Ultrasonic Parts Cleaning, Waves of the Future

Eliminating Toxic Cleaning Chemicals

The call to reduce or totally eliminate, where possible, the use of toxic substances in industry around the world, has been with us for some time now. Alternatives to ozone depleting propellants such as CFCs, and harmful refrigerants were amongst the earliest developments. However there are still many industries, including the automotive industry, where toxic chemicals are still used, simply because alternates have not been developed.

Many cleaning applications have also relied on chemistries that were not only harmful to the environment but also to the individuals involved in the cleaning processes. Wherever greases, oils, all manner of sludge, and petrochemical residues had to be cleaned from machine parts, traditionally; hazardous air polluting solvents were used almost exclusively. This reliance on petrochemical, mineral and alcohol solvents had always presented the problem of how to dispose of not just the chemicals themselves but also the contaminants they removed. In the industrial world this problem has become almost insurmountable. Toxic waste is getting dearer and dearer to dispose of legally.

On a personal level, even the humble kerosene is not as safe a product as one might believe. Many mechanics use compressed air to blow a component dry. In doing so, however, the kerosene is atomized and breathed in by anyone and everyone nearby. This is just one example of how toxic or carcinogenic material can be ingested or absorbed into the body.

Ultrasonics Breakthrough

Ultrasonics is set to reduce many of these workplace environmental and health issues by changing forever the way many Australian industries clean and recondition equipment and parts. Ultrasonics has been in use for many decades now, but its use has generally been limited to the medical fields and the upper spectrum of scientific, aeronautical and space engineering. The use of Ultrasonics has long been recognized as highly effective cleaning technology. Many quality control tests for cleanliness use Ultrasonics as the benchmark against which other cleaning techniques are measured.

As is the case with most technologies, Ultrasonics, as used in cleaning equipment, has become much more affordable. Ultrasonic cleaners are now set to revolutionize parts cleaning in many industries. Ultrasonic cleaners can be found in many spheres of industry cleaning fuel injection systems, carburetors, pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, Anilox rolls in the printing industry, all types of parts before electroplating, medical device parts manufacturing like catheters to artificial limbs to pipettes, heat exchanges on ships engines, stainless steel chain mail aprons and gloves in meat works whatever can fit into an Ultrasonic cleaning tank. Many items that are either extremely labour intensive, or too complex in shape, or would normally require dangerous chemistries to clean, are much more effectively cleaned using Ultrasonics.

The benefits of ultrasonic cleaning are:

• Increased production due to cleaner parts and fewer rejects.
• Faster processes
• Energy savings
• Resource preservation – less water used than in other systems.
• Less waste water to be disposed
• Improved worker safety to use safer cleaning solutions
• Ability to concentrate waste for easier disposal
• Replaces dangerous and hazardous solvents and chemicals in the cleaning process