-in device for carrying in the object 24 to be cleaned. This container body 58
is the carry-in side overhang 6 that overhangs one side of the cleaning tank 20.
0 and an unloading side overhanging part 62 overhanging the other side,
A carry-in door 64 and a carry-out door 66 are provided on the bottom surface of each projecting portion 60, 62. Further, at a position below each field 64, 66, and on both sides of the cleaning tank 20, there is a carry-in conveyor 68 for conveying the object 24 to be cleaned to a position below the carry-in door 64, and a carry-in conveyor 68 for conveying the object 24 to be cleaned to a position below the carry-in door 64.
A carry-out conveyor 70 is provided for receiving the 4 through the carry-out door 66 and carrying it out of the system. On the other hand, the container body 5
8, an elevating rod 48 for the article holding table 46 is provided at a central position, which is rotatable by a rotary motor 72 provided at the tip of the rond, and is also movable up and down by an elevating means (not shown). There is. On one side with such a lift rond 48 in between, there is a first conveying device that receives the object 24 to be cleaned from the carry-in door 64 and transfers the object 24 to be cleaned from the opened slide rii 40 onto the article holding table 46. 74 is provided, and the object to be cleaned 24 which has been completely cleaned is provided on the other side.
A second conveyance device 76 is provided which takes the articles from the article holding table 46 and transfers them onto the discharge conveyor 70 through the discharge door 66. These conveying devices 74 and 76 have a moving rod 80 guided by an inverted U-shaped guide 78 and a gripping tool 82 provided at the lower end thereof, and are used to transport the object 24 to be cleaned,
The receiver is the hander.

The operation of the article washing apparatus configured as described above is as follows. The object to be cleaned 24 is conveyed by a carry-in conveyor 68 to a position immediately below the carry-out door 66 . Here, the container body is transported within five days by the tip gripping tool 82 of the moving rod 80 of the first transport device 74, and is placed on standby at a position directly above the sliding door 40 of the cleaning room. Next, the article holding table 46 is raised and the cleaning tank 2
0 and the pressure regulation chamber 22 are airtightly divided, and at the same time the pressure regulation chamber 22
The exhaust valve 44 is opened to make the pressure inside the pressure regulating chamber 22 the same as the pressure inside the container body within 5 days. After the pressure sensor 56 confirms that the pressures have become equal, the slide door 40 is opened, the moving rod 80 is lowered, and the object 24 to be cleaned is placed on the object holding table 46. After the moving rod 80 is raised, the sliding door 40 is closed, the supply of compressed air from the compressor 50 is started, and the internal pressure of the pressure regulating chamber 22 is the same as that of the circulation system including the cleaning tank 20 and the heating tank 28 (for example, The gauge pressure is increased to 1 kg/c-d). ! When the internal pressure of the J1 pressure chamber 22 becomes the same as that of the cleaning tank 20, the central lifting rod 48 is lowered, and the object to be cleaned 24 and the article holding table 46 on which it is placed are moved from the fluorocarbon inside the cleaning tank 20. Immerse it in a low boiling point solvent such as

As shown in Figure 2, low-boiling point solvents such as chlorofluorocarbons exhibit a liquid phase even at 60°C when the pressure is increased by about 1 kg/aJ, and the viscosity decreases further. Effective for cleaning. Since the pressure of the object 24 to be cleaned is increased, the object 24 is in a liquid phase at a high temperature. The object 24 to be cleaned is ultrasonically cleaned while being slowly rotated by the rotary motor 72 in this fluorocarbon bath. Thereafter, by raising the elevating rod 48, the article holding table 46 again isolates the cleaning tank 20 from the pressure regulating chamber 22. Then, the exhaust valve 44 of the divided pressure regulation chamber 22 is opened and the pressure regulation chamber 22 is opened.
After making the internal pressure equal to the pressure of the container body 58, the sliding door 40 is opened and the moving rod 80 of the second conveying device 76 is lowered to grab the object 24 and lift it out of the cleaning chamber. Thereafter, the moving rod 80 is moved along the guide 78, transferred from the carry-out door 66 onto the carry-out conveyor 70, and sent to the next process.

The container body 58 is provided with a blow-off unit equipped with a blow-off fan 84, a high-performance air filter 86, and a rectifying plate 88 on the ceiling, and circulates the air inside the container body 58 through a circulation duct 90 to keep it clean at all times. I try to keep it in good condition.

According to the article washing apparatus according to this embodiment, the washing chamber is constituted by the washing tank 20 and the pressure regulating chamber 22, which can be separated and shut off. The object to be cleaned 24 can be ultrasonically cleaned while being maintained in the same state.

Therefore, it is possible to highly clean electronic components and the like that have complex shapes and require high cleanliness, and there is also the advantage that the device configuration can be made more compact since there is no need to provide multiple cleaning tanks 20.

In the above embodiment, an example of fluorocarbon was used as the cleaning liquid, but methylene chloride or a mixed solvent in which fluorocarbon 113 is mixed with a surfactant, alcohol, etc. may also be used. Although the cleaning tank 20 is an immersion cleaning tank, depending on the shape of the parts and required cleanliness, a spray cleaning method in which a pressurized high-temperature solvent is sprayed may also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since a high temperature and low viscosity cleaning solvent can be used, it is possible to clean parts with complex shapes.
In particular, there is an excellent effect that the cleaning effect is improved and a high cleaning effect can be obtained without using multiple stages of cleaning tanks.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an article washing apparatus according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a vapor diagram of fluorocarbon, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional article washing apparatus. 20...Cleaning tank, 22...Pressure regulation chamber, 2
4...Object to be cleaned, 26...Ultrasonic vibrator, 28...Heating tank, 34...Circulation pump, 40... Sliding door, 44...
Exhaust valve, 46... Article holding stand, 48...
・Lifting rod, 50...Compressor, 80・
...Movement rod, 82...Gripper. Applicant Hitachi Plant Construction Co., Ltd. Figure 1-”-Front 2 (9C) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A sealable pressure regulating chamber into which the object to be cleaned is brought in and a cleaning tank in which the cleaning liquid is heated and circulated are connected and formed;
An article washing apparatus characterized in that the pressure regulating chamber and the washing tank are formed so as to be able to be sealed and separated, and at least an exhaust means and a pressurized air means are connected to the pressure regulating chamber.