Customer Background
The customer is a manufacturer of various truck and heavy equipment components made of polyurethane and other materials.
Challenge
The customer needed a machine to remove light oils from steel sway bars. The parts needed to exit the machine visually clean and with most of the moisture removed for the next step in the manufacturing process.
Solution
Alliance provided a CM-1200E, a monorail-style parts washer designed to accommodate the customer’s existing external monorail system. Parts are transferred through the wash and ambient blow-off zones while attached to customer-supplied hangers, at a speed of 1 ft. per minute. Product guides help to align the parts and hangers in the center of the machine. Spay nozzles and air knives are located on each side of the machine. The machine also included a 1” belt-type oil skimmer, chemical injection system, micro-filtration, and an exhaust fan.
Cleaning Method
The preferred cleaning method for this application was a water based (aqueous) system. To capture the benefits of the customer’s existing monorail, aqueous systems are well-suited for inline applications. The ends of the machine are open to the plant atmosphere, and a properly sized exhaust system can contain steam from escaping the ends of the machine. Solvent would do an excellent job of cleaning the components, but in order to utilize the existing handling methods and meet the production rate, aqueous was the preferred choice. Typically, solvent units operate under vacuum and need to be sealed. A batch solvent batch process would be very large and not fit well into the production process.
