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Co-solvent cleaning system wipes down costs
A
Kerry Ultrasonics product story
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team
Jul 25, 2002
A manufacturer of printed circuit boards has achieved dramatic reductions in solvent costs and process time following the installation of a co-solvent cleaning system.
A manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs) fundamental to military communication devices has achieved dramatic reductions in solvent costs and process time following the installation of a co-solvent cleaning system from Kerry Ultrasonics.
The two-stage Microsolve 525 is being used by BAe Land Platform Communications to remove no-clean flux residue.
The Kerry plant has reduced annual solvent consumption from 2250 litres to 450 litres, saving the company GBP 7,000 a year.
Similarly, cycle time is down from 25 minutes to 10 minutes, effectively increasing throughput capacity by 60%.
The Kerry machine has also allowed BAe to remove the ozone-depleting solvent 141B from its cleaning process.
BAe produces a mixture of flexible and rigid boards, featuring both single- and double-sided circuits.
The company's current production quality standard prevents ultrasonics from being used on 80% of its boards, yet defence standards of cleanliness must still be achieved.
After rejecting aqueous cleaning options due to their extended process times, Steve Parker, Electronics Process Engineer at BAe, turned to Kerry.
"We chose to work with Kerry to solve this problem", he explains, "because of its recognised expertise in the field of solvent cleaning".
Kerry's Microsolve unit operates with or without ultrasonics and uses a mixture of the hydrocarbon Topklean EL20A and 3M's Novec HFE71IPA in the immersion cleaning stage.
Where use of ultrasonics is forbidden, these agents are pumped around the tank at a rolling boil, thereby creating sufficient agitation within the fluid to remove contaminants.
Boards then undergo two separate rinses, the first an immersion in HFE, the second a vapour rinse.
Finally, components dwell in the freeboard area of the cleaning system until dry.
(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 24 July 2002).
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