JPS6221593B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in an automatic ultrasonic cleaning device for cleaning metal parts and the like.

Conventionally, automatic ultrasonic cleaning equipment that automatically cleans metal parts, etc. uses a basket that moves within the equipment, and parts are manually placed into this basket, and after cleaning, this basket is removed from the equipment. , taking out parts from inside. Not only does this take time and effort, but the temperature of the cage drops each time the cage is removed from the device and parts are taken out, and the cage must be warmed up the next time it is used, consuming a large amount of thermal energy. There are drawbacks. In particular, the cage is large and made of metal such as punched metal, so it has a large heat capacity, and the energy loss for warming the cage is large.

Additionally, since this device adopts a method in which the basket is moved in and out of the cleaning bath, a means to move the basket up and down is required, which complicates the structure and increases the height of the device. The problem is that it takes up a large volume.

The present invention eliminates these drawbacks of the prior art,
The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic automatic cleaning device that has a simple structure and is miniaturized.

Furthermore, by not using a basket to be taken in and out of the device, the present invention improves the efficiency of automatic cleaning and eliminates the need to warm the basket, thereby preventing loss of thermal energy and providing energy efficient ultrasonic automatic cleaning. The purpose of this invention is to provide a cleaning device.

The automatic ultrasonic cleaning device of the present invention has a means for supplying parts to be cleaned, a parts intake port connected to the supply means at the center of one end, a parts delivery port at the center of the other end, and a large number of parts on the circumferential surface. a first cleaning drum having small holes, a parts intake port at the center of one end, a parts delivery port at the center of the other end, a final washing drum having a large number of small holes on the circumferential surface; An appropriate number of cleaning drums including a zero having a component inlet, a component outlet, and a small hole similar to those described above, which are successively provided between the cleaning drum and the final cleaning drum; a plurality of cleaning baths, including an ultrasonic bath, containing a cleaning liquid for immersing one or more drums; a component removal means connected to a component delivery port of the final cleaning drum; and a component removal means for rotating the cleaning drum. A cleaning drum comprising a driving means and immersed in the cleaning tank has a parts delivery port located above the liquid level of the cleaning tank and at least a part of its inner peripheral surface located below the liquid level. arranged so that
The cleaning drum has fixed therein a spiral that moves and raises the parts from the inner circumferential surface of the drum to the parts delivery port when the drum rotates around the rotation axis, and also Of the two cleaning drums, the component delivery port of the drum closer to the supply means is communicated with the component intake port of the other drum.

The cleaning drum used in the apparatus of the present invention has an inlet and an outlet as described above, and by rotating around a fixed rotating shaft, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the inlet where the parts are taken in by the action of the spiral. The parts are sent to an outlet located higher than the surface, and during this time the parts are cleaned while being moved through a cleaning bath such as an ultrasonic bath. As the drum for this purpose, various shapes can be used, such as a cylindrical shape, a conical shape, and a spiral drum whose diameter is gradually decreased. If parts are transferred by the rotation of such a drum,
Parts do not get caught in the transport means, as is the case, for example, when using a screw conveyor.

According to the apparatus of the present invention, the parts are supplied to the parts intake port of the first cleaning drum by the parts supply means such as a hopper, and then the parts are fed into each of the successively provided drums by the rotation of the drum. The components are sent out from the final drum's parts delivery port, during which they are repeatedly immersed in various cleaning tanks including an ultrasonic bath, and then withdrawn from there for cleaning. Installation and removal work is no longer necessary. Therefore, cleaning efficiency is improved, and since there is no need to warm up the basket each time, there is no heat loss, and ultrasonic cleaning with high thermal efficiency is possible.

Additionally, since there is no need to move the car up and down and the drum only rotates at a fixed position, the height of the device can be lowered, making the entire device more compact, and the structure simplified by reducing the number of moving parts. It can also be done.

Embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, and Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are cross-sectional views showing each part of the cleaning drum used in the apparatus, that is, - - in Fig. 1, respectively. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, this apparatus is equipped with a hopper 1 at one end as a means for supplying parts to be cleaned, and a chute 2 at the other end as a means for finally sending out cleaned parts. Continuing from the hopper 1, a part intake port 12 of the first cleaning drum 11, whose inner circumferential surface is partially immersed in the first ultrasonic bath 10, faces the parts intake port 12 of the first cleaning drum 11, and the parts supplied from the hopper 1 are transferred to the first cleaning drum 11. washing drum 11
Take it inside. At the bottom of the first ultrasonic bath 10,
An ultrasonic oscillator 10a is provided to ultrasonically clean the components inside the cleaning drum 11 through a cleaning liquid 10b such as trichloroethane. The first cleaning drum 11 has a parts delivery port 13 at the center of the end opposite to the parts intake port 12.
3 is placed at a position higher than the liquid level of the cleaning liquid 10b. A spiral spiral 14 is provided between the intake port 12 and the delivery port 13 for transporting the parts in the direction of the rotation axis by the rotation of the drum from the intake port 12 to the vicinity of the end on the delivery port 13 side. A spiral spiral 15 is provided between the end of the spiral spiral 14 and the end of the drum on the delivery port 13 side, which transports parts from the peripheral surface of the drum to the center by rotation of the drum. Between the spiral spiral 15 and the spiral spiral 14, there is a partition wall 16 having an opening 16a communicating between the spiral spirals 15 and 14.
is provided. The drum 11 has a large number of small holes 11a on its circumferential surface, and the spiral spiral 15 also has a large number of small holes 1.
5a, so that the cleaning liquid 10b comes into sufficient contact with the parts. The spiral 14 consists of a wall fixed to the inner surface of the circumferential surface of the drum 11 in a spiral manner and an opening in the center, and as the drum 11 rotates in the direction of arrow A, parts are inserted into the intake opening 12.
from there to the bulkhead 16. As the drum 11 rotates in the direction of the arrow A, the parts sent to the partition wall 16 are further lifted up from the opening 16a to the center along the spiral spiral 15, and are taken out from the parts delivery port 13. At this time, the final (middle) portion 15b of the spiral helix 15 is sloped downward toward the delivery port 13 to assist in ejecting the part. The construction of this drum is clearly shown in the cross-sectional views of FIGS. 2 and 3. The drum 11 is rotatably supported around a horizontal axis of rotation, and is
The rotary support means and drive means for this purpose may be any known means. For example, the drum 11 is a normal bearing 1
A gear 18 is fixed around a part of the intake port 12, for example, around the intake port 12.
8 is rotated by a gear train 19a rotationally driven by a motor 19. In order not to reduce the space cross section at the parts intake port 12 and delivery port 13, and also for inspection and repair of the drum 11, it is preferable to fix the drum to a rotating shaft that passes through the center of the drum. It is more desirable to provide means for rotational support or rotational drive around the device.

The parts cleaned in the first ultrasonic bath 10 are sent to a second ultrasonic bath 20 of exactly the same type. This bathtub 20 has an ultrasonic oscillator 20 at the bottom.
a, and a second cleaning drum 21 having the same structure as the first cleaning drum 11 is rotatably provided inside. Although the rotational drive means for this second cleaning drum 21 is not shown,
It may be the same or different. In short, any type of drive means may be used as long as it rotates the drum 21 to similarly feed the parts. Cleaning liquid 20 in the second ultrasonic bathtub 20
The liquid level in b is higher than the liquid level in the first bathtub 10, and the cleaning liquid in the second bathtub 20 flows into the first bathtub 10 by overflow. This is because the cleaning liquid 20b in the second bathtub 20 is less contaminated than the cleaning liquid 10b in the first bathtub 10. This is to make effective use of the cleaning liquid 10b since it can still be used.

The parts cleaned in the second ultrasonic bath 20 are sent to a third cleaning drum 31 having the same structure as the first and second cleaning drums 11 and 21. This third cleaning drum 31 is rotatably supported in a rinse/cool cold bath 30 and rotated to rinse the parts and cool them for the next steam cleaning. The parts are heated to about 50° C. and ultrasonically cleaned in the first and second ultrasonic baths 10 and 20 to remove polishing powder and degreased, and then transferred to the cold bath 3.
0 to room temperature. The cleaning liquid 30b in the cold bath 30 may be the same as the liquid in the first and second baths 10 and 20, such as trichloroethane.

The cooled parts sent out from the third cleaning drum 31 are sent to the final cleaning drum 41. In the illustrated embodiment, this final cleaning drum 4
1 is the fourth cleaning drum, in which steam cleaning is performed. That is, this final cleaning drum 41 is rotated into the steam melting tank 40 above the cleaning liquid 40b in the melting tank 40, and the cleaning liquid 40b
Cleaned by the steam of b. This cleaning liquid 40b
The first, second, and third cleaning liquids, for example, the same as trichloroethane, can be used, and this liquid is heated with the heater 40a to the boiling point (approximately 75°C) or higher to boil it and turn it into steam. .

As this final drum 41, the first, second,
A structure similar to that of the third drum 11, 21, 31 can be used, but a different type is shown in FIG. This type is particularly suitable for cases such as steam cleaning where direct immersion in liquid is not required, and has the function of feeding parts vertically. That is, the spiral spiral 15 of the first drum 11 has only spirals 44 and 45 that have the function of transporting parts up and down, and the first half spiral 44 carries the parts taken in from the central part intake port 42 on the circumferential surface. (as the drum 41 rotates, it descends from the center level), and in the second half of the spiral 45, it moves from the peripheral surface to the center component delivery port 4.
Send parts up to 3. An inclined portion 44a is provided at the final end of the first half spiral 44 so as to send the component to the second half spiral side, and an inclined portion 45a is provided at the final end of the second half spiral 45 so as to send the component to the delivery port 43. is provided. In the illustrated example, only two spirals 44 and 45 are provided on the final drum 41, but this number is not limited to two, and as long as it is an even number, any number of spirals may be used as required. You can also.

The drums 11, 21, 31, and 41 are all made of a material having a large number of holes, such as punched metal or wire mesh, at least on the peripheral surface so that the cleaning liquid can sufficiently contact the parts.

Note that the number of cleaning drums 11, 21, 31, 41 can be varied depending on the type of cleaning process, and in the minimum case, it is possible to have two, the first and the last.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, truncated conical drums 51, 61, 71, 81 are used instead of the cylindrical drums 11, 21, 31, 41 as shown in FIG. This truncated conical drum 51, 61, 7
1, 81 has a spiral wall (hereinafter referred to as a spiral) 54 on the inner surface that moves the part from the large diameter side to the small diameter side by rotation around the horizontal axis of the drum, and has a spiral wall 54 at the center of the large diameter side end. Components supplied into the drum from the component intake port 52 are moved to the component delivery port 53 at the center of the small-diameter end as the drum rotates. Also in this example, the cleaning drums 51, 61, and 71 have a part of their inner circumferential surfaces located below the liquid level of the hot bath 50, ultrasonic bath 60, and liquid bath 70 as cleaning tanks, respectively, and are used for parts delivery. The ports 53, 63, 73 are arranged above the liquid level, and the fourth washing drum 8
1 is also arranged such that the component delivery port 83 is located at a higher position than the liquid level of the cleaning tank 80. In the illustrated example, the parts are fed from the left to the right by rotating clockwise when viewed from the left. drum 5
Although the outer circumferential surfaces of 1, 61, 71, and 81 are made of wire mesh in the illustrated example, they may be made of punched metal with a large number of small holes.

The first cleaning drum 51 is rotatably provided so that its lower part is immersed in a hot bath 50 containing a cleaning liquid 50b such as trichloroethane, and the cleaning liquid 50b is heated to 50-60°C with a heater 50a.
The internal parts supplied from the hopper 3 are washed with moderately warm water. The lower part of the second cleaning drum 61 is immersed in a cleaning liquid 60b contained in an ultrasonic bath 60 containing an ultrasonic oscillator 60a and a heater 60c, and the parts are ultrasonically cleaned there. drum 61
The structure is the same as that of the drum 51. Ultrasonic bathtub 6
The temperature of the cleaning liquid at 0 is the same as the cleaning liquid in the hot tub 50.
At 50-60°C, the liquid level is higher than the liquid level of the cleaning liquid 50b in the hot tub 50, and relatively uncontaminated cleaning liquid 60b flows into the dirty cleaning liquid 50b by overflow and is replenished. .
The lower part of the third cleaning drum 71 is immersed in a cleaning liquid 70b contained in a liquid bath 70 containing a cooling coil 70a. The structure of the drum 71 is that the drums 51, 6
Same as 1. A cleaning liquid 70b such as trichloroethane in this liquid bath 70 is cooled to room temperature by a cooling coil 70a. This liquid 70b flows into the ultrasonic bath 60 by overflow and is replenished. Here the parts are rinsed and cooled. The fourth or final cleaning drum 81 is heated by a heater 80a to a boiling point (approximately 75°C) or higher and rotated above a cleaning liquid 80b such as boiled trichloroethane, so that steam condenses on the surface of the parts. and steam cleaned. The structure of the drum 81 is the same as the drums 51, 61, and 71, and the parts are steam-cleaned while being inserted into the parts intake port 8.
2 to the parts delivery port 83. The parts sent out from the delivery port 83 are taken out from the chute 4.

The parts delivery port 53 of the first cleaning drum 51 faces into the parts intake port 62 of the second cleaning drum 61, and the rotation of the first drum 51 ensures that the parts are transferred into the second cleaning drum 61. sent to. Second
The delivery port 63 of the cleaning drum 61 is in the intake port 72 of the third cleaning drum 71, and the delivery port 73 of the third cleaning drum 71 is in the fourth cleaning drum 8.
1, parts are fed into each drum in sequence.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 above, the cleaning drum 5
The structure is relatively simple because the shapes of 1, 61, 71, and 81 are simple truncated cones and do not require a spiral like the example in Fig. 1, but the length of the part immersed in the cleaning liquid is is shorter, and the cleaning time is correspondingly shorter (only in the case of steam cleaning, it is not shorter)
There is a drawback.

In either of the above two embodiments, the drum simply rotates in a fixed position, and the parts are sequentially sent up and down between the baths, so the process is completely automated, excluding manual work. A new ultrasonic automatic cleaning device is realized. Further, since each drum is always maintained at its own constant temperature, there is no need to heat or cool it each time, making it possible to realize a cleaning device with high thermal efficiency.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the rotational support means and rotational drive means for each drum are not shown.
Any known means can be used for these. In addition, as for the rotational support or driving means for the drum, it is better to avoid one that passes through the central axis of the drum so that the area of the entrance and exit for parts can be increased.

FIG. 7 shows another example of a drum used in the apparatus of the present invention, a spiral drum whose diameter decreases in a stepwise spiral manner. This spiral drum 90 has a component intake port 91 at the center of the large-diameter end surface, and a component delivery port 92 at the small-diameter end surface. A spiral wall 93 is provided between the openings 91 and 92 to send the parts from the large diameter side to the small diameter side as the drum rotates, and has the same effect as the truncated conical drum shown in Fig. 6. . This spiral drum 90 is replaced by a truncated conical drum 51 in FIG.
Even when used in place of 61, 71, and 81, similar effects can be obtained.

As explained above, the present invention immerses a part of the rotating drum in a cleaning liquid, and cleans the parts while feeding them therein using a feeding means such as a spiral.
Since parts are removed from one bathtub and sent up and down into the next bath without moving the drum, thermal energy can be saved as there is no need to warm up the drum each time, and the drum can be removed. Parts can be fed from the hopper and come out of the chute without any manual work, making cleaning more efficient. Also,
The height of the device can be reduced, and the entire device can be downsized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of the cleaning device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are - lines, - lines, - lines, and - lines in FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the cleaning device of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another example of the drum used in the cleaning device of the present invention. be. 1, 3...Hopper, 2,4...Shoot, 1
0...First ultrasonic bathtub, 20...Second ultrasonic bathtub, 30...Cooling bathtub, 40...Steam bathtub, 50
... Hot bathtub, 60 ... Ultrasonic bathtub, 70 ... Cold bathtub, 80 ... Steam bathtub, 90 ... Spiral drum, 11, 21, 31, 41 ... Cylindrical cleaning drum, 12, 42, 52, 62, 72, 82, 91
...Parts intake, 13, 43, 53, 63, 7
3, 83, 92... Parts delivery port, 14... Spiral spiral, 15... Spiral spiral, 19... Motor,
10b, 20b, 30b, 40b, 50b, 60
b, 70b, 80b...Cleaning liquid, 54...Spiral,
93...Spiral wall.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means for supplying parts to be cleaned, having a parts intake port connected to the supply means at the center of one end, a parts delivery port at the center of the other end, and a large number of small holes on the circumferential surface. a final cleaning drum having a parts intake port at the center of one end, a parts delivery port at the center of the other end, and a large number of small holes on the circumferential surface; An appropriate number of cleaning drums including a zero having a component intake port and a component removal port at the center of each end and having a large number of small holes on the circumferential surface, which are continuously provided between the final cleaning drums; a plurality of cleaning baths including an ultrasonic bath containing a cleaning liquid for immersing one or more of the cleaning drums; a parts removal means connected to a parts delivery port of the last cleaning drum; The cleaning drum, which is composed of a driving means for rotating a cleaning drum and is immersed in the cleaning tank, has a parts delivery port located above the liquid level of the cleaning tank and at least a part of its inner circumference surface that is immersed in the cleaning tank. The cleaning drum is arranged so as to be located below the surface, and the cleaning drum is placed inside the cleaning drum, and as the drum rotates around a rotation axis, the parts are laterally moved from the inner circumferential surface of each drum to the parts delivery port. and has a fixed ascending spiral, and of two adjacent cleaning drums, the component delivery port of the drum closer to the supply means is communicated with the component intake port of the other drum. Ultrasonic automatic cleaning equipment. 2. The ultrasonic automatic cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the cleaning drums is provided within a steam cleaning chamber. 3. The cleaning drum is a cylindrical drum having a porous peripheral surface having an opening for taking in components at one end and an opening for discharging components at the center of the other end. A spiral is provided at the other end of the drum for feeding the parts to be cleaned in the direction of the rotating axis of the drum. Claim 1 is characterized in that the drum is provided with a spiral spiral for transporting the parts to the delivery opening as the drum rotates.
The ultrasonic automatic cleaning device described in Section 1. 4. The cleaning drum has a truncated conical shape with a diameter that decreases continuously, has the component intake port on the large diameter side end surface, has the component delivery port on the small diameter side end surface, and has the component delivery port on the small diameter side end surface. The ultrasonic automatic cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that the inner surface is provided with a spiral that feeds parts in the direction of the central axis of the drum as it rotates around the central axis of the drum. . 5. The cleaning drum is a spiral drum whose diameter decreases stepwise, and has the component intake port on the large diameter side end surface, the component delivery port on the small diameter side end surface, and this drum on the inner surface of the circumferential surface. 2. The automatic ultrasonic cleaning device according to claim 1, further comprising a spiral that feeds the parts in the direction of the central axis of the drum as it rotates around the central axis of the drum.