JPH09122612A - Cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To clean the inner wall surface of a hole effectively by a cleaning apparatus. SOLUTION: A cleaning apparatus 10 is composed of a cleaning tank 20 and an ultrasonic wave application part 30. A material 24 to be cleaned is immersed in a cleaning liquid 26 stored in the cleaning tank 20. The ultrasonic wave application part 30 is composed of an ultrasonic wave generator 32, a horn 34, and a pressurizing mechanism 36. Ultrasonic waves 50 generated by the ultrasonic wave generator 32 are transmitted to the material 24 through the horn 34. In this way, ultrasonic oscillation is generated in the material 24 to generate friction between the material 1 and the cleaning liquid 26. As a result, the inner wall part of a hole as well as the outer surface of the material 1 can be cleaned effectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device, and more particularly to a cleaning device suitable for cleaning the inner wall surface of a hole.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for cleaning mechanical parts, etc., the cavitation pressure generated by applying ultrasonic waves to a cleaning liquid contained in a cleaning tank causes the cleaning liquid to adhere to the surface of the component immersed in the cleaning liquid. There is known a device for removing foreign matter. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-21028, for the purpose of effectively cleaning the inside of the hole, by oscillating an ultrasonic oscillator inserted in the hole,
An apparatus for cleaning the inside of a hole is disclosed.

[0003]

However, in the case of cleaning a part having a large number of deep holes using the above-mentioned conventional apparatus,
Depending on the shape of the hole, it may be difficult to insert the ultrasonic oscillator into the hole, and in such a case, the inside of the hole cannot be sufficiently cleaned. In this respect, the above conventional apparatus is not necessarily suitable for cleaning the inside of the hole.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device capable of effectively cleaning the inside of a hole regardless of the shape of the hole.

[0005]

The above object can be achieved by a cleaning apparatus which is provided with a vibrating means for directly vibrating the object to be cleaned in a cleaning apparatus in which the object to be cleaned is immersed in a cleaning liquid. It In the present invention, the body to be cleaned is directly vibrated by the vibrating means. The vibration transmitted to the body to be cleaned travels inside the body to be cleaned and reaches the inner wall of the hole. Therefore, relative movement occurs between the inner wall of the hole of the object to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid. Such relative movement causes friction on the entire interface between the inner wall surface of the hole of the object to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid. As a result, the foreign matter attached to the surface of the object to be cleaned is removed.

[0006]

1 is a block diagram of a cleaning device 10 of the present invention. The present cleaning apparatus is suitable for cleaning an object to be cleaned 24 having a large number of deep holes, such as an actuator housing for an antilock brake system. In the present embodiment, a large number of deep holes, especially two deep holes, are formed in the body 24 to be cleaned (a cross hole (not shown)).
The case of using a metal member provided with will be described.

The cleaning device 10 is composed of a cleaning tank 20 and an ultrasonic wave applying section 30. A base 22 is arranged at the bottom of the cleaning tank 20. An object to be cleaned 24 is installed on the base 22. A cleaning liquid 26 is contained in the cleaning tank 20, and the body to be cleaned 24 is immersed in the cleaning liquid 26.

The ultrasonic wave applying section 30 includes an ultrasonic wave generator 32,
It is composed of a horn 34 and a pressure mechanism 36. The ultrasonic generator 32 is made of a piezoelectric material such as PZT. The horn 34 is a columnar member made of a material having low vibration damping such as metal. The upper surface and the lower surface of the horn 34 are formed in horizontal planes, and are in close contact with the lower surface of the ultrasonic wave generator 32 and the upper surface of the body 24 to be cleaned, respectively. In addition, the pressurizing mechanism 3
6 is provided with a mechanism for generating downward pressure, and pressurizes the ultrasonic wave generator 32 downward by the pressurizing unit 37.

An oscillator circuit 33 for generating a drive signal of a predetermined frequency is connected to the ultrasonic wave generator 32. When a predetermined drive signal is applied to the ultrasonic wave generator 32 from the oscillation circuit 33, the ultrasonic wave generator 32 undergoes stretching vibration in the vertical direction to generate the ultrasonic wave 50. The ultrasonic wave 50 propagates through the horn 34 and reaches the cleaning target 24. At this time, as described above, the ultrasonic generator 32 is pressed downward from above by the pressurizing unit 37 of the pressurizing mechanism 36, so that the lower surface of the horn 34 is against the upper surface of the body 24 to be cleaned. Pressed. Therefore, the ultrasonic waves 50 are efficiently transmitted by the horn 34.
Is transmitted to the object to be cleaned 24.

When the ultrasonic wave 50 is transmitted to the object to be cleaned 24, ultrasonic vibration is generated in the object to be cleaned 24 and the object to be cleaned 24
There is relative motion between the surface of the cleaning solution and the cleaning liquid 26. When such relative movement occurs, severe friction occurs at the interface between the body to be cleaned 24 and the cleaning liquid 26. As a result, the object to be cleaned 24
Foreign substances and the like adhering to the surface of the are removed.

In this case, since the object to be cleaned 24 is made of metal, its ultrasonic wave propagation efficiency is high, and the ultrasonic waves 50 are directly transmitted to the object to be cleaned 24 without passing through the cleaning liquid 26. Therefore, the ultrasonic wave 50 propagates to the entire body 24 to be cleaned with almost no attenuation. Therefore, the vibration sufficient for removing the foreign matter is also propagated to the inner wall surface of the deep hole 21 provided in the body to be cleaned 24. This makes it possible to effectively clean the inner wall of the hole.

In addition, in addition to the cleaning apparatus 10 of the present embodiment,
A flow velocity generating means such as a screw may be provided. In this case, the cleaning effect can be further improved by applying a constant flow velocity to the cleaning liquid 26. By the way, sharp corners are formed at the intersections of the cross holes. Foreign matter such as burrs generated during processing is likely to remain in such corner portions. For this reason, it is preferable that such a portion can be strongly washed in the washing process of the body to be washed 24. On the other hand, since the ultrasonic waves 50 propagated to the object to be cleaned 24 are likely to concentrate on the steep corners, the foreign matter remaining at these parts can be removed particularly strongly. As described above, according to the cleaning device 10 described above, it is possible to obtain an advantage that the part where foreign matter is likely to remain can be strongly cleaned.

Further, in the ultrasonic cleaning device configured to perform cleaning by applying ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid, ultrasonic waves are applied to the cleaning liquid other than the region related to cleaning. In this case, a part of the applied ultrasonic energy will be wasted. On the other hand, the ultrasonic cleaner 10 is configured to directly transmit ultrasonic waves to the object to be cleaned 24 via the horn 34. Therefore, the waste of energy as described above can be suppressed, and the energy saving of the cleaning device 10 is realized. In the above embodiment, the ultrasonic wave applying section 3
0 corresponds to the vibrating means described above.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cavitation pressure can be generated over the entire interface between the object to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid by directly vibrating the object to be cleaned.
Therefore, according to the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to effectively clean not only the outer surface of the object to be cleaned but also the inner wall surface of the hole provided in the object to be cleaned.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a cleaning device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cleaning device 20 Cleaning tank 22 Base 24 Cleaning object 30 Ultrasonic wave application part 32 Ultrasonic wave generator 34 Horn 36 Pressurizing mechanism 50 Ultrasonic wave

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning device for cleaning an object to be cleaned by immersing it in a cleaning liquid, comprising a vibrating means for directly vibrating the object to be cleaned.