Aqueous Parts Washers

Aqueous Parts Washers

Parts washers are a type of automated or semi-automated equipment which is designed to clean, degrease and sometimes dry mass quantities of large or small parts in preparation for distribution or surface treatment. This is a necessary process, since newly machined, forged or fabricated parts are usually coated in oils, chemicals, burs and other residue leftover from the fabrication process. Coatings such as zinc and electroplating cannot be effectively applied atop grease or contaminating dirt. Aqueous parts washers use water-based chemical or natural solvents, boiling, pressure boiling, blasting and soaking to remove these contaminants from a virtually limitless variety of unfinished parts.

Aqueous parts washing is the most common type of part washing, and there are many different kinds of aqueous part washing machinery which accommodate different sizes and shapes of parts as well as different levels of cleanliness. One of the most common aqueous parts washers is the spray washer; most spray washers are built with an enclosed conveyor system which moves parts through the cleaning machine, spraying newly fabricated parts with aqueous solvents, rinsing water and sometimes a corrosion resistant coating. Other types of spray washers guide products through on an overhead conveyor, or monorail, while others use a cabinet, or cell washer, in which a stationary basket is placed within a cabinet lined with spray nozzles, much like a household dishwasher. Spray washing is effective for parts which require light to medium surface cleaning. The common alternative to aqueous spray washing is immersion washing, in which uncleaned parts are submerged in hot or boiling water or aqueous solvents and soaked or agitated. Immersion washers usually hold parts in a wire mesh basket as the basket and all the parts it contains are rotated, turned and shaken within an aqueous solution.

Ultrasonic parts cleaners are a type of immersion washer which use tiny underwater air blasts against the surface of a dirty part in conjunction with organic or chemical solvents to precision clean the surface of parts. This method is highly effective and uses far smaller amounts of organic or chemical cleaning solvents than non-ultrasonic methods; it is used frequently in industries which require precision-cleaned parts, such as medical, surgical, dental, automotive, electrical, aerospace and defense. Rotary drum washers are neither spray washers nor immersion washers, but use instead the technique of rotary tumbling and mass abrasion which tumblers use to wash, rinse, dry and sometimes coat or paint mass quantities of small parts. Industrial fasteners are often cleaned, coated and dried in large rotary tumblers; different sections of the rotating cylinder spray, rinse and dry the fasteners, and the abrasive action of the fasteners tumbling against each other agitates off dirt with the help of overhead spray nozzles.

Aqueous parts cleaners have traditionally used chemical solvents to strip parts of grease and dirt during the cleaning process, but recent environmental concerns and regulations have encouraged the innovation of natural, non-chemically based solvents. Ultrasonic washers use the lowest amount of solvent and can be made effective with either chemical or organic solvent compounds. Recent innovations have introduced several organic solvent compounds to the parts washing industry, and more manufacturers are incorporating organic solvents and waste-reducing techniques into their manufacturing processes. Aqueous parts washing is a market which maintains a high level of innovation as advances in industrial technology require more stringent levels of precision cleanliness.

Aqueous Parts Washers Image Provided by AEC Systems USA, Inc.	Aqueous Parts Washers Image Provided by JENFAB, Inc.