JPH0760203A - Washing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance washing effect without using a large capacity pump when washing is performed by injecting a washing soln. to the article to be washed within a washing chamber from a nozzle device. CONSTITUTION:An article W to be washed is received in the washing chamber 3 within a housing 2 through a washing basket 17 and a fluid is ejected from a nozzle device 4 in such a state that the washing basket 17 is rotated by a basket holder 18. A fluid supply piping system is constituted so that a washing soln. pipeline 10 and an air pipeline 15 meet with each other on the way and a changeover device 68 is disposed at the meeting part. The fluid ejected from the nozzle device 4 by the changeover device 68 is usually set to any one among three systems of a washing soln., air and a washing soln./air mixed fluid and, in a washing process, the washing soln. or the washing soln./air mixed fluid is used and, in a drying process, air is used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning processed parts, circuit boards and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a cleaning apparatus for storing an object to be cleaned in a cleaning chamber, rotating it as necessary, ejecting a cleaning liquid from a nozzle device and spraying the cleaning liquid onto the object to be cleaned. Has been. Further, in a cleaning device having a drying function subsequent to cleaning, air which has been heated as necessary is blown from the nozzle device to the object to be cleaned in the drying step to perform drying.

[0003]

Here, in order to obtain a high cleaning power by jetting the washing liquid, it is necessary to increase the jetting force of the washing liquid. For that purpose, a pump having a large capacity must be selected. However, there is a problem that the device becomes expensive.
In addition, selecting a pump having a large capacity causes a problem that the size of the pump itself becomes large and the size of the entire cleaning device becomes large.

An object of the present invention is to increase the cleaning power without selecting a pump having a large capacity, to make the cleaning device compact and to be inexpensive.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

According to the present invention, in the cleaning apparatus including the cleaning chamber for containing the object to be cleaned and the nozzle device for spraying the fluid to the object to be cleaned in the cleaning chamber, the nozzle device is mixed with the cleaning liquid and the air. It is characterized in that a supply piping system for supplying a cleaning fluid / air mixed fluid is provided.

Further, the supply pipe system may be provided with a switching device for selectively switching the fluid supplied to the nozzle device to any one of three systems of cleaning liquid, air, and cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid in which the cleaning liquid and air are mixed is ejected from the nozzle device in the cleaning step. It can be said that this is a cleaning liquid containing bubbles, the impact force on the object to be cleaned is increased, and the cleaning power is increased as compared with the case of ejecting only the cleaning liquid, and a high cleaning effect is obtained. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a pump having a large capacity in order to enhance the cleaning ability, and therefore a small-sized and inexpensive cleaning device can be provided. Further, a high cleaning effect is exerted on parts having a complicated shape.

In the invention in which the supply pipe system is provided with the switching device, any one of the three systems of the cleaning liquid, the air and the cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid can be ejected from the nozzle device. For example, in the normal cleaning, only the cleaning liquid is high. If you want to obtain a cleaning effect, you can spray the cleaning fluid / air mixed fluid, and if you also perform the drying process with the cleaning device, you can eject the air to meet the form of the object to be cleaned, the degree of dirt, the need for drying, etc. You can select the most suitable pattern.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As conceptually shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an apparatus main body 1, a cleaning chamber housing 2 provided thereon, a cleaning chamber 3 formed therein, and a cleaning chamber 3 inside. Nozzle device 4 for spraying a fluid such as a cleaning liquid onto the object W to be cleaned contained in the container, a fluid conduit 5 for supplying the cleaning liquid, air or a mixed fluid thereof to the nozzle device 4, and a hot air outlet 6 of the cleaning chamber 3. And a warm air supply device 7 for supplying warm air to.

A cleaning liquid tank 8 is provided in the apparatus main body 1, and the cleaning liquid contained therein is supplied to a nozzle device 4 by a pump 9 via a cleaning liquid conduit 10 and a fluid conduit 5. The cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank 8 is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater 12, and the air passes through the air pipe 15 and the fluid pipe 5 by the air compressor 14 so as to pass through the heat pipe 13 immersed in the cleaning liquid. 4 is supplied. A cleaning liquid and air supply piping system 16 is configured to include the cleaning liquid conduit 10, the air conduit 15, and the fluid conduit 5.

The object W to be cleaned is housed in a basket holder 18 as a holding rotating body via a cleaning basket 17, and the basket holder 18 is rotated by a motor 40 around a vertical axis.

Each part will be described in more detail. Figure 2
As shown in FIG. 1, in the cleaning liquid tank 8 of the apparatus main body 1, in addition to the heater 12 and the heat pipe 13, a plot switch 20 for liquid level monitoring, a level gauge 21 for liquid level confirmation,
A drain cock 22 for discharging the cleaning liquid in the tank 8 and a filter 23 for removing dirt of the cleaning liquid are provided.

The supply pipe system 16 includes, in addition to the pump 9 for supplying and circulating the cleaning liquid, a filter 24 for removing dirt and fine dust of the cleaning liquid, a pressure gauge 25 for monitoring the filter back pressure, and a cleaning liquid pipe line. A pressure gauge 27 for confirming the discharge pressure is provided on the way of 10. The cleaning liquid supplied from the nozzle device 4 into the cleaning chamber 3 passes through the cleaning liquid discharge port 28 extending downward from the bottom of the cleaning chamber housing 2 through the filter 29 and is returned to the cleaning liquid tank 8.

The cleaning chamber housing 2 forming the cleaning chamber 3 is in the form of a box with a bottom, and its upper opening is opened and closed by an opening / closing door 30. The open / close door 30 is
The nozzle device 4 is opened and closed about a fulcrum O from a horizontal closed state to a substantially vertical open state within a range of about 90 degrees, and the nozzle device 4 is fixed to the opening / closing door 30. In order to enable this opening / closing, the fluid conduit 5 is made of a bendable piping material, or a universal joint 35 or the like is used.

A peep window 31 for viewing the inside of the cleaning chamber 3 is formed at the center of the opening / closing door 30, and a handle 32 is provided at the free end. The cleaning chamber housing 2 is provided with a sensor 33 for confirming the opening / closing of the opening / closing door 30 and an opening / closing lock cylinder 34 for locking the opening / closing door 30 in the closed position. The sensor 33 confirms the closed state of the opening / closing door 30. Based on this, the opening / closing lock cylinder 34 is locked, and safety consideration is given so that the opening / closing door 30 is not opened by the action of the lock cylinder 34 during cleaning and drying in the cleaning chamber 3. A solenoid may be used instead of the open / close lock cylinder 34.

The basket holder 18 provided in the cleaning chamber 3 has a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and as shown in FIG. 3, a rotary shaft 37 is provided at the center of the bottom through a flange member 36.
Are integrally fixed so as to extend downward. The rotating shaft 37 is rotatably held by a bearing 38 provided at the bottom of the cleaning chamber housing 2, and is between a driven pulley 39 fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 37 and a drive pulley 41 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 40. The belt 42 is wound around the motor 4
0 is fixed to the bottom surface of the cleaning chamber housing 2 via a bracket 43. The motor 40 is driven via the inverter 44 of FIG. 13 to rotate the basket holder 18 around the vertical axis in the cleaning chamber 3 shown in FIG.

The cleaning basket 17 shown in FIG. 7 has a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and as shown in FIG.
8 has a handle 45 on the upper side. The cleaning basket 17 is a basket holder 1
The outer peripheral surface is in close contact with the rib-shaped elastic body (rubber ridge, etc.) 46 provided in the vertical direction on the inner surface of the basket holder 1
Integrated into 8. As the elastic body 46, in addition to rubber, a soft resin, a leaf spring, an inwardly biased plunger, or the like can be used. In addition, such an elastic body 46 is eliminated, and the basket holder 18 is mounted so that the inner circumference of the basket holder 18 and the outer circumference of the cleaning basket 17 are in direct contact with each other. You may put things directly. The top surface, bottom surface and side surface of each of the cleaning basket 17 and the basket holder 18 have a mesh shape as required.

Instead of the basket holder 18, as shown in FIG. 9, a rotary plate 47 may be attached to the flange member 36 and an object to be cleaned may be fixed on the rotary plate 47. In this case, as a method of fixing the object to be cleaned, there are fixing with screws, fixing with positioning pins, and the like.

The basket holder 18 can be replaced with a different size depending on the size of the cleaning basket 17. In addition, as shown in FIG.
A sensor 48 for confirming the dimensions 7 is provided at the bottom of the cleaning chamber housing 2. The sensor 48 serves to confirm the size of the cleaning basket 17 when the cleaning basket 17 is replaced, and the rotation speed of the motor 40 can be adjusted accordingly.

The basket holder 18, the rotating shaft 37, the bearing 38, the drive pulley 41 and the driven pulley 39, and the rotating mechanism 50 including the motor 40 shown in FIG. 3 are attached to the cleaning chamber housing 2 in a suspended form. Has been. An appropriate number of rubber elastic bodies 51 are interposed between the cleaning chamber housing 2 and the apparatus main body 1, and the cleaning chamber housing 2
Are elastically supported on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 via the rubber elastic body 51. The rubber elastic body 51 may be a ring-shaped body or a plurality of rubber elastic bodies 51 may be evenly provided. In the state where the rotation mechanism section 50 is driven and the basket holder 18 is rotated, vibration accompanying the rotation is generated in the cleaning chamber housing 2, but this vibration is absorbed or mitigated by the rubber elastic body 51 and transmitted to the apparatus main body 1. Is prevented or suppressed.

An example of such an elastic support mechanism is shown in FIG.
Elastic blocks such as elastic rubber and resin as shown in (5
In addition to 1), a plurality of compression coil springs 52 as shown in FIG. 11 may be used, or a tension coil spring 5 as shown in FIG.
3 can also be used. The upper end of the tension coil spring 53 is supported by a plurality of stays 54 provided upright on the apparatus body 1, and the lower end is hooked on the bottom of the cleaning chamber housing 2.

Returning to FIG. 2, the above-mentioned warm air outlet 6 opening in the cleaning chamber 3 is located so as to blow out the warm air into the space between the inner surface of the cleaning chamber 3 and the outer surface of the basket holder 18, The duct 55 connects to the warm air supply device 7 described above. As schematically shown in FIG. 5, the warm air supply device 7 includes a housing 56, an electric heater 57 provided inside the housing 56, and a fan 59 that is rotated by a motor 58 behind the housing 56. The heated air near the electric heater 57 serves as warm air in the duct 55.
6, and is blown out from the warm air outlet 6 into the cleaning chamber 3 as shown in FIG. The hot air outlet 6 may be provided with a blade-shaped wind direction plate so as to have a convection effect in the cleaning chamber 3. Such a wind direction plate also has a function of preventing backflow from the hot air outlet. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a warm air outlet 60 is provided in the cleaning chamber housing 2 above the warm air outlet 6, and
The warm air circulating inside is discharged from the warm air discharge port 60 to the atmosphere.

A part of the supply piping system 16 shown in FIG.
A switching device 68 is provided near the confluence of the cleaning liquid conduit 10 and the air conduit 15. This portion is enlarged and shown in FIG. The cleaning liquid conduit 10 and the air conduit 15 meet at the connecting portion 61, but are located upstream of this and are located in the cleaning liquid conduit 10.
A cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62, a needle type cleaning liquid flow rate control valve 63 and a check valve 64 for controlling the discharge amount (discharge pressure) of the cleaning liquid are provided in this order toward the connecting portion 61. Similarly, the air opening / closing valve 6 is also connected to the air pipe 15.
5. A needle type air flow control valve 66 and a check valve 67 for controlling the discharge amount (discharge pressure) of air are provided.

The cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62 is opened and the air opening / closing valve 65 is opened.
When the cleaning liquid is closed, the cleaning liquid flows from the cleaning liquid conduit 10 to the cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62, the flow control valve 63, the check valve 64, and the connecting portion 6.
It is ejected from the above-mentioned nozzle device 4 via 1 and the fluid conduit 5. At this time, the check valve 67 stops the inflow of the cleaning liquid to the air pipe 15 side. On the other hand, by closing the cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62 and opening the air opening / closing valve 65, the heated air causes the air pipe 15, the air opening / closing valve 65, the flow control valve 66, the check valve 67, the connecting portion 61 and the fluid pipe. The check valve 64 stops the air from being introduced into the nozzle device 4 through the nozzle 5 and entering the cleaning liquid conduit 10 side. Furthermore, the cleaning liquid on-off valve 6
2 and the air opening / closing valve 65 are both opened, the cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid in which the cleaning liquid and the air are mixed is ejected from the nozzle device 4 through the connection portion 61 and the fluid pipe 5.

Thus, the mixed fluid obtained by providing the switching device 68 in a part of the supply piping system 16 becomes a cleaning liquid containing bubbles, the impact force on the object to be cleaned is increased, and only the cleaning liquid is ejected. The cleaning power is increased as compared with the case. In this case, if the cleaning liquid or air is intermittently supplied, the mixed fluid becomes a pulsating flow, which is effective in further increasing the cleaning power. Further, the cleaning liquid flow rate control valve 63 and the air flow rate control valve 66 of a needle type or the like can control the mixing ratio of the mixed fluid and the jetting output. In the drying process, only the heated air is used for the nozzle device 4.
Will be ejected from.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram schematically showing the control system. The control unit 70 includes a CPU 71, a program memory 72, a timer 73, etc., and an operation panel 74 for making various inputs is connected to the control unit 70, and confirms the open / closed state of the open / close door 30 shown in FIG. A sensor 33 and a sensor 48 for confirming the size of the cleaning basket 17 housed in the basket holder 18 are connected. A motor 40 for rotating the basket holder 18 is connected to a control unit 70 via an inverter 44, and the control unit 70 further includes the warm air supply device 7, the cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62, the air opening / closing valve 65, and the cleaning liquid. The flow rate control valve 63, the air flow rate control valve 66, the open / close lock cylinder 34, the cleaning liquid pump 9, the air compressor 14, etc. are connected.

By controlling the motor 40, which is the rotation drive source of the basket holder 18, by an inverter, the motor rotation speed in the cleaning process and the drying process can be made variable, and for example, the drying process is more effective in the basket holder than in the cleaning process. It can be set to increase the rotational speed of 18. Further, the rotation direction can be switched between normal rotation and reverse rotation, and the acceleration time up to the set rotation speed, the deceleration time from the set rotation speed, etc. can be easily set. Furthermore, it is possible to stop instantaneously by using it together with a brake motor. The cleaning time and the drying time can be freely set by the timer 73.

Next, the usage and operation of the cleaning apparatus of this embodiment will be described. (1) Put the object to be cleaned in the cleaning basket 17. This is work outside the cleaning equipment. (2) Open the opening / closing door 30 of FIG. 2 in the cleaning device (by hand). (3) The cleaning basket 17 containing the object to be cleaned is attached to the basket holder 18, or the object to be cleaned is fixed to the rotating plate 47 of FIG. 9 (by hand). (4) Close the opening / closing door 30 of the cleaning device shown in FIG. 2 (by hand). (5) Press the start switch (manually). (6) The open / close lock cylinder 34 of FIG. 2 operates to fix the open / close door 30 in the closed state (automatic).

(7) Start of cleaning process (automatic). (8) The basket holder 18 shown in FIG. 1 starts to rotate, and a mixed fluid of cleaning liquid and air is ejected from the nozzle device 4, which is sprayed onto the object to be cleaned in the cleaning basket 17 for cleaning. That is, the opening / closing valves 62 and 65 are both opened by the switching device 68 of FIG. The motor 40 that drives the rotating basket 18 is inverter-controlled and rotates at a preset rotation speed. The sensor 48 shown in FIG. 1 detects the size of the cleaning basket 17 and adjusts the rotation speed of the basket holder 18 based on the size. For example, the rotation speed is adjusted to be slower as the cleaning basket 17 is larger.
Further, the warm air supply device 7 is operated, and the warm air is circulated from the warm air outlet 6 into the cleaning chamber 3, and the warm air is discharged through the warm air discharge port 60.
Emitted from.

(9) During the cleaning, the control for rotating the basket holder 18 in the forward and reverse directions is repeated. (10) When the set time of the cleaning process by the timer 73 is finished, the rotation of the basket holder 18 is stopped and the jetting of the mixed cleaning fluid from the nozzle device 4 is also stopped.

(11) Start the drying process (automatic). (12) The basket holder 18 starts rotating, and heated air is ejected from the nozzle device 4. That is, the cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 62 of FIG. 4 is closed and the air opening / closing valve 65 is opened. The rotation speed of the basket holder 18 in this drying process is controlled by the above-mentioned inverter 44, and the rotation speed can be the same as that in the cleaning process, or can be set to a certain amount faster than that.

(13) Even in the drying process, the basket holder 1
It is desirable to switch the rotation direction of 8 in both forward and reverse directions. (14) When the set time of the drying process set by the timer 73 has elapsed, the rotation of the basket holder 18 is stopped, and the air opening / closing valve 65 of FIG. 4 is closed, so that the nozzle device 4 of FIG.
The jet of air from is also stopped.

(15) After that, the open / close lock cylinder 34
(Fig. 2) is released (automatic). (16) Open the door 30 of the cleaning device (by hand). (17) Remove the cleaning basket 17 containing the object to be cleaned shown in FIG. 1 from the basket holder 18. Alternatively, the object to be cleaned is removed from the rotary plate 47 shown in FIG. 9 (by hand). (18) Take out the object to be cleaned from the cleaning basket 17 (work outside the cleaning device).

In the above steps, it is desirable to always supply the warm air from the warm air supply device 7. This is because the supply of warm air not only enhances the drying efficiency but also contributes to the improvement of the cleaning effect by keeping the temperature inside the cleaning chamber high in the cleaning process. Alternatively, a plurality of cleaning process patterns may be set in advance, and an appropriate one may be selected from the patterns.

As described above, in this embodiment, the mixed fluid of the cleaning liquid and the air (the cleaning liquid containing air bubbles) is sprayed on the object to be cleaned in the cleaning step, so that the impact force at the time of spraying is increased.
A high cleaning effect can be obtained.

In the drying step, (1) air is applied to the object to be cleaned so as to remove water adhering to the surface for drying, and (2) particularly heated air is applied to the object to be cleaned. Multiple combined effects: drying by warming, (3) drying by centrifugal dehydration effect based on rotating the object to be cleaned, and (4) drying by supplying hot air into the cleaning chamber and keeping the cleaning chamber at a high temperature. As a result, the drying efficiency is high and the drying time is shortened. In addition, the drying by these combined use,
They can be combined as needed.

Further, in this embodiment, the basket holder 1
Cleaning chamber housing 2 with rotating mechanism 50 such as 8 attached
However, since it is supported to the apparatus main body 1 via the elastic member (51), the vibration caused by the rotation of the rotation mechanism portion 50 can be stopped by the vibration of the cleaning chamber housing 2, and the cleaning can be performed even if the number of rotations is increased. It is difficult for the vibration of only the chamber housing 2 to be transmitted to the apparatus main body 1. As a result, it is possible to obtain a high effect on cleaning and drying as a facility that supports high-speed rotation with vibration suppressed, and it is possible to increase the load weight of the object to be cleaned. Further, the elastic member (51) also serves to release the force generated by the vibration in the cleaning chamber housing 2 and prevent the force from being concentrated at one place so that an unreasonable force is not applied to the rotation mechanism section 50. Is playing.

In the above description, the nozzle device 4 may be provided not only in the upper part of the cleaning chamber 3 but also in the lower part, the side, or a combination of each. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the side nozzle devices 75 are evenly provided at, for example, three points with respect to the center line of the basket holder 18, and the cleaning liquid or the cleaning liquid containing air bubbles (cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid) is laterally attached to the object to be cleaned. It is also possible to spray. Further, such a nozzle device may be attached to the washing chamber housing 2 or the opening / closing door 30.

As for the hot air supply device 7, the hot air may not necessarily be attached to the device body 1 and hot air may be taken in from another heat source. As the heat source, a heat pipe similar to the heat pipe 13 for heating the air provided in the cleaning liquid tank 8 may be provided in addition to the electric heater described above, and this may be used as the heat source. Further, the warm air outlets 6 may be located at any position on the side surface, the upper surface, the lower surface, etc. of the cleaning chamber 3, and the number thereof can be set at one location or a plurality of locations.

Further, a cleaning liquid and air supply piping system 1
With regard to No. 6, the switching device 68 shown in FIG. 4 may be eliminated and the mixed fluid of the cleaning liquid and air may be constantly supplied. Such a configuration is particularly suitable for a dedicated washing machine, and in the case where the drying step is also performed, it is preferable to provide a switching device so that room temperature air or heated air can be supplied during the drying.

Further, the rotation drive source of the basket holder 18 is not limited to the motor, and for example, as shown in FIG. 14, liquid or air is jetted from a nozzle 76 provided on the side, and the basket holder 18 and the cleaning basket are ejected. 17 and the object to be cleaned, the basket holder 18
It is also possible to adopt a configuration of rotating the. Further, as shown in FIG. 15, an impeller 77 is attached to the rotary shaft 37, and
The basket holder 18 may be rotated by spraying a liquid or air from the nozzle 78 on the side toward 7. In either method, rotation control similar to the inverter control can be performed by controlling the jet output, setting the nozzle position, the number of nozzles, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing it more specifically.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a rotation mechanism section.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a supply pipe system switching device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view schematically showing a warm air supply device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a connection form between a duct for supplying warm air and a cleaning chamber housing.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a cleaning basket.

FIG. 8 is a front sectional view of the cleaning basket mounted on a basket holder.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway cross-sectional view showing a rotating plate that replaces the basket holder.

FIG. 10 is a front view when an elastic block is provided as an elastic body between the apparatus main body and the cleaning chamber housing.

FIG. 11 is a front view when a compression coil spring is provided in the same manner.

FIG. 12 is a front view when a tension coil spring is also provided.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a control system.

FIG. 14 is a front view showing a modified example of the rotation drive source of the basket holder.

FIG. 15 is a front view showing still another example of the rotary drive source.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Device Main Body 2 Cleaning Chamber Housing 3 Cleaning Chamber 4 Nozzle Device 5 Fluid Pipeline 6 Hot Air Outlet 7 Hot Air Supply Device 10 Cleaning Liquid Pipeline 13 Heat Pipe 15 Air Pipeline 16 Supply Pipe System 17 Cleaning Basket 18 Basket Holder (Holding Rotation) 37) Rotating shaft 47 Rotating plate (holding rotating body) 50 Rotating mechanism section 51 Rubber elastic body 52 Compression coil spring 53 Tension coil spring 62 Cleaning liquid opening / closing valve 63 Cleaning liquid flow control valve 65 Air opening / closing valve 66 Air flow control valve 68 Switching device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning chamber for containing an object to be cleaned, a nozzle device for spraying a fluid to the object to be cleaned in the cleaning chamber, and a cleaning liquid containing a cleaning liquid and air mixed in the nozzle device.
A cleaning device comprising: a supply piping system for supplying an air-mixed fluid. 2. The supply pipe system has a switching device for selectively switching the fluid supplied to the nozzle device to any one of three systems of a cleaning liquid, air, and a cleaning liquid / air mixed fluid. Cleaning device.