This is the question facing companies looking for a way to deal with the problem of declining tool cooling performance as a result of gradual overgrowth of scale and rust deposits. The answer to this question is not obvious, and in fact it should be answered "it depends". In order to properly select a device that will work in our plant, we should take into account several key issues. We briefly discuss each of them below:
Price vs. Performance
Price, as always, will be one of the key factors influencing our purchasing decision, especially when several departments are involved in the decision-making process. It is always worth taking a closer look at what the price is based on, as it can often turn out that the capabilities and performance of a seemingly more expensive solution make the payback time for such a device shorter than for a cheaper option. This may be due, for example, to the number of cleaning sections or the cleaning technology itself. For example, a CA6 device with six independent cleaning sections can clean an average of 240 molds per year, assuming that each channel is connected to the device separately (without bridging the circuits). This gives us six times the capacity of the single-circuit devices so popular on the market. Bridging of cleaning circuits is always inadvisable, due to the generation of greater pressure drops negatively affecting the dynamics of the feed pump or increasing the risk of clogging of channels. More cleaning sections always give us more possibilities and flexibility, especially when each section is equipped with a dedicated set of pumps. Such a solution, of course, costs more than a system built on a single pump - the decision is ultimately up to the buyer, but it is worthwhile for him to make this decision consciously, understanding the physics of events and relationships.
Process automation and staff involvement
Another factor to consider when selecting a device is the level of automation of the entire process. There are simple and inexpensive manual devices on the market, which force the operator to set up individual operations manually. In times of rising employee costs, companies are increasingly inclined to solutions that reduce the human factor to a minimum. In our offer, in addition to manual and semi-automatic devices, there are also advanced units that practically limit operation to connecting a mold, selecting it from the base and pressing the START button. Advanced algorithms will carry out the entire process for us, starting with mold purging, leakage and patency testing, measuring, cleaning, rinsing and drying the system. This approach also minimizes the risk of operator errors.
Record of data on cooling performance and mold condition
When choosing a machine, it is worth asking ourselves whether we are looking for a unit that allows us to perform cleaning only, or whether we care about additional functions, such as flow rate measurements, leakage and permeability tests, or system flushing. Or maybe we are looking for a solution that would allow us to collect information on cooling performance over the entire life of a given mold, with the possibility of generating reports and programming the machine to refer to the information contained in the database during cleaning? Gathering information on changes in cooling capacity over time is one of the greatest added values that this type of device can create in a company. This allows the maintenance department to carry out a preventive cleaning policy, saving a huge amount of time and often nerves. The combination of the database with intelligent machine modes, in which we can program the machine to clean until a set reference expenditure or stable flow expenditure is reached, further saves time and excludes the risk of damage to the tool as a result of too long a cleaning session. Because basically, how is the operator supposed to know how long this cleaning should last?
Occupational safety
An aspect quite often overlooked, at least in the initial stages of the purchasing process, this repair is one of the most important. It is not uncommon that molds that require cleaning are worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Therefore, we should be sure that in case of an unexpected event, such as a leak, the machine will be able to autonomously and as quickly as possible decide to stop the process. A common solution in cheaper equipment is the use of floats, which are supposed to 'guarantee' the maintenance of the right amount of liquid in the tank. However, they do not protect us from leakage, as their reaction time is too long. Therefore, it is worth looking for solutions based on ultrasonic probes, which even with surgical precision control the level of liquid in the tank, and thus are able to react quickly to a leak and stop the process. This is just one example of the safety features used in the CS and CA series.
Effectiveness of the process
All of the factors described above may be secondary if the cleaning process itself is ineffective. Conventional cleaning methods are based on pumping a chemically active solution through the duct using either a rotary pump or a diaphragm pump. The dynamics of flow through the duct are so low that the process relies entirely on the effectiveness and aggressiveness of the selected cleaning agent to dissolve deposits. Such a cleaning method, combined with the lack of automation of the process and monitoring of its effectiveness, increases the risk of damage to the tool, as the cleaning time depends solely on the operator's assumptions. An alternative solution is cleaning using the phenomenon of cavitation, where the cleaning medium has the sole purpose of softening deposits, and the cleaning process itself and the removal of scale deposits is carried out mechanically. A momentary drop in pressure creates millions of vacuum bubbles, which collapse to generate shock waves that break up the layer of deposits on the canal surface. Thanks to the incomparably higher dynamics of the process, hybrid cavitation cleaning allows to significantly shorten the entire process, which is another argument for choosing this particular cleaning technology.
Company internal analysis
Finally, it is worth noting that which machine will work best for a given plant will largely depend on:
- The nature of production - whether production is in the automotive, medical or, for example, optical industries, where the requirements for both molding and reporting are very stringent
- The number of molds and their size. With a larger number of tools as well as the number of channels, devices with more cleaning sections will be recommended. The choice of such a device will have a direct impact on the efficiency of the process without having to connect the channels in series.
