Guyson International has recently supplied a Microsolve M250/2M solvent cleaning system into one of the UK's leading optics manufacturers
The company's products are demanding a critical level of cleaning, it being at fore-front of optical and super high precision mechanical component machining with natural diamond tools, producing mirrors, polygons, infrared domes and lenses, flats, aspherics etc.
The Microsolve cleaning system is installed for the precision stain free cleaning of medical/optical lens components following the diamond machining and removes any traces of airborne dust, machining oil residues and finger prints from the optics prior to an anti-scratch vacuum coating process.
The PLC-controlled cleaning process has two stages; the specially designed component baskets are first lowered into the unit one by an Autotrans single-axis transporter.
This is designed to provide a controlled lift of the parts to be cleaned in and out of the cleaning tanks with the minimum of disturbance of the solvent vapour, thereby minimising expensive solvent losses and high concentrations of vapour emissions, cutting any OEL (Occupational Exposure Limits) for operators.
Ultrasonic cleaning is carried out in the stage one tank, which is fitted with base mounted ultrasonic transducers powered by a Pulsatron generator which is equipped with an optional Neptune microprocessor controller which allows dual frequency, switchable between 38kHz and 70kHz.
The higher frequency allows sensitive or difficult parts - such as very fine precision components - to be cleaned both safely and effectively.
Neptune also provides variable power control and will store up to seven cleaning programs in memory for automatic operation when required.
Stage one also has electric solution heating with electronic temperature control digital indication and a pumping and filtration system.
The second tank is electrically heated, allowing the solvent to boil.
The resulting vapour rinses the components, which are then dried by a dwell in the freeboard zone.
Distilled solvent, condensed by the primary cooling coils, passes through a water separator with in-line heat exchanger and returns to the ultrasonic tank, displacing contaminated solvent into the boiling sump.
Distillation, together with filtration of the solvent, ensures that the ultrasonic tank is maintained at a controlled level of cleanliness.
