Publications Details

Automated spray cleaning using flammable solvents in a glovebox

Garcia, P.; Meirans, L.

The phase-out of the ozone-depleting solvents has forced industry to look to solvents such as alcohol, terpenes and other flammable solvents to perform the critical cleaning processes. These solvents are not as efficient as the ozone-depleting solvents in terms of soil loading, cleaning time and drying when used in standard cleaning processes such as manual sprays or ultrasonic baths. They also require special equipment designs to meet part cleaning specifications and operator safety requirements. This paper describes a cleaning system that incorporates the automated spraying of flammable solvents to effectively perform precision cleaning processes. Key to the project`s success was the development of software that controls the robotic system and automatically generates robotic cleaning paths from three dimensional CAD models of the items to be cleaned.