JP7125600B2 - cleaning system - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a cleaning system for cleaning machine parts and the like by immersing them in a cleaning liquid.

When heat treatment (quenching, carburizing, nitriding, etc.) is performed on a workpiece such as a part made of steel material, degreasing and cleaning is performed in the preceding stage. In degreasing cleaning, drying treatment is performed after cleaning by immersion in a hydrocarbon-based cleaning agent (organic solvent).

Patent Literature 1 discloses a vacuum degreasing cleaning apparatus. In the vacuum degreasing cleaning apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, a cleaning liquid tank is arranged so as to surround the cleaning chamber, and shower cleaning, immersion cleaning, high-temperature spray cleaning, and vacuum drying can be performed in one cleaning chamber. there is It is stated that this makes it possible to provide a vacuum degreasing cleaning apparatus that can reduce the time required for the cleaning liquid to move between the tank and the cleaning chamber, shorten the cycle time, and reduce the size of the apparatus.

In a vacuum degreasing cleaning apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the cleaning liquid is heated in order to remove oils and fats with the cleaning liquid. On the other hand, the workpieces to be cleaned are of various shapes and sizes, and have various weights and surface areas. Although there is no clear description in Patent Document 1, conventionally, the operator observes the weight and surface area of the work and selects from several cleaning patterns (combinations of heating time, temperature, drying time, etc.).

JP-A-2006-231272

However, since the types of cleaning patterns that can be set are limited in the conventional vacuum degreasing cleaning apparatus, it has been necessary to select a cleaning pattern with a margin. For this reason, it was not possible to finely adjust to changes in the weight of the product, and in most cases, the product was heated or dried more than necessary. In addition, since the set values for each cleaning pattern are set to temperatures and processing times on the safe side in the first place, heating and drying are performed with a large margin.

If the weight and surface area of the workpiece are known, it is conceivable to use values corresponding to these as set values for the cleaning pattern. However, with respect to weight, it is the customer who uses the cleaning equipment, and the cleaning equipment manufacturer who creates the set values for the cleaning pattern. In some cases, the customer refuses to disclose work weight data to the cleaning equipment manufacturer. As for the surface area, it is difficult to obtain data on the surface area of workpieces from customers. It is conceivable to determine the surface area by 3D image analysis, but the data becomes too large and the processing load is high, and there is a possibility that the customer will refuse to photograph the workpiece. For these reasons, it is difficult to obtain the weight and surface area of the workpiece as numerical values.

Furthermore, if the weight and surface area of the workpiece are known, it is also useful in post-process heat treatment equipment (quenching, carburizing, nitriding, etc.). In a heat treatment apparatus, feedback control generally called PID control (Proportional-Integral-Differential Controller) is performed. If the weight (heat capacity) of the workpiece is known, it is possible to set an accurate amount of input heat. However, if PID control is performed only by the temperature of the furnace, the target temperature is reached and maintained while overheating (overshoot) and vibration (hunting) occur. For this reason, wasteful heating occurs as in the cleaning apparatus. Similarly, in carburizing and nitriding, too much material gas is consumed because the surface area is unknown.

Therefore, the present invention provides a cleaning system capable of improving the efficiency of heating and drying even when the weight and surface area of a workpiece are not given in a cleaning apparatus that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying. The purpose is to Another object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of a heat treatment apparatus, which is a post-process.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a representative configuration of the present invention is a cleaning system including a cleaning device that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying of a workpiece and a data analysis device, wherein the cleaning device has a cleaning liquid input amount of , a liquid temperature measurement unit that measures the amount of temperature decrease and the minimum temperature arrival time of the cleaning liquid, and a vacuum drying measurement unit that measures the vacuum drying time. It is characterized by having an analysis part that obtains optimal solutions for estimated values of work volume, weight, and surface area using the adaptability of the vacuum drying time to the volume, the amount of temperature drop, and the time to reach the minimum temperature.

The vacuum drying time is not a predetermined time given as a set value, but a time until a predetermined degree of vacuum is reached (vacuum reaching time). Since the specific gravity of the steel material is known, the volume can be converted into weight. Moreover, since the specific heat of the steel material is known, the heat capacity can be converted into weight.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to obtain estimated values of volume and surface area using indirect data related to physical quantities such as weight and surface area. As a result, the efficiency of heating and drying can be improved in a cleaning apparatus that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying even if the weight and surface area of the work are not given.

The vacuum drying measurement unit may measure the ultimate vacuum instead of the vacuum drying time, and the analysis unit may perform the analysis using the ultimate vacuum instead of the vacuum drying time.

If the cleaning device is a cleaning device that cleans the work before the heat treatment device, the data analysis device may transmit the estimated values of the volume, weight, and surface area of the work, which are the analysis results, to the heat treatment device. good. As a result, the efficiency of the heat treatment apparatus, which is a post-process, can also be improved.

When the cleaning device and the data analysis device are connected to a wide area network, the data analysis device may collect and analyze data from a plurality of cleaning devices located at different locations via the wide area network. By accumulating data on various workpieces from many cleaning devices at many locations (factories) and analyzing the big data, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the estimated value.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cleaning system capable of improving the efficiency of heating and drying in a cleaning apparatus that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying even when the weight and surface area of the work are not given. can do. At the same time, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the heat treatment equipment, which is a post-process.

It is a figure explaining the whole cleaning system composition concerning this embodiment. It is a figure explaining a washing|cleaning apparatus.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The dimensions, materials, and other specific numerical values shown in these embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the invention, and do not limit the invention unless otherwise specified. In the present specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same function and configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals to omit redundant description, and elements that are not directly related to the present invention are illustrated or described. is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overall configuration of a cleaning system according to this embodiment. The cleaning system 100 is composed of a cleaning device 120 and a data analysis device 150 . The cleaning device 120 is a device that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying of the work W in the front stage of the heat treatment device 160 in the factory 110 .

A factory 110 is connected to a data analysis device 150 via a wide area network 10 such as the Internet. A plurality of cleaning apparatuses 120 and heat treatment apparatuses 160 are installed in one factory 110 , and a plurality of factories 110 are connected to the wide area network 10 . Therefore, the data analysis device 150 collects data on various workpieces from a large number of cleaning devices in a large number of factories 110 .

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the cleaning device 120. As shown in FIG. The cleaning device 120 includes a cleaning chamber 130 and a cleaning liquid tank 132 . First, as shown in FIG. 2( a ), the workpiece W is placed on the pedestal 134 inside the cleaning device 120 . Then, the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the shower nozzle 136 to remove dust (contamination). Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, a cleaning liquid is supplied from a supply pipe 138 connected to the lower part of the cleaning chamber 130, and the work W is immersed. Although the cleaning liquid is heated and supplied, the work W lowers the temperature, so the cleaning chamber 130 is also heated. Then, bubbling, ultrasonic cleaning, etc. are performed to degrease.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2(c), the shower nozzle 136 is rinsed with high-purity washing oil. Finally, vacuum drying is performed by suction from an exhaust pipe 140 connected to the upper part of the cleaning chamber 130 . Thus, a series of immersion heat cleaning and drying are performed.

Here, the cleaning apparatus includes a liquid volume measurement unit 122 for measuring the input amount of the cleaning liquid, a liquid temperature measurement unit 124 for measuring the amount of temperature decrease of the cleaning liquid and the minimum temperature reaching time, and a vacuum drying measurement unit for measuring the vacuum drying time. A section 126 is provided.

The liquid volume measurement unit 122 measures the input amount (flow rate) of the cleaning liquid supplied from the supply pipe 138 in FIG. 2(b). Since the cleaning liquid is controlled so that the liquid surface of the cleaning liquid in which the work W is immersed is constant, the volume of the work can be measured by measuring the input amount. The weight is obtained by multiplying the volume by the specific gravity, and since the specific gravity of the steel material is known, the volume can be converted to the weight. Therefore, the input amount of the cleaning liquid is a value that is also related to the weight.

Liquid temperature measurement unit 124 is a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the cleaning liquid in cleaning chamber 130 . It is also possible to continuously measure the temperature and measure the transition of the temperature.

The amount of temperature drop of the cleaning liquid is related to the heat capacity of the workpiece W. As shown in FIG. Heat capacity is specific heat times weight, and since the specific heat of steel materials is known, heat capacity can be converted to weight. Therefore, the amount of temperature drop is a value related to the weight of the work W. As shown in FIG. The minimum temperature reaching time is related to the thermal resistance, and the thermal resistance is related to the surface area.

As a specific example, when the work W is light and has a large surface area, the temperature immediately drops slightly. When the workpiece W is heavy and has a small surface area, the temperature continues to drop slowly. If the workpiece W is heavy and has a large surface area, the temperature immediately drops significantly. Thus, the amount of temperature drop and the minimum temperature reaching time are related to the weight and surface area of the workpiece W.

The vacuum drying measurement unit 126 is a pressure gauge that measures the degree of vacuum when gas is drawn from the exhaust pipe 140 by the vacuum pump. The vacuum drying time is not a predetermined time given as a set value, but a time until a predetermined degree of vacuum is reached (vacuum reaching time). The vacuum drying time is a value related to the volume, specific heat (known), and surface area of the work W. In addition, instead of the vacuum drying time to a predetermined degree of vacuum, the ultimate degree of vacuum to be reached by a predetermined time may be used. The ultimate vacuum is also a value related to the volume, specific heat (known), and surface area of the work W, like the vacuum drying time.

That is, where we want weight, weight, and surface area values, we do not directly measure these values, but obtain indirect data relating to these values. The "indirect data" to be acquired is a value that is easy to acquire for the cleaning device, and does not require the addition of a special measuring device. These indirect data are transmitted to data analysis device 150 via wide area network 10 .

The data analysis device 150 includes an analysis section 152 having artificial intelligence (AI). Using a predetermined algorithm, the analysis unit 152 evaluates the adaptability of the vacuum drying time to the input amount of cleaning liquid, the amount of temperature decrease, and the minimum temperature reaching time transmitted from the cleaning apparatus 120, and determines the volume, weight, and Find the optimal surface area estimate. The analysis unit 152 uses one or more selected from neural networks, Taguchi methods, k-means clustering, self-organizing maps, expectation maximization (EM) algorithms, genetic (GM) algorithms, deep learning methods, etc. Can be configured in combination.

With the above arrangement, indirect data can be used to obtain volume, weight, and surface area estimates. The calculated volume, weight, and surface area estimates can be sent (or fed back) to the cleaning device 120 via the wide area network 10 . As a result, in the cleaning apparatus 120 that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying, the efficiency of heating and drying can be improved even when the weight and surface area of the work W are not given. In addition, since the vacuum drying time can be shortened, the cleaning cycle time can be shortened.

In addition, the calculated volume, weight, and surface area estimates can be sent (feedforward) to the heat treatment device 160 . As a result, the efficiency of the heat treatment apparatus, which is a post-process, can also be improved. Further, when the heat treatment apparatus is a carburizing apparatus or a nitriding apparatus, optimization of the amount of material gas and optimization of processing time can be achieved.

In particular, according to the present invention, data is accumulated from a plurality of cleaning apparatuses 120 located at different locations (factories 110) via the wide area network 10, so a large amount of data on various works W can be accumulated. By analyzing the big data, the data of each factory 110 can be mutually utilized for learning, the accuracy of the estimated value can be improved, and highly accurate estimation can be performed for any workpiece. .

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope described in the claims, and these also belong to the technical scope of the present invention. Understood.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used as a cleaning system for cleaning machine parts and the like by immersing them in a cleaning liquid.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Wide area network, 100... Washing system, 110... Factory, 120... Washing apparatus, 122... Liquid volume measuring part, 124... Liquid temperature measuring part, 126... Vacuum drying measuring part, 130... Washing room, 132... Washing liquid tank, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 134... Mounting frame, 136... Shower nozzle, 138... Supply pipe, 140... Exhaust pipe, 150... Data analysis apparatus, 152... Analysis part, 160... Heat treatment apparatus, W... Work

Claims (3)

A cleaning system including a cleaning device that performs immersion heating cleaning and drying of a workpiece and a data analysis device,
The cleaning device
a liquid volume measurement unit that measures the amount of input cleaning liquid;
a liquid temperature measuring unit that measures the amount of temperature decrease of the cleaning liquid and the minimum temperature reaching time;
Equipped with a vacuum drying measurement unit that measures the vacuum drying time,
The data analysis device is
Equipped with an analysis unit that learns the amount of cleaning liquid input, the amount of temperature drop, and the vacuum drying time for the minimum temperature reaching time to find the optimal solution for the estimated values of the volume, weight, and surface area of the workpiece .
the cleaning device and the data analysis device are connected to a wide area network;
The cleaning system, wherein the data analysis device accumulates and analyzes data from a plurality of the cleaning devices located at different locations via the wide area network . The vacuum drying measurement unit measures the ultimate vacuum degree instead of the vacuum drying time,
2. The cleaning system according to claim 1, wherein the analysis unit performs the analysis using the degree of ultimate vacuum instead of the vacuum drying time. The cleaning device is a cleaning device that cleans the work before the heat treatment device,
3. The cleaning system according to claim 1, wherein the data analysis device transmits estimated values of the volume, weight, and surface area of the workpiece, which are analysis results, to the heat treatment device.

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