Six Sigma – – The Role of Cleaning

Achieving Six Sigma Capability Parts Washing “Six Sigma” methodology is one of many tools that can be used to improve process efficiency.  The following several blogs are excerpted from an article written by Dale Bowden of the Cleaning Technologies Group and was published in Process Cleaning Magazine.  Mr. Bowden specifically explores the role of cleaning …

Plumbing for High Purity Applications

Just about everyone can recognize the benefits of sterilization to eliminate bio-burden in a plumbing system. Heat or chemicals toxic to living organisms are periodically introduced to kill the offending critters. This process can be conducted using either CIP (Clean In Place) or COP (Clean Out of Place) procedures. CIP simply means cleaning by flushing …

“Sanitary” vs. “High Purity” Plumbing

Previous blogs have addressed what might be called the universal or common requirements for sanitary plumbing. Although obviously important, things like selecting the right materials and surface finishes are only the beginning of designing a system which is compliant with the requirements for a sanitary system as they may be defined by a particular user. …

What is “Sanitary Plumbing?”

I can think of no term found in specifications for cleaning machines that causes more controversy and confusion than the term “Sanitary Plumbing.”  This term, frequently found in specifications for cleaning and processing systems destined for the semiconductor, medical, food processing and a growing number of other markets is vague and means different things to different industries …

Chemistry – Tips on Temperature and Concentration

When parts aren’t coming clean two of the first things most process engineers target as potential problems are the temperature and concentration of the chemistry.  These are, in most cases, good bets but one should resist knee-jerk reactions. Chemical Concentration – One of the common knee-jerk reactions to a cleaning problem is to increase chemical …

Ultrasonics – Surface Cavitation Erosion

Surface cavitation erosion of ultrasonic transducers is a topic that users and manufacturers of ultrasonic equipment would often rather not talk about – – but we must.  The erosion of a transducer surface due to surface cavitation is inevitable over time.  Its severity depends on several factors, some of which can be controlled and some …

Plumbing – “Air Locks”

The blog Pumps – Centrifugal Pumps provided some basic information about the type of pump most commonly used in industrial cleaning equipment.  Centrifugal pumps are simple, relatively inexpensive, versatile and reliable.  However, as I mentioned in that blog, they do have some limitations.  In order for a centrifugal pump to function, liquid to be pumped …

Chemistry – Automated Chemical Metering Devices

The chemistries used in industrial cleaning processes are predominantly either dry (granular or powder) or liquid.  Dry chemistries cover a wide range of density and flow characteristics.  In fact, two batches of the “same” dry chemistry may have considerably different properties.  Each liquid product has its own specific gravity and viscosity characteristics but may also vary in other …