JPH06238244A - Method of steam washing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To markedly enhance the safety against ignition at the time of reception or transport and to obtain excellent washing effect by washing an article with vapor generated by heating one or more kind of a specific mixed solvent. CONSTITUTION:In the washing of an article 21 with vapor, one or more kind of a solvent selected from a mixed solvent 2 consisting of a hydrocarbon solvent with a b.p. of 100 deg.C or higher and a water mixed with a surfactant, a mixed solvent 2 consisting of a silicone solvent with a b.p. of 100 deg.C or higher and water mixed with a surfactant and a mixed solvent 2 consisting of a hydrophilic solvent with a b.p. of 100 deg.C or higher and water mixed with a surfactant is heated in a vapor washing part 22 by a heating coil 5 to generator vapor. This vapor is used to wash the article 21 in the vapor washing part 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to electronic parts, mechanical parts,
The present invention relates to a method for steam cleaning an object to be cleaned, such as a method for cleaning an object to be cleaned such as a printed circuit board with steam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been known to clean an object to be cleaned using a hydrocarbon solvent, a silicon solvent, a hydrophilic solvent, a terpene solvent or the like.

[0003]

However, it is dangerous to store such a large amount of combustible solvent in an amount necessary for cleaning work, such as ignition, and there is usually no equipment for preventing ignition. It was something that couldn't be used at.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a hydrocarbon-based solvent used for cleaning work,
While storing a large amount of flammable solvents such as silicone-based solvents, hydrophilic solvents, and terpene-based solvents, reduce the risk of ignition and use flammable solvents even in ordinary offices that do not have equipment to prevent ignition. It is intended to be able to safely perform the cleaning work of.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a mixed solvent consisting of a hydrocarbon solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant, a boiling point of 1
A mixed solvent composed of a silicone solvent having a temperature of 00 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant, a mixed solvent composed of a hydrophilic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant, and a boiling point of 10
Any one or two or more of the mixed solvents consisting of a terpene solvent at 0 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant is heated to generate steam, and the steam is used to clean the object to be cleaned. It is characterized by what you do.

Further, the invention is characterized in that a mixed solvent consisting of a hydrophilic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water is heated to generate steam, and the steam is used to clean the object to be cleaned. .

A mixed solvent consisting of a hydrocarbon solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a hydrophilic solvent, boiling point 1
Any one kind or two kinds of a mixed solvent composed of water having a temperature of 00 ° C or higher and a hydrophilic solvent mixed therein, and a mixed solvent composed of water having a boiling point of 100 ° C or higher and a terpene solvent and a hydrophilic solvent mixed. It is characterized in that the above is heated to generate steam, and the steam is used to clean the object to be cleaned.

The steam cleaning may be performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere.

The steam cleaning may be carried out in a normal pressure atmosphere.

[0010]

The present invention provides a flame-retardant property by adding water together with a surfactant to a flammable solvent such as a hydrocarbon solvent, a silicon solvent, a hydrophilic solvent, a terpene solvent, etc. used in the cleaning work as described above. To do. Further, since the hydrophilic solvent has an affinity for water and the above flammable solvent, a hydrophilic solvent may be mixed with water and the above flammable solvent instead of the surfactant to form a mixed solvent.

By mixing water in this way, it is possible to reduce the risk of ignition during storage, transportation, etc. while storing a large amount of flammable solvent. Therefore, it is possible to perform the cleaning work using the flammable solvent even in an ordinary business establishment that does not have a facility for preventing ignition.

As described above, since water containing a flammable solvent mixed with a surfactant or a hydrophilic solvent is blended, this mixed solvent has a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher, and therefore, due to the presence of water. The mixed solvent becomes flame-retardant, and the safety against ignition can be significantly improved during storage and transportation.

When the above mixed solvent is used as a cleaning solvent, the water having a boiling point of 100 ° C. is vaporized and comes into contact with the object to be cleaned at the initial stage of steam generation, so that the cleaning effect is also excellent. . Further, after vaporization of this water, hydrocarbon solvent, silicon solvent, hydrophilic solvent, terpene solvent, etc. are vaporized to obtain the same vapor cleaning effect as that obtained by a normal flammable solvent that does not mix water. be able to.

The above-mentioned steam cleaning may be carried out at normal pressure, but if it is carried out in a reduced pressure atmosphere, the following advantages will be brought about.

That is, even if a flammable solvent such as a hydrocarbon-based solvent, a terpene-based solvent, a hydrophilic solvent, or a silicon-based solvent is used as the solvent, it is possible to perform vapor cleaning in a state where the air is extremely diluted under a reduced pressure atmosphere. Since it is performed, the risk of ignition is extremely low, and safe steam cleaning can be performed.

Further, if the steam cleaning is carried out in a reduced pressure atmosphere, it is possible to generate the steam at a temperature lower than that in which the solvent is boiled under normal pressure to generate the steam, and at this low steam temperature. It is possible to perform vapor cleaning of the object to be cleaned. Therefore, even if it is a material to be washed that cannot withstand high temperatures, use a solvent with a boiling point of 100 ° C or higher
Steam cleaning can be performed at the following low temperatures. Therefore, without being restricted by the heat-resistant material of the object to be cleaned,
The object to be cleaned can be freely steam-cleaned.

When steam cleaning is performed under reduced pressure,
If the supply of cleaning vapor is stopped after the completion of steam cleaning, the decompressed atmosphere will be in a depressurized state where there is no steam, so this decompression reduces the vacuum drying of the object to be cleaned uniformly heated by the steam cleaning. It is possible to perform the cleaning, and it is possible to quickly dry the object to be cleaned.

Further, in the present invention, it is of course possible to add another cleaning means to the cleaning method having the above-mentioned structure to clean the object to be cleaned. For example, an appropriate additional means such as spraying a clean cleaning liquid onto the object to be cleaned can be optionally added before or after performing the rinse cleaning with steam.

[0019]

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 1. (1) is a steam generating tank, which is a mixture of a hydrocarbon solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant. solvent
(2), a mixed solvent composed of a silicon-based solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant (2), a mixed solvent composed of a hydrophilic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant (2), a mixed solvent consisting of a terpene solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant (2), a boiling point of 10
It is filled with any one kind or two or more kinds of the mixed solvent (2) consisting of a hydrophilic solvent at 0 ° C. or higher and water.

The mixed solvent (2) is a hydrocarbon solvent,
You may use what was made flame-retardant by adding water with a hydrophilic solvent to a silicone type solvent and a terpene type solvent. Further, since the hydrophilic solvent has an affinity for water, it enables good mixing with water without using a surfactant.

Further, a heating mechanism (3) for heating the mixed solvent (2) is provided to serve as a steam generating section (4). This heating mechanism (3) is a heating coil (5) located in the mixed solvent (2).
Introduce heating steam inside. This heating steam is introduced into the heating coil (5) from the supply source through the solenoid valve (6) and the needle valve (7), and heat exchange with the mixed solvent (2) is performed through the heating coil (5). And then the condensed water,
It is discharged to the outside through the steam trap (8). Further, the pressure of the heating steam is monitored by the pressure gauge (10).

Further, the solenoid valve (6) is connected to the thermo-controller (11) for the mixed solvent (2) to operate the opening / closing valve. Also, inside the steam generation tank (1), pressure gauge (12), pressure switch
The internal pressure is constantly monitored by (13) and the like, and if an abnormal pressure rise occurs, the safety valve (14) is activated to reduce the internal pressure.

In the steam generating tank (1), a cooling coil (15) is wound in the upper direction to form a condensing section (16). This cooling coil (15) has a cooling water inlet pipe (17)
And the discharge pipe (18) are connected to each other, and the solvent condensed in the condenser (16) is separated from the water in the water separator (20), and then the steam generation tank.
Reflux into (1).

Further, this steam generating tank (1) contains a mixed solvent.
A steam cleaning section (22) for cleaning the object to be cleaned (21) with steam between the steam generating section (4) filled with (2) and the condensing section (16).
And also serves as a cleaning tank. Also, a steam generation tank (1)
A lid (23) for inserting and removing the article to be cleaned (21) is sealed at the upper end of the.

Further, the steam generation tank (1) is connected to a decompression mechanism (24) such as a vacuum pump or an aspirator so that the inside can be depressurized. The pressure reducing mechanism (24) is connected to the steam generating tank (1) via a pressure adjusting valve (25) so that the degree of pressure reduction in the steam generating tank (1) can be adjusted arbitrarily.

Further, the cleaning vapor sucked toward the pressure reducing mechanism (24) in the process of depressurizing the inside of the steam generating tank (1) is a condenser.
It is condensed and liquefied by (26). The condenser (26) is filled with cooling water (27) to flow therein, and the vacuum pipe (28) is immersed in the cooling water (27) to condense and liquefy the cleaning vapor.

This condensed liquefied mixed solvent (2) is a solenoid valve.
Suction with the decompression mechanism (24) through (30), and the solvent tank (31)
And is returned to the steam generating section (4) of the steam generating tank (1) via an overflow pipe (32) provided with a return electromagnetic valve (29). Further, the solvent tank (31) is provided with a space (33) above the mixed solvent (2), and the space (3)
The exhaust pipe (34) is inserted in 3).

In the structure as described above, the boiling point of the mixed solvent (2) can be made lower than the normal pressure because the pressure inside the steam generation tank (1) is reduced to generate the cleaning steam.
As a result, it becomes possible to use a high-boiling point solvent such as a terpene solvent, a silicon-based solvent, a hydrocarbon-based solvent, a hydrophilic solvent, etc., which cannot be conventionally used as a cleaning liquid.
Then, as described above, even if the material to be cleaned (21) that cannot withstand high temperature is selected, the solvent can be selected to perform steam cleaning at low temperature.

Further, since water mixed with a surfactant is mixed with a flammable solvent, the mixed solvent (2) has a boiling point of 10
Combined with the presence of water in combination with the temperature being 0 ° C or higher, a mixed solvent
(2) becomes flame-retardant, and the safety against ignition can be significantly improved during storage, transportation, etc.

When the above mixed solvent (2) is used as a cleaning solvent, the water having a boiling point of 100 ° C. is vaporized and comes into contact with the object to be cleaned (21) at the initial stage of steam generation, so that the cleaning is effectively performed. Will also be excellent. Further, after vaporization of this water, hydrocarbon solvent, silicon solvent, hydrophilic solvent, terpene solvent, etc. are vaporized to obtain the same vapor cleaning effect as that obtained by a normal flammable solvent that does not mix water. be able to.

After completion of the steam cleaning, the steam generation tank (1)
By adding water to the remaining flammable solvent, the non-vaporized surfactant mixes the flammable solvent and water to make it flame-retardant. Therefore, the remaining flammable solvent can be safely stored.

Further, in both the immersion cleaning and the steam cleaning, it is possible to perform the cleaning operation with the same solvent, and the number of cleaning operations can be greatly reduced. Also, mixed solvent (2)
It is economical because it reduces the inventory of and can prevent the risk of fire.

Further, since the atmospheric pressure in the steam cleaning section (22) can be arbitrarily set, the degree of pressure reduction can be changed to obtain various steam temperatures, so that the objects to be cleaned (21) having different materials can be
It is possible to perform dipping cleaning to steam cleaning with a mixed solvent of the type (2).

Further, the inside of the steam generation tank (1) is to be cleaned.
Since the steam cleaning part (22) of (21) is formed,
The configuration of the apparatus can be simplified as compared with the case where the cleaning tank is formed separately.

Further, in the above-mentioned first embodiment, the steam generation tank is
The steam cleaning part (22) for the object to be cleaned (21) was formed inside the (1), but in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning was performed separately from the steam generating tank (1). The object (21) to be cleaned is steam-cleaned inside the tank (38).

The cleaning tank (38) can communicate with the steam generating tank (1) through the steam supply pipe (42) and the control valve (43) and forms a steam cleaning section (22) inside. Further, a cooling coil (44) is wound around the inner surface of the upper portion of the steam cleaning section (22) to provide a condenser section (45). In addition, this condensing unit (4
The upper part of 5) is closed with a lid (46) so that it can be opened and closed, and
(21) can enter and leave.

The cleaning tank (38) is connected to the decompression mechanism (24) so that the inside pressure can be reduced. This decompression mechanism (2
The connection between 4) and the cleaning tank (38) is made by providing an opening / closing valve (47) between the pressure adjusting valve (25).

In order to clean the object to be cleaned (21) in the structure as described above, first the pressure in the steam generation tank (1) is reduced to generate steam, and then the on-off valve (47) is opened. Then, the inside of the washing tank (38) is depressurized. Then, when the inside of the cleaning tank (38) is set to substantially the same atmospheric pressure as that of the steam generating tank (1), the control valve (43) is opened and the steam cleaning section (22) of the cleaning tank (38) is
The cleaning steam for the steam generating tank (1) is introduced to clean the object to be cleaned (21) with steam.

In the second embodiment, the object to be cleaned is
Only (21) was washed with steam in the washing tank (38).
In the third embodiment, steam cleaning and immersion cleaning can be performed in the cleaning tank while the position of the object to be cleaned (21) is fixed.

[0040]

As described above, the present invention provides a flammable solvent,
Since water mixed with a surfactant or water mixed with a hydrophilic solvent is blended, this mixed solvent becomes flame retardant, and when stored,
The safety against ignition can be significantly improved during transportation.

Further, in the mixed solvent, the water having a boiling point of 100 ° C. is first vaporized and comes into contact with the object to be cleaned at the initial stage of steam generation, and therefore the cleaning effect is excellent. Further, after the vaporization of water, the flammable solvent is vaporized, and the same vapor cleaning effect as that obtained by a normal flammable solvent that does not mix water can be obtained.

Further, if the steam cleaning is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere, the steam cleaning is performed in a state where the air is extremely diluted, so that the risk of ignition is extremely small and safe steam cleaning is possible.

Further, if the steam cleaning is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere, steam can be generated at a temperature lower than that under normal pressure, so that even a material to be cleaned that cannot withstand high temperatures can be used. , Using a solvent with a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher, 10
It is possible to perform steam cleaning at a low temperature of 0 ° C. or lower, and it is possible to perform steam cleaning of an object to be cleaned having poor heat resistance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 mixed solvent

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 8, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 4

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 5

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Explanation of code

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Explanation of Codes] 2 Mixed solvent 21 Object to be cleaned

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A mixed solvent composed of a hydrocarbon solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water mixed with a surfactant, having a boiling point of 100.
Mixed solvent consisting of water mixed with a silicon-based solvent at a temperature of ℃ or more and a surfactant, mixed solvent composed of water mixed with a hydrophilic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ℃ or more and a surfactant, boiling point of 100 ℃
Heating any one or more of the above mixed solvents consisting of a terpene-based solvent and water mixed with a surfactant to generate steam, and perform steam cleaning of the object to be cleaned using this steam. A method for steam cleaning an object to be cleaned, characterized by: 2. An object to be cleaned, characterized in that a mixed solvent consisting of a hydrophilic solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or more and water is heated to generate steam, and the steam is used to clean the object to be cleaned. Steam cleaning method. 3. A mixed solvent comprising a hydrocarbon solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or higher and water in which a hydrophilic solvent is mixed, a boiling point of 100.
Any one kind or two or more kinds of a mixed solvent composed of water mixed with a silicon-based solvent having a temperature of ℃ or more and a hydrophilic solvent, and a mixed solvent composed of water mixed with a terpene-based solvent having a boiling point of 100 ° C. or more and a hydrophilic solvent A method for steam cleaning an object to be cleaned, characterized in that the object is heated to generate steam, and the object is cleaned with steam. 4. The method of steam cleaning an object to be cleaned according to claim 1, wherein the steam cleaning is performed in a reduced pressure atmosphere. 5. The method of steam cleaning an object to be cleaned according to claim 1, wherein the steam cleaning is performed in an atmosphere of normal pressure.