High-strength and automation flexible

The PowerJet 1100 T 5 Triple CNp is located at Edwards in Taiwan on nearly 170 square meters and is used for cleaning high-performance vacuum pumps before processing. (Photo: LPW)

The PowerJet 1100 T 5 Triple CNP is located at Edwards in Taiwan on nearly 170 square meters and is used for cleaning high-performance vacuum pumps before processing. (Photo: LPW)

The PowerJet 1100 T 5 Triple CNp is located at Edwards in Taiwan on nearly 170 square meters and is used for cleaning high-performance vacuum pumps before processing. (Photo: LPW)

The PowerJet 1100 T 5 Triple CNP is located at Edwards in Taiwan on nearly 170 square meters and is used for cleaning high-performance vacuum pumps before processing. (Photo: LPW)

The Edwards system required heavier equipment to move just the basic setup weighing 30 tons. (Photo: LPW)

For the British company Edwards, LPW Cleaning Systems GmbH developed a customized CNp system, which was recently delivered to Taiwan. This high purity project involved cleaning used and therefore heavily contaminated components of vacuum pumps before overhaul. A real technical challenge. Furthermore, the Ried-based cleaning specialists designed a highly flexible shuttle automation with an integrated cooling line, connected to the customer's autonomous production logistics.

Edwards is a multinational manufacturer (16,000 employees worldwide) of, among other things, high-performance vacuum pumps, which are used in approximately 47,000 operations worldwide, e.g., in the chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, or high-tech industries. During operation, their individual components are exposed not only to immense wear but also to highly aggressive contamination. Ranging from neutral to super-toxic. These impurities must be reliably removed during reprocessing. A complex task because the contaminants deposit in thin layers on the interior surfaces of the pumps and therefore adhere very stubbornly.

The LPW experts were tasked with developing a cleaning, rinsing, and drying process that is highly flexible in response to material quantities, geometry, and contamination, and that can handle and prepare the special and highly effective cleaning chemistry. Last but not least, an automation solution had to be implemented that perfectly fits the autonomous logistics system at the site in Taiwan.

This project posed a real technical challenge and required very intensive planning and implementation work in close cooperation with the Edwards responsible teams in Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and Great Britain. Ultimately, Ried specialists created a completely new plant design based on two series in the form of the PowerJet 1100 T5 Triple CNp, including a customized automation system also manufactured by LPW:

– Combination of the standard PowerJet Ultra and PowerJet heavy duty series
– 3 treatment chambers, each with approximately 900 liters filling volume (etching chamber, CNp/ultrasound cleaning chamber, CNp rinsing and drying chamber)
– 5 media templates, partly made of plastic due to material durability
– Throughput of 5 batches/hour
– Batch weight approx. 300 kg
– Batch size approx. 1100 x 520 x 520 mm
– Installation area just under 170 sqm
– Additional low-floor shuttle automation with 3 loading stations and a unloading track with integrated component cooling

LPW CEO Gerhard Koblenzer: "In the Edwards project, we were able to combine our expertise in chamber technology for robust requirements, handling aggressive cleaning media, and developing highly flexible automation solutions. Additionally, with our CNp, we are capable of providing processes that generate a long-cycle pulsating vacuum process to ensure optimal supply of fresh and wash-active chemicals to the component surface and their continuous exchange."