JP3301223B2 - Cleaning equipment for parts and boards - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning various parts such as electronic parts such as ICs and capacitors, metal parts, precision parts and the like or printed circuit boards.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Fats and oils and waxes adhering to various parts such as electronic parts such as ICs and capacitors, metal parts and precision parts, and fluxes used for soldering of printed wiring boards and the like are used. In addition, since various adverse effects are caused in the use to which each object is provided, the object is washed and removed from the object by a cleaning agent.

Heretofore, halogen-based cleaning agents such as trichloroethylene and trichlorotrifluoroethane have been used as such cleaning agents. These halogen-based cleaning agents are nonflammable in themselves, have excellent drying properties, and have a low surface tension and are excellent in penetrating dirt on an object to be cleaned. The object is simply immersed in the cleaning agent, or at the time of immersion, ultrasonic irradiation or the like is used to remove stains on the object to be cleaned, then lifted up from the cleaning agent, rinsed with steam of the cleaning agent, and dried. However, these halogen-based cleaning agents are becoming unusable due to environmental pollution problems such as ozone layer destruction and toxicity problems.

Under these circumstances, water-based or quasi-water-based cleaning comprising hydrocarbon-based solvent, glycol ether-based compound, various surfactants, a mixture of water or the like, or water itself has recently been used as a cleaning agent instead of a halogen-based cleaning agent. Agent is used.

[0005] Among these alternative cleaning agents, hydrocarbon solvents have a solubility and permeability similar to those of halogen-based cleaning agents, but due to the problem of flammability of the hydrocarbon solvents themselves, cleaning apparatuses are not suitable. There is a problem that explosion-proof equipment is required.

On the other hand, water-based or semi-water-based cleaning agents are nonflammable and easy to use and safer than hydrocarbon-based solvents. Therefore, explosion-proof equipment is not required for cleaning equipment. Since the permeability is inferior to that of the cleaning tank, physical assistance is required for the cleaning tank by a submerged jet mechanism or the like. However, in the case where such a submerged jet mechanism is conventionally used, in order to circulate and use the cleaning liquid, the cleaning tank and the pump are connected by a pipe,
In addition, it is necessary to connect the pump and the jet mechanism with piping, and there are the following problems.

[0007] That is, (1) there is a risk that the cleaning liquid leaks at the connection of each pipe. (2) It is necessary to devise a method for storing the cleaning device in a certain place, and the number of design and manufacturing steps is large. As a result, the time and cost required for designing and manufacturing are increased. (3) Maintenance is difficult because the structure is complicated. (4) The cleaning device is large as a whole.
(5) When the piping is complicated, pressure loss of the jet flow occurs. There was such a problem. In particular, the problem (1) is an unavoidable problem because of having a pipe, and always requires attention when the apparatus is operating.

In the cleaning tank using the submerged jet mechanism, in addition to the jet generated from the jet mechanism, the jet flows countercurrently on the bottom and / or side surfaces of the cleaning tank, and turbulence occurs in the cleaning tank. Therefore, there is also a problem that the object to be cleaned cannot be partially cleaned and cleaning efficiency is poor.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention seeks to solve the problems associated with piping. Further, it is intended to improve the cleaning efficiency in a cleaning tank using a submerged jet mechanism.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a cleaning apparatus having a cleaning tank for cleaning an object to be cleaned by using a cleaning liquid by a submerged jet mechanism, wherein the cleaning tank stores a cleaning liquid used for cleaning. Wherein the submerged jet mechanism is directly connected to a pump, and the cleaning liquid suction portion of the pump is in the cleaning liquid stored in the container. And a substrate cleaning apparatus.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As schematically shown in FIG. 1, a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes an object 4 to be cleaned inside a container 2 storing a cleaning liquid 1.
Is provided, and the cleaning tank 3 has an injection nozzle 5 used for cleaning the object 4 to be cleaned by a submerged jet mechanism. The injection nozzle 5 is a nozzle head 6 and is connected to a pump 7, and a cleaning liquid suction part 8 of the pump 7 is in the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2. Cleaning tank 3
Is provided with a flow port 9 for the cleaning liquid 1 on the side surface in the jet direction.

As is clear from FIG. 1, the cleaning apparatus having such a configuration can use a cleaning liquid in a circulating manner without requiring any piping. That is, as indicated by the arrow in the figure, the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2 is sucked by the cleaning liquid suction unit 8 of the pump 7 and is injected from the injection nozzle 5 in the cleaning tank 3. Then, the cleaning object 1 is washed by the jet of the jetted cleaning liquid 1, while the cleaning liquid 1 in the cleaning tank 3 that has washed the cleaning object 4 returns to the container 2 from the circulation port 9, and the cleaning liquid 1 is again Circulated as the cleaning liquid 1. As described above, since all the steps from the submerged jet to the circulation of the cleaning liquid are performed inside the container 2, a circulation line for the cleaning liquid is not required. As a result, there is no need to worry about leakage of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning device, and there is no need to design the arrangement of the pipes. Furthermore, in the cleaning tank 3, the cleaning agent 1 injected from the injection nozzle 5 flows in the direction of the circulation port 9, while in the container 2, the cleaning liquid 1 returned from the circulation port 9 is supplied to the cleaning liquid suction portion 8 of the pump 7. , And a smooth liquid flow state is formed in each of the cleaning section in the cleaning tank 3 and the circulation section of the cleaning liquid 1 in the vessel 2, so that turbulence is eliminated in the cleaning tank 3 and the cleaning property is improved. Further, since the flow velocity in the cleaning tank 3 does not decrease, the cleaning property is excellent.

Hereinafter, the structure of the cleaning apparatus will be described.

As the pump 7, a circulation pump such as a jet pump can be used. Specifically, a throw-in type pump can be adopted and is set directly in the container 2. Various known pumps can be used as the throw-in type pump, and examples thereof include a Grundfos pump, SPK type, and CRK type manufactured by Gadelius. The pump 7 is generally fixed by a flange stopper 10 as shown in FIG. 1, and is installed so that it can be easily removed during maintenance.

The nozzle head 6 is optimally selected for cleaning according to the shape and size of the object 4 to be cleaned, and its installation position is also appropriately selected. Since the nozzle head 6 is directly connected to the pump 7, there is no need to design the arrangement as in the case where the nozzle head 6 is connected by piping or to worry about leakage of the cleaning liquid out of the cleaning device. Further, since the nozzle head 6 is close to the discharge port of the pump 7, the pressure loss of the submerged jet is suppressed to a minimum.
Furthermore, the pressure of the submerged jet can be variously adjusted by providing the nozzle head 6 with a pressure adjusting valve, a bypass circuit, and the like.

Further, a filter 11 can be provided in the circulation port 9 of the cleaning tank 3 so that the dirt in the cleaning tank 3 is not brought into the container 2 in which the cleaning liquid 1 is circulated. The filter 11 can maintain the cleanliness of the liquid circulation section in the container 2 in which the cleaning liquid 1 is circulated, and can reduce the load on the pump 7. Filter eyes should be 40-100
A mesh size is appropriate. The filter 11 is the washing tank 3
With a structure that can be easily removed from
Maintenance when dirt such as clogging adheres can be simplified. In addition, the filter 11 may be provided in the circulation part of the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2 as shown in FIG.

In practicing the present invention, the object to be cleaned 4 may be installed in the cleaning tank 3 as it is, or may be installed in a basket or the like. Further, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention may be provided with a drain 12 for extracting the cleaning liquid 1 from the tank as shown in FIG. In order to efficiently extract the cleaning liquid 1 from the drain 12, the bottom of the container 2 may have an inclined structure in the drain direction. Further, a cleaning port 13 may be provided for performing maintenance particularly on the bottom of the container 2.

In the above, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention has been described with reference to FIG. 1, but the cleaning tank 3 in the cleaning apparatus of the present invention has been described.
Need not necessarily be immersed in the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2 as shown in FIG. 1 and may be above the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2. Further, the circulation port 9 of the cleaning tank 3 may be provided on the bottom surface in addition to the side surface of the cleaning tank. However, in consideration of the cleanability of the object 4 to be cleaned, the flow port 9 of the cleaning tank 3 is preferably provided on the side surface in the jet direction as shown in FIG. Further, the circulation port 9 of the cleaning tank 3 is not essential, and the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2 may be returned from the cleaning tank 3 by adopting a simple overflow structure. In the case of such an overflow structure, there is an effect that the piping of the circulation line is eliminated, but the flow of the jet cannot be completely smoothed, and the improvement of the cleaning efficiency at the same level as the cleaning device shown in FIG. 1 cannot be expected. . However, since the occurrence of turbulence can be reduced by overflowing the cleaning liquid 1, the cleaning efficiency can be improved as compared with a conventional cleaning apparatus using a pipe.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention has a flow port 9 on the side of the jet direction of the submerged jet mechanism of the cleaning tank 3 on the side opposite to the flow port 9a. By providing the circulation port 9b, the cleaning liquid 1 in the container 2
A suction flow to the tip of the injection nozzle 5 can be generated. As a result, a more effective submerged jet is generated in the cleaning tank 3, and the cleaning efficiency can be further improved.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1 and shows a structure in which the cleaning liquid 1 circulates under the bottom of the cleaning tank 3. Also, FIG.
The structure is such that the cleaning liquid 1 circulates through the lower portion and the outer portion of the bottom of the cleaning tank 3. According to the structure of FIG. 4, similarly to FIG. 1 (FIG. 3), in addition to improving the efficiency of the liquid flow, since the outer surface of the cleaning tank 3 is used as a circulating portion of the cleaning liquid 1, The swelling force on the side wall can be released to the outer side.

The cleaning liquid 1 that can be used in the cleaning apparatus of the present invention includes pure water, ion-exchanged water, industrial water, a cleaning agent of a glycol ether compound or an alcohol solvent,
Or an aqueous or quasi-aqueous detergent comprising a mixture of these with various surfactants and / or water, or an emulsion detergent comprising the above mixture, and further various cationic, anionic or nonionic detergents. Can also be used. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning liquid 1 can be used after being heated by a heater 14. In the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning liquid can be used as rinsing water.

The results of a test showing the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning apparatus of the present invention are shown below. In the test, a cleaning apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 1 was used as Example 1, a cleaning apparatus of the type shown in FIG.
1 was used in the case of a washing apparatus of the type shown in FIG. 1 without an outlet 9 (overflow type). As a comparison with the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, a cleaning apparatus having a conventional submerged jet mechanism in which a cleaning tank and a pump are connected by a pipe and the pump and a jet mechanism are connected by a pipe was used.

(Test of cleaning efficiency) (1) Cleaning solution: Pine Alpha ST-10 as a cleaning agent
0S (quasi-aqueous cleaning agent, Arakawa Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) and ion-exchanged water were used as rinse water. (2) Object to be cleaned: 20 mg of a flux solid content (AGF200-J3, manufactured by Asahi Chemical Laboratory Co., Ltd.) was applied to a gold-plated copper plate (40 × 40 mm), and the same gold-plated copper plate was cut from above with a gap of 0.5 mm. The copper foil was fixed by being overlapped and fixed so that the same flux was applied to the surface of a copper plate at 50 mg. (3) Cleaning step: cleaning (jet pressure in liquid: 6 kg / cm ² ,
60 ° C, 2 minutes), first rinse (jet pressure in liquid: 4kg / c)
m ² , 25 ° C., 2 minutes), second rinse (jet pressure in liquid: 4 k)
g / cm ² , 25 ° C., 2 minutes), drying (hot air circulation, 80
C., 5 minutes). (4) Cleaning test: The object to be cleaned was fixed on a jig, set in a cleaning tank at a position 20 cm from the injection nozzle so as to be in the same direction as the jet jet direction, and the step (3) was performed. . In addition, the flow rate of the jet flow emitted from the injection nozzle was set to 6 to 7 liters / minute. (5) Evaluation method: The amount of flux remaining on the object to be cleaned after washing is weighed, and the removal rate (%) of the surface of the copper plate and the heavy portion of the copper plate = ((application amount−remaining amount) / application amount) × Indicated by 100. Table 1 shows the evaluation results.

[0025]

[Table 1]

(Consideration) The cleaning apparatus of the present invention (Examples 1 to 3)
It is recognized that the cleaning efficiency is higher than that of the conventional cleaning apparatus (Example 4). In the cleaning apparatus (Examples 1 and 2) shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present invention, the flux on the surface to be cleaned is completely removed, and the cleaning efficiency is high.
In particular, in Example 2, the flux in the polymerized portion of the article to be washed was completely removed, and the washing efficiency was very good. Therefore,
It is effective for cleaning difficult parts. The cleaning device of the present invention having the overflow structure of Example 3 cannot completely prevent turbulence due to countercurrent from the side because it does not have a flow port,
Example 1 because a smooth submerged jet in the cleaning tank cannot be obtained
And the cleaning efficiency is lower than that of Example 2.

[0027]

According to the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the cleaning liquid can be implemented in the same container (equipment) from the jetting location and the spout to the suction port of the pump, there is no fear that the cleaning liquid leaks out of the cleaning device. (2) There is no need to arrange pipes, the whole structure becomes simple, and time and labor required for design and manufacture can be saved. (3) By eliminating the piping, a very compact cleaning device can be realized, and the installation volume can be reduced. (4) There is no fear of leakage from the seam of the pipe and the like, and since the filter and the pump are easily detachable, maintenance and management of the cleaning device are easy. (5) Since the connection distance from the pump injection port to the injection nozzle of the submerged jet mechanism is short, pressure loss during the connection can be minimized. (6) Turbulence in a cleaning tank having a submerged jet mechanism can be reduced. Furthermore, by providing a circulation port in the washing tank,
The generation of turbulence in the cleaning tank can be prevented, and the cleaning efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing a cleaning apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a case where a circulation port is provided in a rear part of an injection nozzle of a cleaning tank in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view in a case where a circulation portion is also provided on an outer portion of the cleaning tank.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 cleaning liquid 2 container for charging cleaning liquid 3 cleaning tank 4 object to be cleaned 5 injection nozzle 6 nozzle head 7 pump 8 suction part of cleaning liquid of pump 9 cleaning liquid circulation port of cleaning tank 10 flange 11 filter 12 drain 13 cleaning port 14 heater

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cleaning apparatus having a cleaning tank for cleaning an object to be cleaned using a cleaning liquid by a submerged jet mechanism, wherein the cleaning tank is provided inside a container for storing a cleaning liquid used for cleaning. The apparatus for cleaning components and substrates is characterized in that the submerged jet mechanism is directly connected to a pump, and the cleaning liquid suction part of the pump is in the cleaning liquid stored in the container. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cleaning liquid circulation port is provided on a bottom surface and / or a side surface of the cleaning tank. 3. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flow port has a side surface in the jet direction of the submerged jet mechanism of the cleaning tank, or a side surface opposite to the jet direction in the jet direction. 4. The cleaning device according to claim 2, wherein a filter is provided in the circulation port. 5. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning section of the cleaning tank is immersed in the cleaning liquid in a container storing the cleaning liquid.