JP5061886B2 - In-place cleaning equipment for piping lines - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a stationary cleaning device pipeline, in particular washing the occlusion efficiently in the pipe line used in the process, such as food and beverage plants, to stationary cleaning device for improving the cleanliness of reliability .

  In food factories, beverage factories, etc., production facilities and equipment are washed when production varieties are switched or when operations are completed. In recent years, in particular, pipes and tanks are often cleaned by CIP (Cleaning In Place), which does not require disassembly during cleaning.

  A typical CIP device is composed of a cleaning agent tank, a liquid feed pump, a heating device, an automatic switching valve for a cleaning solution, and the like. In the CIP apparatus, a cleaning agent is flowed to clean piping such as equipment and equipment that was flowing a product at the time of product manufacture, and fresh water is flowed to wash away the cleaning agent after cleaning.

  The piping to be cleaned has a blockage section as a branch pipe connected to instruments indicating temperature, pressure, flow rate, etc., drainage piping, and piping for future expansion or temporary use. May exist. In such a clogged portion, a cleaning agent or clean water pool (stagnation) is likely to occur, and the cleaning performance is significantly deteriorated as compared with the mainstream piping. In particular, the cleaning efficiency at the junction between the branched short pipe (branch pipe) and the blocking plate is poor, which is a factor in increasing the cleaning time. For this reason, a design has been made so that the ratio represented by the pipe length L of the closed portion / the pipe diameter D of the closed portion is 6 or less, and some instruments and the like in which L is 0 are also sold. . However, L cannot be set to 0 by any means when a general-purpose joint is used for branching mainstream piping. A branch pipe that uses such a general-purpose joint or the like and is provided with a blocking plate that forms a blocking portion at a location that is not temporarily used.

Various techniques for efficiently cleaning the blocking portion that causes such stagnation have been studied. For example, there is a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1. The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a valve or the like on the tip side, and an ultrasonic vibrator is attached around the pipe that causes stagnation, and vibration is applied to the fluid inside the pipe so that the flow rate is low. This is to improve the cleaning effect of the piping at the location.
JP 2005-131466 A

  According to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to improve the cleaning efficiency inside the pipe that surely causes stagnation. However, since the ultrasonic wave spreads and propagates from the sound source in a fan shape, the effect of ultrasonic cleaning hardly appears at the corners that are the boundary between the branch pipe and the blocking plate on the side surface where the ultrasonic transducer is attached. . Therefore, there has been a problem that the cleaning property of dirt attached to the portion is deteriorated.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a stationary cleaning device for a piping line that can improve the cleaning performance of the piping line and can also improve the cleaning performance of the corner portion that becomes the boundary between the branch piping and the blocking plate constituting the blocking portion. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object , a pipe line stationary cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic vibrator provided on a closing plate provided at a tip of a closing portion branched from a mainstream pipe, and the ultrasonic vibrator The time measuring means for setting the cleaning time for operating the device and the control so that the frequency of the ultrasonic wave output from the ultrasonic transducer increases from the start of cleaning to the end of cleaning according to the cleaning time set by the time measuring means. And a control means.

According to the stationary cleaning apparatus for a piping line having the above-described configuration, as in the above method, the cleaning performance of the piping line is improved, and the corner portion serving as the boundary between the branch piping and the blocking plate constituting the blocking portion is cleaned. Can also be improved. Moreover, since the main body of the apparatus as described above is to attach an ultrasonic vibrator to the closing plate in the closing portion, the existing piping line can be used as it is, and the equipment cost can be reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a pipe line stationary cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
First, the stationary cleaning apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the piping line for carrying out the present invention has a mainstream piping 16 and a blocking portion 22 branched from the mainstream piping 16. The mainstream pipe 16 is a pipe connected to a not-shown cleaning agent tank, liquid feed pump, cleaning liquid heating apparatus, etc. constituting the stationary cleaning apparatus, and FIG. 1 partially shows a part thereof. The blocking portion 22 is a short pipe connected to the side of the mainstream pipe 16.

  For example, instruments (specifically not shown) may be provided in the closing part 22, but in this embodiment, no instrument is provided and a closing plate 20 that closes the tip part is provided. In the pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the present embodiment, the ultrasonic transducer 10 is provided on the closing plate 20 in the closing portion 22. By adopting such a configuration, since the closing plate 20 itself becomes a sound source (vibration source), it is possible to effectively peel off the adhered dirt even at the corner portion 19 that is the boundary with the branch pipe 18. It becomes.

In addition, the piping line cleaning apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a control unit 12 connected to the ultrasonic transducer 10 and a time measuring unit 14 connected to the control unit 12. The time measuring means 14 has a so-called timer function for determining a cleaning time to be performed by operating the ultrasonic transducer 10. The control means 12 has a function of controlling the frequency of ultrasonic waves output from the ultrasonic transducer 10. The frequency can be controlled based on an input by an operator or the like, but automatic control may be performed as follows.
That is, the time set by the time measuring means 14 is divided by a predetermined time unit, and the frequency increases from a predetermined time at the start of cleaning (first predetermined time) to a predetermined time at the end of cleaning (last predetermined time). It controls to become.

  Note that the frequency band of the ultrasonic wave to be controlled is preferably in the range from about 20 kHz to about 1 MHz, and more preferably in the range from about 20 kHz to about 30 kHz. By adopting such a configuration, cleaning is performed by selecting an appropriate frequency according to the degree of stagnation of the blocking portion 22, that is, the flow rate of the cleaning liquid flowing into the blocking portion 22, or vibration fluctuations due to automatic switching are performed. It can be used to promote the peeling of dirt.

  The first embodiment relating to the pipe line stationary cleaning method implemented in the pipe line and the stationary cleaning apparatus configured as described above is as follows. First, the cleaning liquid is caused to flow into the mainstream pipe 16. The cleaning liquid that has flowed into the mainstream pipe 16 flows into the entire pipe line including the blocking portion 22 branched from the mainstream pipe 16. After the inside of the main flow pipe 16 and the inside of the closing portion 22 are filled with the cleaning liquid, the ultrasonic vibrator 10 provided on the closing plate 20 provided at the tip of the closing portion 22 is operated.

  The ultrasonic wave (vibration) excited by the operation of the ultrasonic vibrator 10 is transmitted to the closing plate 20 and is transmitted to the cleaning liquid filled in the branch pipe 18 using the closing plate 20 as an oscillation source. The ultrasonic wave transmitted to the cleaning liquid causes high and low pressures in the cleaning liquid and generates cavitation in the cleaning liquid. Cavitation is a phenomenon in which very small bubbles or cavities are rapidly formed in the cleaning liquid, or the cavitation collapses violently. Using the energy generated when the bubbles collapse, ) Is removed. For this reason, even if it is the obstruction | occlusion part 22 which is easy to produce stagnation, the improvement of a washability can be aimed at.

  Further, in the pipe line stationary cleaning method of the present embodiment, cavitation is generated in the cleaning liquid by vibrating the closing plate 20 provided at the tip of the closing portion 22. For this reason, the propagation of vibration is in a direction parallel to the side surface of the branch pipe 18 constituting the closed portion 22 (in the direction of the arrow A), in other words, in a direction intersecting with the cleaning liquid flowing in the mainstream pipe 16 (in FIG. 1, orthogonal to the arrow B). Direction). Therefore, the inner wall surface of the branch pipe 18 constituting the closing portion 22 can be efficiently cleaned, and the generation of turbulent flow generated in the flow of the cleaning liquid flowing into the vicinity of the closing plate 20 can be made more complicated. . Therefore, it is possible to efficiently clean the corner 19 that is the boundary between the branch pipe 18 and the closing plate 20.

  After the cleaning of the inner surface of the mainstream pipe 16 and the inner surface of the blocking portion 22 with the cleaning liquid is completed, the cleaning liquid is removed from the piping line, and the cleaning liquid is washed away with clean water or the like (cleaning with clean water). Note that the ultrasonic vibrator 10 can be operated also in the cleaning process using fresh water.

  In the piping line stationary cleaning method performed in this way, it is possible to improve the cleaning performance of the blocking portion 22. The difference between the time required for cleaning the mainstream piping 16 and the time required for cleaning the blocking portion 22 can be reduced, and the cleaning time for the entire piping line can be shortened. In addition, by shortening the cleaning time of the piping line, the production line can be efficiently operated, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In addition, as described above, the cleaning performance of the blocking portion 22 can be remarkably improved, so that the frequency of actions such as disassembly of the blocking portion 22 for the purpose of confirming the cleaning condition and cleaning at the time of decomposition can be reduced. As a result, the labor cost required for this can be reduced.
Further, in order to carry out the pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the present embodiment, it is only necessary to provide the ultrasonic vibrator 10 on the closing plate 20, so that the existing pipe can be used as it is, and the equipment cost can be reduced. Can be achieved.

Next, a second embodiment according to the pipe line stationary cleaning method of the present invention will be described. Most steps of the pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the present embodiment are the same as those of the pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the first embodiment described above.
The difference is that the frequency of the ultrasonic wave used for cleaning is increased stepwise or linearly from the start of cleaning to the end of cleaning.

  In ultrasonic cleaning, bubbles generated by cavitation become smaller as the frequency is increased, but the number increases. For this reason, cleaning in the high frequency band is suitable for removing fine particles. Therefore, ultrasonic cleaning is performed at a low frequency at the start of cleaning to remove and remove large dirt adhering to the inside of the closed portion 22, so that the ultrasonic frequency is increased stepwise or linearly as the cleaning time elapses. To. By doing so, it is possible to perform rough cleaning and finish cleaning with ultrasonic waves while performing cleaning by inflow / outflow of the cleaning liquid, and the cleanliness of the inner surface of the closed portion 22 after cleaning can be increased.

  As for the specific control, as described above, the time set by the time measuring means 14 is divided by a predetermined time unit so that the frequency increases from the predetermined time at the start of cleaning toward the predetermined time at the end of cleaning. To control. Other operations and effects are the same as those in the method for cleaning a piping line according to the first embodiment described above.

  The pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the present invention as described above can also be applied to the blocking portions 22 and 28 forming the body of the cross pipe as shown in FIG. In the case of a pipe having such a configuration, it has been necessary to provide ultrasonic vibrators in both the branch pipe 18 and the branch pipe 24 (the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1). However, in the pipe line stationary cleaning method according to the present invention, as described above, since the ultrasonic wave propagates in a direction parallel to the side wall of the branch pipe 18, the branch pipe 24 in the closing portion 28 facing the closing plate 20. A cleaning effect can also be imparted to the corner 25 that is the boundary between the sealing plate 26 and the closing plate 26. Therefore, the number of ultrasonic transducers 10 required can be reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the equipment cost can be suppressed.

It is a figure which shows the piping line for demonstrating embodiment which concerns on the stationary cleaning apparatus of the piping line of this invention. It is a figure which shows the form of the piping line which can apply the stationary cleaning apparatus of the piping line of this invention effectively.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ......... Ultrasonic vibrator, 12 ......... Control means, 14 ......... Time measuring means, 16 ......... Mainstream piping, 18 ......... Branch piping, 19 ......... Corner, 20 ......... Occlusion plate , 22 ......... occlusion.

Claims (1)

An ultrasonic transducer provided in a closing plate provided at the tip of the closing portion branched from the mainstream piping;
Time measuring means for setting a cleaning time for operating the ultrasonic transducer;
And a control means for controlling the frequency of the ultrasonic wave output from the ultrasonic transducer to increase from the start of cleaning to the end of cleaning according to the cleaning time set by the time measuring means. Line cleaning equipment.

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