JPH0312276A - Washing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent environmental pollution accompanied by the diffusion of solvent gas and to achieve the reduction of running cost and the enhancement of the quality of a recovered regenerated solvent by providing a tank shutter to the shutter box at the boundary of a chamber and a solvent vapor chamber. CONSTITUTION:A solvent vapor chamber 3 is partitioned from a chamber 5 by a tank shutter 6 and the tank shutter 6 reciprocally moves in the shutter box 11 integrally formed to the solvent vapor chamber 3 and the chamber 5 so as to protrude in the direction crossing both chambers 3, 5 at a right angle. The solvent vapor chamber 3 is brought to a hermetically closed state by the opening and closing operation of said shutter 6. Further, an entrance and exit shutter 7 opening and closing the solvent vapor chamber 3 with respect to the outside is provided to the upper part of the solvent vapor chamber 3. Since either one of the shutters 6, 7 is closed in a state shifted in timing and the hermetically closed chamber is negative in pressure, the vapor leaked in the chamber 5 during the opening and closing operation of the shutters 6, 7 is efficiently and certainly recovered from an exhaust port 12.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cleaning device, and in particular, to prevent environmental pollution such as ozone layer destruction and groundwater contamination due to the diffusion of solvent gas in the cleaning device, and The present invention relates to a cleaning device that can reduce costs and improve the quality of recovered and recycled solvent.

[Background Art] Conventionally, there are cleaning devices of this type as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

7(a) and (b) are of a closed structure type, and FIGS. 8(a) and (b) are of a closed structure and exhaust type.

The former cleaning device (a) stores and cleans the cleaning items conveyed onto the conveyance path 20 by a conveyance means (not shown),
After cleaning, it is transferred to another process. This cleaning device includes a solvent chamber 21 provided at the bottom of the device, and a solvent chamber 21 provided at the bottom of the device.
a solvent paper chamber 22 provided above, a steam generation tank 23 arranged in parallel with the solvent chamber 21, a chamber 24 located above this solvent paper chamber 22, and an entrance/exit of this chamber 24 that opens and closes. Entrance shutter 2
5, and each chamber or tank is in communication with each other.

A submerged cooling coil 26 is disposed around the solvent chamber 21, and the submerged cooling coil 26 cools the solvent 27 in the solvent chamber 21 to immerse and wash the object. A steam generation tank 23 adjacent to the solvent paper chamber 22 is filled with a solvent 27, and this solvent 27 is heated by a heater 23a provided in the steam generation tank 23 to generate a highly concentrated solvent gas (paper) 22a. Occur. This paper 2a is a paper cooling coil 2 disposed on the upper peripheral wall of the solvent paper chamber 22.
8 and condensed and recovered. The inside of the pipe of this paper cooling coil 28 is cooled by water or refrigerant gas, and when this cooling coil is ON, the paper 22a is heated to prevent the paper 22a from leaking into the chamber 24.
2a is condensed and recovered. Further, a cleaning item storage basket 29 (hereinafter referred to as a cleaning basket) placed on the conveyance path 20.

) can be moved in and out of the apparatus by the entrance/exit shutter 25, but this cleaning basket 29 is moved by a driving means (
(not shown) moves inside the device and is cleaned.

Further, the cleaning device (b) has a configuration between the device (a) and the passageway, but the cleaning device (b) rotates in the direction of the arrow with a rotation shaft 30 at the boundary between the solvent paper chamber 22 and the steam generation tank 23 as a fulcrum. [3
1 in that it has a rising plate 32 provided between a solvent paper chamber 22 and a chamber 24. This ascending plate 32 is for preventing the paper 22a from rising, and when the cleaning basket 29 is carried in or out from the entrance/exit shutter 25, it is raised and lowered by a moving mechanism (not shown) between the positions indicated by the imaginary lines in the figure. It is configured. During the steam cleaning or drying process of the cleaning material in the solvent paper chamber 22, the rising plate 32 is located at the position of the imaginary line and is in a sealed state.

At this time, n31 is open during steam cleaning and closed as shown in the drawing during the drying process to prevent paper from flowing into the solvent paper chamber 22.

Next, the latter cleaning device (a) has an inter-way configuration similar to that in FIG. It is sent to a recovery device. Further, the device (b) is provided with an exhaust duct 34 at the lower part of the conveyance path 20, and this duct 34
The gas is evacuated and sent to the recovery device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, conventional cleaning devices have the following drawbacks.

First, the paperized solvent cannot be completely recovered by cooling coils alone.

For example, for Freon (R-113), at -30'c, using a known saturation table, the density (vapor) is 0.2658
6Kg/m'', but as shown in Figure 10, even if the papered solvent is cooled to -30'C, the recovery efficiency is 0 because the solvent concentration is low.Moreover, the cooling temperature by the cooling coil is constant. Since it can usually be cooled only to about 5 to 0°C, the recovery efficiency is further deteriorated.

Second, since a movable shutter is opened and closed when the cleaning item is transported from the cleaning device, leakage of solvent gas occurs.

However, even when the movable shutter is fully closed, it is not structurally completely sealed, so there is a risk that gaseous solvent gas may leak from the sealed gap. Furthermore,
This movable shutter has the disadvantage that leakage occurs from the movable parts of structures such as chains that transport the cleaning items.

Regarding the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional devices, the devices shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 will be described respectively.

■In the equipment shown in Figures 7(a) and (b), there is a highly concentrated solvent gas in the space surrounded by the entrance/exit shutter and the paper in, but this gas cannot be sufficiently recovered by four cooling cycles. There is a drawback that a large amount of gas leaks out of the system when the entrance/exit shutter is opened. Another disadvantage is that gas leaks from movable parts such as the seal conveying structure of the movable shutter.

Furthermore, in the device shown in Fig. 7(b), the shutter inside the tank is moved up and down to improve the adhesion inside the device, but due to the vertical movement of the shutter and the turbulence of the airflow, high concentration gas is fanned out and Due to the turbulence of airflow caused by the transport of the cleaning material, a large amount of the highly concentrated solvent gas existing in the space surrounded by the shutter in the tank and the entrance/exit shutter leaks out of the system when the entrance/exit shutter is opened. FIG. 9 shows a state where a large amount of highly concentrated solvent gas is present.

(2) Next, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 8(a), unless the exhaust air volume is increased, high concentration solvent gas will flow out from the entrance/exit shutter. Conversely, if the exhaust air volume is increased, the gas in the cleaning device will be consumed more, and a large gas recovery device will also be required. Moreover, since a large amount of air is sucked in from outside the apparatus system, the influence of foreign gases from other processes becomes large, resulting in a disadvantage that the quality of the recovered and regenerated solvent deteriorates.

■The device shown in Figure 8 (b) is of the same type as the device shown in (a) above, but in addition to the solvent gas leaking from the entrance/exit shutter, this device also collects foreign gas from outside the system. The influence of this will become greater and the quality of recovered recycled solvent will deteriorate. Moreover, the exhaust gas recovery device must also have a large capacity and be capable of processing low gas concentrations, resulting in a large size.

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and it prevents environmental pollution such as destruction of the ozone layer and groundwater contamination due to the diffusion of solvent gas in cleaning equipment, and reduces and recovers running costs. The object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device that can improve the quality of recycled solvent.

[Means to solve the problem]

The cleaning device of the present invention includes a solvent chamber consisting of a cooling tank, a steam generation tank that is provided integrally in parallel with the solvent chamber and generates high concentration solvent gas by heating, and a steam generation tank that is located above the solvent chamber and that generates the steam. Cleaning comprising a solvent paper chamber equipped with means for cooling high concentration solvent gas generated in a generation tank, and a chamber provided above the solvent paper chamber and having a shutter and an exhaust port for opening and closing with the outside. The apparatus includes: a shutter box formed integrally with the apparatus housing and protruding in an orthogonal direction at a boundary between the chamber and the solvent paper chamber; and a shutter box configured to be movable within the shutter box and connecting the chamber and the solvent paper chamber. The tank is equipped with an in-tank shutter that is closed to create an airtight state, and a driving means that drives the in-tank shutter.

[Example] Next, the present invention will be explained in detail using FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, the cleaning device stores and cleans the cleaning items conveyed onto a conveying path 1 by a conveying means (not shown), and after cleaning, transfers them to other processes, and the inside of the device is It consists of a closed structure. This cleaning device includes a solvent chamber 2 provided at the bottom of the device, a solvent paper chamber 3 provided at the top of the solvent chamber 2, a steam generation tank 4 arranged in parallel with the solvent chamber 2, and a It consists of a chamber 5 provided above the paper chamber 3, an in-tank shutter 6 that separates this chamber 5 from the solvent paper chamber 3, and an entrance/exit shutter 7 that opens and closes the system to the outside of the apparatus system.

A submerged cooling coil 8 is disposed around the solvent chamber 2, and the submerged cooling coil 8 cools the solvent 9 filling the solvent chamber 2 to immerse and wash the object. A steam generation tank 4 adjacent to the solvent paper chamber 3 is filled with a solvent 9, and this solvent 9 is heated by a heater 4a provided in the steam generation tank 4 to form a highly concentrated solvent gas (paper) 3a. Become. This paper a is cooled by a paper cooling coil 10 disposed on the upper circumferential wall of the solvent paper chamber 3, and is condensed and recovered. The inside of this solvent paper chamber 3 is separated from the chamber 5 by an in-tank shutter 6.
This in-tank shutter 6 is reciprocated by an unillustrated driving means such as a cylinder inside a shutter box 11 that is integrally formed and protrudes outside the apparatus system, that is, in a direction orthogonal to the solvent paper chamber 3 and the chamber 5 that are in communication with each other. . The interior of the solvent paper chamber 3 is sealed by the opening and closing operations of the shutter caused by the operation of this cylinder. Further, the chamber 5 is provided with an exhaust port 12 for exhausting gas that leaks from the solvent paper chamber 3 and rises.
The gas exhausted from this exhaust port 12 is collected by a recovery device 1 (not shown).
It is recovered by 3. Further, the cleaning basket 14 placed on the conveyance path 1 (hereinafter referred to as the cleaning basket) can be moved inside and outside the apparatus by the entrance/exit shutter 7. (not shown) moves inside the device and is cleaned.

The operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be explained in detail using FIG. 2.

First, the cleaning basket 14 placed on the conveyance path 1 is located at position (■) in FIG. When the entrance/exit shutter 7 is opened according to the flow shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning basket 14 is moved to position (2) by the drive means within the apparatus. After this movement, the entrance/exit shutter 7 is closed, the in-tank shutter 6 is opened, and the cleaning basket 14 moves downward to the solvent chamber 2 and reaches the position ◎. Thereafter, the in-tank shutter 6 is closed to seal the inside of the apparatus, and the cleaning basket 14 is immersed in the solvent chamber 2 for a predetermined period of time and then lifted up to the position (2) in the solvent paper chamber 3, where the solvent paper 3a Steam cleaning is performed by creating a gaseous atmosphere. Further, the cleaning basket 14 is raised to the position (3) to undergo drying processing, and the gaseous paper is condensed and recovered by the paper cooling coil 10. When this cleaning process is finished, the tank shutter 6 is opened again, and the cleaning basket 14 is moved to the chamber 5.
It is pulled up to the 0 position within. Here, at the same time as the in-tank shutter 6 is closed, the entrance/exit shutter 7 is opened, and the cleaning basket 14 is transported to the position (■) and the entrance/exit shutter 7 is opened again.
closes.

By repeating the above steps, the objects in the cleaning basket 14 are cleaned.

Note that the leakage of paper into the chamber 5 during the opening and closing operations of the shutters 6 and 7 in the above process is caused by the timing of one of the shutters being closed, as shown in FIG. Since the pressure is negative, the gas is efficiently and reliably recovered from the exhaust port 12 to the recovery device 13.

Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows the measurement results of the fluorocarbon gas concentration in the exhaust gas using the apparatus constructed as described above.
i item. Yo in and out. , that guy? -7 (7) This shows the measurement results of the fluorocarbon gas concentration near (1).
It can be compared with the measurement results shown in FIG. 9, which were measured using the conventional device shown in FIG. 9(b). Here, in the measurements shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 9, methane gas calibration was performed as a concentration measuring instrument, so the correlation with the actual fluorocarbon gas concentration is shown in FIG.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.

In the case of FIG. 6, the peak level is 101,000 PP instantaneously according to the measurement results of FIG. 4, and the actual fluorocarbon gas concentration is 430 PPM from FIG. 5. ) Gas leakage is observed. Therefore, by arranging another chamber adjacent to the chamber 5 as shown in FIG. 6, gas leakage can be prevented (reliably recovered).

Note that although the case of using fluorocarbon gas has been described in this embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to cleaning gases other than fluorocarbon gas.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, ■ Diffusion of solvent gas can be prevented, so environmental pollution such as destruction of the ozone layer, air pollution, groundwater pollution, etc. will not be caused, and the human body will be protected. has no adverse effect on, and
Since the configuration of the entire device can be simplified, costs can be reduced and excellent effects can be achieved.

■Also, quality can be improved because the solvent can be reliably recovered without being affected by foreign gases. Therefore, the cost required for the solvent can be reduced, and a conventional solvent purification device is not required. Even if such a device is provided, it can be simplified and downsized.

(2) According to the present invention, it is possible to downsize the solvent recovery device, which has the effect of reducing the cost required for this.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the cleaning device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining the flow of the cleaning process using the cleaning device of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are the cleaning device of the present invention. A measurement diagram of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the correlation between the measurement results of FIGS. 3 and 4 and the actual fluorocarbon concentration, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
a) and (b) are conventional examples of closed structure type, Fig. 8 (a)
9 shows the measurement results of the conventional device shown in FIG. 7(b), and FIG. 10 shows the relationship between the theoretical recovery efficiency of Freon-113 and the solvent concentration. It is a figure showing a relationship. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Conveyance path, 2... Solvent chamber, 3... Solvent paper chamber, 4... Steam generation tank, 5... Chamber, 6...
・Inside tank shutter, 7...Entrance/exit shutter 8...
・Liquid cooling coil, 9...solvent, 10...paper cooling coil, 11...shutter box, 12...
・Exhaust port, 13...Collector, 14...Washing material storage basket, 20...Transport path, 21...Solvent chamber, 22...Solvent paper chamber, 23...Steam generating tank, 24...Chamber, 25...Entrance/exit shutter, 26...Liquid cooling coil, 27...Solvent, 28...Paper cooling coil, 29...Washing item storage basket, 30...times moving axis,
31...Door, 32...Rising plate, 33...Exhaust port,
34...Exhaust duct.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A solvent chamber consisting of a cooling tank; a steam generating tank that is provided integrally in parallel with the solvent chamber and generates high concentration solvent gas by heating; and a steam generating tank that is located above the solvent chamber and that generates the steam. A cleaning device comprising a solvent paper chamber equipped with a means for cooling highly concentrated solvent gas generated in a tank, and a chamber provided above the solvent paper chamber and having an exhaust port and a shutter that opens and closes with the outside. a shutter box formed integrally with the device housing and protruding in the orthogonal direction at the boundary between the chamber and the solvent paper chamber; and a shutter box configured to be movable within the shutter box to close the chamber and the solvent paper chamber. A cleaning device comprising: an in-tank shutter for sealing the tank; and a driving means for driving the in-tank shutter.