Wash Station - Ultrasonic cleaning line

Company Name: FinnSonic

Location: Lahti, Finland

Eclipse Product Installed: Micromag MM HP80

Industry: Industrial cleaning

Process Type: Wash station

Application Background

FinnSonic specialises in ultrasonic cleaning and fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI). Founded in 1979 and based in the city of Lahti in Finland, the company develops and manufactures solutions for the cleaning of demanding industrial parts and NDT systems.

FinnSonic’s aim is to develop intelligent, safe, and cost effective solutions to meet their customers’ needs, who include British Airways, Emirates Airline, GE Aviation, Finnair, Hella, Metso, Parker, Scania, Sandvik and Siemens, among others. FinnSonic’s products and systems are currently used in more than 30 countries, with over 80% of their production exported globally.

As cleanliness is proven to have a significant effect in production quality, efficiency and results, ultrasonic cleaning solutions are one of FinnSonic’s core competencies. FinnSonic specialise in modular and bespoke designs to meet stringent requirements for cleanliness, material handling, and high volume throughputs.

Problem

FinnSonic Optima ultrasonic cleaning lines offer intelligent, safe, and cost effective heavy duty precision component cleaning solutions for demanding applications in manufacturing industries. The FinnSonic Optima has been specifically designed for cleaning after the process of Thermal Deburring (TEM), a high-temperature deburring process that uses an explosive gas mixture to burn off burrs.

The thermal deburring process leaves a significant amount of small iron particles on the surface of parts after the treatment. Therefore, after TEM the parts need to be carefully rinsed and dried. The cleaning process effectively removes all the soot and small particles of iron that are created during the thermal treatment from the hydraulic block. It is imperative that the valve blocks are especially clean and free from hard particles before they are taken into use.

However, as the particles are removed using FinnSonic’s Optima ultrasonic cleaning line, they have a tendency to accumulate in the wash tank during the cleaning process. The accumulation of these particles substantially decreases the quality of the cleaning fluid, adversely affecting the end result of the cleaning process. For this reason, FinnSonic needed to find an effective method of removing the iron particles from the washing liquid, in order to keep the quality of the cleaning fluid to the highest standard, and ensure that the results of the cleaning process as a whole are of the highest standard.

Solution

FinnSonic’s Optima ultrasonic cleaning process is a 5-stage cleaning system with vacuum dryer; a superior system designed to achieve the required cleanliness level. The line consists of two Sonicjet stages with efficient particle removal capacity, as well as a Micromag HP80 magnetic filtration unit from Eclipse Magnetics added at a single standard ultrasonic cleaning stage.

The first of the two rinse stages is powered by jet spray function. After rinsing, the blocks are dried in a vacuum dryer with infrared heating, treating the surfaces with up to 50 mPa pressure. The blocks are outstandingly clean after the treatment, and dry in less than 10 minutes cycle time. The parts are then ready for the next production stage.

The liquid is circulated in a closed loop between the ultrasonic wash tank and the Micromag magnetic filter. The Micromag allows the contaminated cleaning fluid to enter the inlet port where it is dispersed by the unique tapered radial flow channels. As the fluid passes down the inside of the centrally mounted rare earth magnetic core, it captures contamination particles along its length. The geometry of the magnetic flux circuit means that contamination builds up in a controlled way, ensuring that the filter can never block, irrespective of how much contamination is held. Channels remain open allowing fluid too continue to flow freely. The filtered fluid then flows through the return slots located in the upper section of the magnetic core, down through the centre and exits through the outlet port.

The Micromag HP80 filter was selected due to its particular suitability for high pressure applications, especially wash systems where high levels of resistance to corrosive elements in cleaning solutions and detergents are required. The filtration provided by the Micromag ensures that the particles removed during the cleaning process do not accumulate in the wash tank, keeping the cleaning fluid as clean as possible and making sure that the cleaning process is carried out to the highest standard.

Comments

Sirpa Suomela at Finnsonic said: “After thermal deburring there tends to be a lot of metallic particles in the ultrasonic cleaning baths. One of the benefits of using the magnetic filter in the cleaning process is that it can collect a vast number of metallic particles much more efficiently than traditional cartridge or bag filters. Another benefit of the magnetic filter is that it can be cleaned and then used again, unlike cartridge and bag filters which require elements to be changed very frequently as they clog up with particles. Effective filtration not only guarantees a good level of cleaning, it also reduces consumption of cleaning detergent and water.”

Find out more about Magnetic Filtration or contact us for more details