JP2771846B2 - Operating method of cleaning device using organic solvent - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The method for operating a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent according to the present invention is a method for removing dirt such as oil adhered to the surface of various articles using an organic solvent such as chlorofluorocarbon. It is used when dropping.

(Prior art) Mold, porous sintered metal for air bearing, IC board, etc.
BACKGROUND ART Generally, dirt such as oil adhering to the surface of various articles is cleaned by using an organic solvent such as chlorofluorocarbon and trichloroethylene as a cleaning liquid.

By using such an organic solvent as a cleaning solution,
An example of a cleaning device that performs a cleaning operation is described in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 63-63.
This will be described using the apparatus shown in Japanese Patent No. 54595 as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2, this cleaning apparatus has a cleaning tank 2 having a bottomed cylindrical shape having an open top and a lid 1 capable of sealing an upper end opening in an airtight manner, and a heater for heating and evaporating an organic solvent. And a steam generator 4 for feeding a relatively high temperature organic solvent vapor into the cleaning tank 2 through a pipe 5 and a storage tank 6 for storing the cleaning organic solvent for feeding into the cleaning tank 2. And a pipe 7 connecting the storage tank 6 and the cleaning tank 2,
A heater 12 for heating and evaporating a liquid organic solvent is combined with a cooler 11 for condensing vapor of the organic solvent, and a distilling unit 12 for sending the condensed organic solvent to the storage tank 6. A tube 8 connecting the still 12 with the distiller 12
And a liquid feed pump 9 provided in the middle of the pipe 8 is combined with the pipes 7 and 8 to form the washing tank 2 and the storage tank 6 or the evaporator 12.
Supply and discharge means 20 for supplying and discharging a liquid organic solvent between
The organic solvent vapor discharged from the cleaning tank 2 is connected to an intake pipe 16 for introducing air into the cleaning tank 2 and an end of a discharge pipe 19 provided with a vacuum pump 13 in the middle thereof, Exhaust pipe for sending air and exhaust pipe for discharging air from washing tank 2
It is composed of 15 and.

When the object to be cleaned 17 is to be cleaned by the cleaning apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the lid 1 is opened and the object to be cleaned is opened.
After accommodating 17 in the cleaning tank 2, the lid 1 is closed and the vacuum pump 13 is operated to discharge the air in the cleaning tank 2 through the exhaust pipe 15.

After the air in the cleaning tank 2 is discharged, the organic solvent in the storage tank 6 is fed into the cleaning tank 2 through the pipe 7 constituting the supply / discharge means 20 to clean the object 17 to be cleaned. At this time, by energizing the ultrasonic vibrators 18, 18 fixed to the bottom of the cleaning tank 2, ultrasonic vibration is applied to the organic solvent in the cleaning tank 2 so that the object 17 to be cleaned is efficiently cleaned. To

When the cleaning operation with the liquid organic solvent is completed, the liquid feed pump 9 constituting the supply / discharge means 20 is operated,
The vapor of the organic solvent is supplied from the steam generator 4 into the cleaning tank 2 while gradually feeding the liquid organic solvent into the cleaning tank 2 through the pipe 8 to the still 12.

As a result, a part of the object 17 to be cleaned in the cleaning tank 2 is exposed on the liquid surface of the liquid organic solvent, and the vapor of the organic solvent is condensed at the exposed portion. A so-called steam cleaning in which the surface is cleaned is performed. In addition, the used dirty organic solvent sent into the still 12 is
Heated by the heater 10 provided in 12, evaporated, and then regenerated by condensed and liquefied again by the cooler 11,
It is returned to the storage tank 6.

If all of the liquid organic solvent in the cleaning tank 2 has been sent to the still 12 while performing steam cleaning, the vacuum pump 13 provided in the middle of the discharge pipe 19 is operated, and the liquid organic solvent remaining in the cleaning tank 2 is left. The organic solvent vapor is discharged into the distiller 12 through the drainage pipe 14. In this way, the evaporator is connected through the discharge pipe 19 and the
The vapor of the organic solvent discharged into 12 is condensed and liquefied by a cooler 11 provided in the distiller 12, and is collected. Cooler
The organic solvent vapor that could not be completely recovered by 11 is recovered by the secondary cooler 21, and a trace amount of organic solvent vapor that could not be recovered by the secondary cooler 21 is further collected by the activated carbon filter 22. You.

When the inside of the cleaning tank 2 reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum with the operation of the vacuum pump 13, the vacuum pump 13 is stopped, and air is sent into the cleaning tank 2 through the suction pipe 16.

As a result, when the pressure in the cleaning tank 2 rises to about the atmospheric pressure, the lid 1 of the cleaning tank 2 is opened, and the object 17 to be cleaned after the cleaning work is taken out.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the case of operating the cleaning apparatus according to the prior invention configured and operating as described above, conventionally, the following inconvenience occurs.

That is, the cleaning operation of the cleaning target 17 is performed by sending the organic solvent into the cleaning tank 2, and after the liquid organic solvent is discharged from the cleaning tank 2, the valve 23 in the middle of the pipe 5 is opened to generate steam. The organic solvent vapor for steam cleaning is sent from the device 4 into the cleaning tank 2. At this time, since the pressure in the cleaning tank 2 is considerably reduced, the liquid organic solvent existing in the steam generator 4 is The solvent may bump.

When the liquid pump 9 is operated after the cleaning operation to discharge the liquid organic solvent in the cleaning tank 2, the pressure in the cleaning tank 2 decreases with the discharge of the liquid organic solvent. Decreases to the vapor pressure of the organic solvent at that temperature.

However, the conventional cleaning apparatuses, including those of the above-mentioned prior invention, are based on the temperature of the liquid organic solvent in the cleaning tank 2 and the steam generator 4.
The relationship between the temperature of the liquid organic solvent in the container and the temperature was not regulated at all, and only the temperature of the organic solvent vapor sent into the cleaning tank 2 was taken into consideration so that the vapor cleaning was effectively performed. The temperature of the liquid organic solvent in the steam generator 4 was always higher than the temperature of the liquid organic solvent in the cleaning tank 2.

In such a state, when the valve 23 in the middle of the pipe 5 is opened and the pressure in the steam generator 4 is made the same as the pressure in the cleaning tank 2 (the pressure in the steam generator 4 is reduced), steam is generated. The pressure in the vessel 4 will be lower than the vapor pressure at the temperature of the liquid organic solvent present in the evaporation generator 4.

As a result, the liquid organic solvent existing in the steam generator 4 is bumped, and there is a possibility that droplets generated by this bumping are sent into the cleaning tank 2 through the pipe 5.

When the unevaporated droplets are sent into the cleaning tank 2 and adhere to the surface of the object 17 to be cleaned stored in the cleaning tank 2, steam cleaning of the adhered portion is not performed, and the cleaning effect by the steam cleaning is reduced. It is not preferable because it is damaged.

The method of operating a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent according to the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The method of operating a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent according to the present invention comprises:
As shown in FIG. 1, a cleaning tank 2 which can be hermetically sealed with an object to be cleaned stored therein, and a supply / discharge means 20 which can supply and discharge an organic solvent for cleaning into the cleaning tank 2 (see FIG. 2) ) And a steam generator 4 which incorporates a heater 3 and feeds an organic solvent vapor generated by heating by the heater 3 into the cleaning tank 2 to operate a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent.

In the method of the present invention for operating such a washing apparatus, a liquid organic solvent is fed into the washing tank 2 through the pipe 7 constituting the supply / discharge means 20 and stored in the washing tank 2. After cleaning the cleaned object, the liquid pump 9 constituting the supply / discharge means 20 is operated to discharge the liquid organic solvent from the cleaning tank 2.
The temperature T ₂ of the liquid organic solvent in the inside is slightly higher than the temperature T ₄ of the liquid organic solvent in the steam generator 4.

That is, the output signal of the temperature sensor 26 for detecting the temperature T ₂ of the liquid organic solvent existing in the cleaning tank 2 and the temperature sensor 27 for detecting the temperature T ₄ of the liquid organic solvent existing in the steam generator 4.
And the output signal is input to a controller 28 for controlling the amount of electricity supplied to the heater 3 of the steam generator 4.

Then, the controller 28, as described above, the temperature T ₂ of the liquid organic solvent in the washing tank 2 is higher slightly than the temperature T ₄ of the liquid organic solvent in the steam generator 4 (T _2> As in T ₄ ), while energization of the heater 3 is controlled, the valve
23 is opened, and the supply of the organic solvent vapor from the vapor generator 4 to the cleaning tank 2 is started.

As a result, the pressure in the steam generator 4 becomes the same as the pressure in the cleaning tank 2. At this time, the pressure in the steam generator 4 becomes equal to the temperature T of the liquid organic solvent existing in the steam generator 4. _No lower than the vapor pressure at ₄ . Therefore, the liquid organic solvent existing in the steam generator 4 is bumped, and the liquid droplets generated by the bumping are not sent to the cleaning tank 2 through the pipe 5.

As described above, after starting the supply of the organic solvent vapor from the steam generator 4 to the cleaning tank 2, the controller 28
The temperature of the organic solvent vapor sent from the steam generator 4 to the cleaning tank 2 is increased by increasing the amount of power supplied to the cleaning tank 2.

For this reason, the difference between the temperature of the organic solvent vapor sent into the cleaning tank 2 and the surface temperature of the object to be cleaned can be increased,
The effect of vapor cleaning can be enhanced by increasing the amount of organic solvent vapor condensed on the surface of the object to be cleaned.

When the temperature T ₄ of the liquid organic solvent present in the steam generator ₄ is increased by the heater 3, since the valve 23 has already been opened, the pressure in the steam generator 4 subsequently increases the pressure of the liquid organic solvent. It does not become lower than the vapor pressure at the temperature, and no bumping of the organic solvent occurs.

(Effect of the Invention) A method for operating a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent according to the present invention includes:
Although it is configured as described above, after completing the cleaning work with the liquid organic solvent, when performing steam cleaning, it is necessary to reliably prevent bumping of the organic solvent in the steam generator, and from the steam generator to the cleaning tank. Since the droplets are prevented from being sent, the cleaning effect by the steam cleaning can be maintained in a good state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a main part of a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent for carrying out the operating method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing an example of the cleaning apparatus. 1: lid, 2: cleaning tank, 3: heater, 4: steam generator, 5: pipe, 6: storage tank, 7, 8: pipe, 9: liquid pump, 10: heater, 11: cooler, 12 : Distiller, 13: Vacuum pump, 14: Drain pipe, 15: Exhaust pipe, 16: Intake pipe, 17: Cleaning target, 18: Ultrasonic vibrator, 19: Drain pipe, 20: Supply / discharge means, 21 : Secondary cooler, 22: activated carbon filter, 23, 24: valve, 25: pipe, 26, 27: temperature sensor, 28: controller.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cleaning tank which contains an object to be cleaned and which can be hermetically sealed, a supply and discharge means which can supply and discharge an organic solvent for cleaning into and from the cleaning tank, and a heater built-in. A method for operating a cleaning apparatus using an organic solvent, comprising an organic solvent vapor generated by the method and a steam generator for feeding the organic solvent vapor into the cleaning tank. After the object to be cleaned stored in the tank is washed, the supply and discharge means discharges the liquid organic solvent from the washing tank, and by controlling the power supply to the heater, the liquid in the washing tank is controlled. With the temperature of the organic solvent slightly higher than the temperature of the liquid organic solvent in the steam generator, start sending the organic solvent vapor from the steam generator to the cleaning tank, and after starting the amount of electricity to the heater The steam generator Raising the temperature of the organic solvent vapor is fed into Kiyoshiso, operating method of the washing apparatus that uses an organic solvent.