JPH0331114B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to improvements in organic solvent cleaning equipment for cleaning various articles using organic solvents such as trichloroethylene and trichloroethane.

(Prior art) The organic solvents mentioned above have an undesirable effect on the human body when inhaled in large quantities, so conventional organic solvent cleaning equipment has been equipped with the following methods: surround the cleaning tank with a high outer wall, or install an air curtain above the outer wall. Efforts have been made to prevent the dispersion of solvent vapor by forming a pore (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 43315/1983). However, although these conventional organic solvent cleaning devices can effectively prevent solvent vapor from dissipating from the cleaning tank, they cannot prevent the organic solvent from adhering to the object to be cleaned and being taken out. In particular, when cleaning a small workpiece with a large specific surface area, such as a machine screw, deterioration of the working environment has been a problem.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) The present invention solves these conventional problems,
This was completed with the aim of creating an organic solvent cleaning device that can not only effectively prevent the organic solvent from dispersing from the cleaning tank, but also prevent the organic solvent from adhering to objects to be cleaned and being taken out.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention arranges a plurality of cleaning tanks inside an apparatus surrounded by an outer wall, with the final cleaning tank serving as a steam cleaning tank, and also arranges a plurality of cleaning tanks inside the apparatus surrounded by an outer wall. At the final end, the heated object taken out from the steam cleaning tank is stored in its heated state, and the interior is -
It is characterized by a vacuum tank with a lid that can reduce the pressure to about 700 mmHg.

(Embodiment) Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiment. Reference numeral 1 denotes an outer wall having a large number of cooling pipes 2 on its inner surface. A plurality of cleaning tanks shorter than 1 are arranged. Among these cleaning tanks, 3 is a liquid cleaning tank in which the object to be treated 30 is immersed in a cage-like container 31 in an organic solvent solution for cleaning.
The final cleaning tank is a steam cleaning tank 4 equipped with a heater that cleans the object with the steam generated by heating the organic solvent at the bottom to a boiling point of, for example, 78°C.

At the final end inside the device adjacent to this steam cleaning tank 4, there is a workpiece 3 taken out from the steam cleaning tank 4.
A vacuum tank 5 is provided which can accommodate 0 together with a container 31. The vacuum tank 5 is equipped with an automatically opening/closing lid (6) at the top, a drain valve 7 at the bottom, and a cooling pipe 8 on the inner wall. It is designed to be able to reduce the internal pressure to around -700 to -730mmHg by suction. 10 is a vacuum pump 9
This is an exhaust separator installed between the vacuum tank 5 and the exhaust gas separator, which supplies cooling water from the lower cooling water inlet 11 and discharges it from the upper cooling water outlet 12 to remove water contained in the exhaust from the vacuum tank 5. This method liquefies and separates the organic solvent vapor.

Note that 13 is a duct that opens at the top of the cleaning tank inside the outer wall 1, which sucks air from the upper part of the device surrounded by the outer wall 1, separates the organic solvent by the exhaust separator 14, and then sends it to the exhaust treatment device. It is something to send,
A discharge pipe 15 of the vacuum pump 9 is also connected to the rear part of this duct 13.

(Function) In the device configured as described above, trichlorethylene and trichloroethane are sequentially lowered into the cleaning tank by a transfer mechanism (not shown) to process objects 30 such as metal parts stored in a container 31. Degreasing cleaning is carried out using organic solvent liquid and vapor, and at this time, the organic solvent radiated from above the cleaning tank is cooled by the cooling pipe 2 on the inner surface of the outer wall 1 and the organic solvent is cooled by the duct 13. Suction is similar to conventional organic solvent cleaning equipment. However, in the organic solvent cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the final cleaning tank is the steam cleaning tank 4.
is taken out from the steam cleaning tank 4 in a heated state of about 78°C, and is placed in a vacuum tank 5 installed adjacent to it.
It is immediately stored in a heated state. Next, if the inside of the vacuum tank 5 containing the workpiece 30 is depressurized to about -700 mmHg by the vacuum pump 9,
For example, the boiling point of trichloroethane, which was 78°C at atmospheric pressure, will drop to 14°C, and the
The organic solvent attached to the surface of the object to be treated 30
The retained heat causes rapid and complete vaporization. Note that the atmospheric pressure inside the vacuum tank 5 is -700
If it is higher than approximately mmHg, the evaporation of the organic solvent from the surface of the object to be treated 30 will be slow, making it difficult to completely remove it. The vapor of the organic solvent vaporized in this way is liquefied by the cooling pipe 8 on the inner wall of the vacuum tank 5 and discharged from the drain valve 9 at the bottom, and the vapor sucked by the vacuum pump 9 is transferred to the exhaust separator. 10 will be removed. The workpiece 30 from which the organic solvent adhering to the surface has been completely removed in the vacuum tank 5 inside the apparatus surrounded by the outer wall 1 is taken out onto the conveyor 16.

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present invention, the vacuum tank 5 is installed inside the apparatus surrounded by the outer wall 1, so that even when the lid 6 of the vacuum tank 5 is opened and closed, the organic solvent does not leak to the outside. There is no risk of deterioration of the working environment.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the present invention uses a steam cleaning tank as the final cleaning tank inside the device surrounded by an outer wall, and a vacuum tank with a lid inside the device adjacent to this. The high-temperature processed material taken out from the steam cleaning tank is stored in a vacuum tank.
By reducing the pressure to about 700 mmHg, the organic solvent adhering to the surface of the object to be treated can be completely vaporized and removed. In this way, the present invention effectively utilizes the heat of the steam cleaning tank to vaporize the organic solvent that adheres to the object to be treated in the vacuum tank inside the device and is about to be carried out. Since this device has succeeded in preventing contamination of the working environment due to the leakage of steam to the outside, it will greatly contribute to the industry as an organic solvent cleaning device that solves the conventional problems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawing is a partially cutaway front view showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1: Outer wall, 4: Steam cleaning tank, 5: Vacuum tank,
30: Object to be cleaned.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of cleaning tanks are arranged inside the device surrounded by the outer wall 1, with the final cleaning tank being the steam cleaning tank 4, and the final end of the inside of the device adjacent to the steam cleaning tank 4 is provided with a plurality of cleaning tanks from the steam cleaning tank 4. An organic solvent cleaning device characterized by being provided with a vacuum tank 5 with a lid 6 capable of storing the heated object 30 taken out and being cleaned in a heated state and reducing the internal pressure to about -700 mmHg.