Industrial Factory Automation

By utilising cryogenic cleaning technology from Polar ICS on its weighing and packing machines, Turners PPL has reduced the time it takes to clean the machines by 60 per cent. Polar ICS's cleaning technology is based on dry-ice (or cryogenic) blasting, which enables production machines to be cleaned while in situ. Compared to traditional methods, Polar ICS's dry-ice cleaning solution is said to reduce cleaning time by approximately 90 per cent. The cleaning process itself is also non-toxic, non-conductive and non-abrasive. Dry-ice blasting uses compact pellets that are accelerated in a jet of compressed air. These pellets strike the surface at the speed of sound, whereupon they crack and loosen the coating on the surface that is being treated. The pellets' -79C temperature makes the coating brittle, which cracks and loosens the surface, allowing the dry ice to permeate the coating. The ice then passes from a solid state to vapour, which leads to a 700-fold increase in volu...

Layton Technologies has introduced the Bluestone SE range of equipment, which enables the use of a range of cleaning solvents, including Tric, Perc, hydrocarbons, HFEs, HFCs, Vertel, Novec and nPB. The double-enclosure system is claimed to offer companies a high level of future proofing for their solvent cleaning process. According to the company, any solvent can be used in a compliant and safe system that is capable of being easily converted to accommodate alternative solvents if required. The system includes low-emission features that enable the economical use of relatively high-cost solvents. Given the level of change and the introduction of industry supply codes, companies may not want to be tied to a single solvent or supplier. The Bluestone system is designed to provide safe, low-emission solvent cleaning, which is carried out within a sealed process chamber and inside a secondary enclosure using a process that prevents solvent loss or operator exposure.