Clean lines
Turbex cleans up at fi rm with medical sector ambitions; Layton
satisfi following initial purchase 25 years ago; plus parts2clean exhibition news
satisfifi es medical component maker’s requirements; Pegler opts for MecWash again,
Turbex (https://is.gd/decazi) has
supplied a Pro 550 six-stage,
ultrasonic, aqueous cleaning line to
Manchester-based Assembly Techniques.
The equipment is the centrepiece of a
£1 million two-storey facility featuring a Class
ISO8 (US FED STD 209E 100,000) cleanroom
for component washing and drying on the
ground oor.
Adjacent to it is an IS07/10,000 area for
processing critical sub-assemblies for future
customers in the medical sector. On the
upper level is a white room for assembling
less critical kits that are currently supplied to
manufacturers in the analytical, food, water
and other industries.
The Pro 550, installed in October 2018,
has taken over from an older aqueous
washing system and will assist ATL in
attaining ISO13485 medical accreditation,
which it expects to achieve by the end of
October 2019.
Explains ATL director Nigel Downing: “All of
our metallic and high-end plastic components
are supplied by external contract machinists
and a large percentage of those will require
CLEANING & DEGREASING MEDICAL & FITTINGS INDUSTRIES’ DEMANDS MET
degreasing and removal of cutting uid
residue before assembly.
“The Turbex line is so ef cient that nearly
all components, including non-critical parts,
can be processed in the equipment using a
range of semi-automatic washing cycles.”
Works manager Steve Chadwick adds:
“The line can handle multiple stainless steel
baskets simultaneously, each containing
components in batches ranging from one-off
to several thousand. It presently takes 15
minutes, on average, for baskets to visit all
six stages sequentially, without manual
intervention, but various cleaning times can
be programmed to suit customer
requirements.
“Not only will the equipment with its ultra-
ne cleaning capability allow us to start
supplying customers in the medical industry,
but it will also enable business expansion in
existing sectors we operate in and allow us to
grow the business further.”
Turbex won the order because it could
offer a standard six-stage system; others
would have had to con gure special lines, so
were higher priced. Adaptability was also a
This Turbex system
is the centrepiece of
Manchester-based
Assembly Techniques’
new £1 million twostorey
facility
strength; further stages could easily be added
to meet additional requirements, as could a
conveyor belt coupled with full automation to
replace manual handling of baskets at the
start and end of the line.
After components have been steam precleaned,
a basket is taken to the input
station from where, under program control,
a transporter picks it up and moves it along
the line, immersing it in each stainless steel
tank successively. Every washing stage is
equipped with a dual-frequency ultrasonic
generator, resulting in elevated levels of ultra-
ne cleaning performance.
The washing process involves a pre-clean,
plain water rinse, main wash, another plain
water rinse and separate deionised water
rinses at the last two stages. The basket is
then automatically deposited by the
transporter onto the output table. Excess
water is blown off by hand using compressed
nitrogen, after which the parts are taken to a
drying cabinet and then transferred through
an air lock into cleanroom standard bags,
ready to be called up for assembly.
At another medical parts specialist, Layton
www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets August 2019 45
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