Automatic cleaning cycles

Cleaning facilities can be built into some automatic equipment. Extreme care needs to be taken to prevent inadvertent operation of any cleaning cycle. Flushing solvents will be under considerable pressure and serious problems can occur if their discharge is not strictly controlled. 

Other safety andreUability precautions will be implemented such as the development of cleaning cycles that can be initiated automatically at specified process intervals or manually... 

Moreover, where containers of a re-usable type are concerned, it is essential that the food manufacturer sets up a system which will ensure that any returned containers are thoroughly clean and in good condition before they re-enter the system for their second and subsequent usage. Such operations are best done automatically at the end of the cleaning cycle but special techniques for inspection may need to be established. 

FIG. 88 Flux collection trays showing a) flux accumulation after 30 days of processing (56 kg solder paste), b) after 20-min automatic self-cleaning cycle. (From Ref. 48.)... 

Some manufacturers of this type of boiler claim that water treatment of any kind is not necessary and that no chemicals are required, especially with smaller units below, say, 240 kWh (800 lb/hr). Instead they rely on the on-off expansion-contraction cycles within the vessel to drop scale from the heating elements, or on a daily manual flush of the boiler vessel together with frequent replacement of elements and periodic acid cleaning. (Some improved design models thankfully have an automatic flush system that is actuated upon boiler shutdown.)... 

The application of instrumentation to the automatic control of a sequence of operations, e.g., injection moulding processes. Once the mould has been loaded with inserts (assuming a rubber to metal bonded part) into the press, the operation of a push-button starts the controller which closes the press, injects the rubber, controls the cure cycle, recharges the injection unit, opens the press, operates the ejectors and presents the mould for cleaning and loading of inserts. 

After pressing, the munitions are released and travel to a manually-operated stop where an operator removes the filled and closed munitions and transfers them to the degreaser (cleaning) unit. The empty pallets are automatically released from this station and travel back to the front of the line to accept empty munitions for another cycle. 

After the cleaning process has been completed, the jet rods are emptied automatically. The water ring pump is used for drying when the cycle has completed. 

The second test, developed by the Society of the Plastics Industry, involved preparing an amount of bacon that covered at least 50% of the dinner plate surface area [2], The plate with the bacon layer was heated in a microwave oven set at full power until the temperature at the center of the plate area reached 121°C ( 5°C). The time period required to reach this temperature within the bacon fat was 5 min on the microwave unit used for this test Immediately after the cooking cycle, the plate was cleaned on the lower rack of an automatic dishwasher. The dishwasher cycle was set at normal and included a heated dry cycle. The water temperature reached 66°C ( 5°C). Once the cycle was complete, the plate was inspected for surface blemishes such as cracks or blisters. This test is considered the most severe of the three due to the extreme localized heat generated, which causes the difference between the thermal coefficient of expansion for the two materials to shear the interface resulting in delamination. 

Some of the wash fluid is distilled each cycle to remove dirt and contaminated detergent. The distillation residue, which contains detergent and dirt removed from the clothes, is automatically eliminated from the machine and collected for recycling. The MIC02 machine does have the capability to distill on demand for a dye bleed or similar situation, although fewer dye bleeds have been seen with the Micare system compared with conventional dry cleaning solvents. 

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