Why Ultrasonic Cleaners Are Essential to Medical Manufacturers

Modern medical equipment incorporates sensitive components such as electronics, sensors, and optical fiber. Because of the way they are constructed, traditional cleaning and sterilizing methods can’t often be used in cleaning them.

Manual scrubbing can remove heavy contamination but can cause scratches to certain devices such as sensors, optical devices, and other fragile equipment. Some electronics are sensitive to heat, and therefore cannot stand high temperatures from hot steam. Devices with complicated shapes, hinges, threaded holes, and interior surfaces are hard to clean by traditional cleaning methods alone.

Ultrasonic cleaners provide the best alternative to traditional cleaning methods to remove contaminants without using chemicals, manual scrubbing, or high temperatures. They can do effective cleaning performance for both robust parts and delicate parts, as long as the configurations are adjusted accordingly.

Medical ultrasonic cleaners work by creating microscopic bubbles in the cleaning solution. As the ultrasonic sound waves pass through the cleaning tank, the bubbles form and burst in tune with the ultrasonic frequency. When the bubble bursts, it produces a tiny but powerful jet that can dislodge contaminants from the surface of the part to be cleaned.

The ultrasonic cleaning system has to have enough power to fill the cleaning tank with ultrasonic waves. Ultrasonic cleaners can be configured to deliver strong cleaning performance for durable and robust parts or gentle cleaning to fragile parts. Low frequencies create comparatively large bubbles and deliver a powerful cleaning action. High frequencies, on the other hand, produce smaller bubbles and weaker jets, providing a gentler cleaning action. Choosing the right frequency matches the cleaning power to the medical equipment to be cleaned.

Ultrasonic cleaners can clean parts and devices with complex shapes, interior holes or along crevices. While medical ultrasonic cleaners do not sterilize, adding a disinfectant to the cleaning solution renders the clean parts sterile. As modern medical equipment gets more difficult to clean, ultrasonic cleaners are the ideal solution for the manufacturers of medical equipment.

Learn more about Kaijo’s ultrasonic cleaning systems by reading the complete article, Why Ultrasonic Cleaners Are Essential to Medical Manufacturers. Call Kaijo Shibuya at 408-675-5575 to set up a free consultation to discuss your cleaning requirements or email info@kaijo-shibuya.com.

Incorporating Megasonic Cleaners into Large Processing Systems

Environmental regulations impose restrictions on the use of aggressive chemicals commonly used in large processing systems, resulting in more stringent production part cleaning requirements.

Manufacturing lines often include cleaning steps to prepare parts for subsequent processing. Cleaning may include manual scrubbing, pressure washing, and soaking the parts in hot chemical baths. However manual scrubbing and pressure washing don’t guarantee thorough cleaning and may even damage the most fragile parts. Some parts used in modern products may be temperature-sensitive that could be damaged by hot chemical baths.

Semiconductor manufacturers use large processing systems in processing silicon wafers. Wafers have to be cleaned between process steps to reduce possible particle contamination that will affect the quality of devices produced. Cleaning silicon wafers are usually carried out using baths that contain harsh and aggressive chemicals.

Megasonic cleaning systems make an ideal alternative for removing contaminants from surfaces of parts that are being cleaned without manual scrubbing or the use of harsh chemicals.

In megasonic cleaning, the process can take place at room temperature and is completely safe, requiring no additional operator safety measures. No special support equipment is needed, and the cleaners work without the need for constant operator monitoring.

Megasonic cleaning systems clean parts by using very high frequency sound waves. These sound waves create microscopic cavitation bubbles when the sound waves pass through the cleaning solution. The scrubbing action of the bubbles, as they form and burst, dislodges contaminants, and allows them to be rinsed away. This cleaning mechanism is especially effective for stubborn microscopic particles that can cause semiconductor component defects. Incorporating the megasonic cleaning method produces silicon wafers that have fewer contaminating particles.

For manufacturers that want to reduce the use of expensive and toxic cleaning chemicals while improving the performance of their cleaning stations, megasonic cleaners can also be incorporated into larger processing systems to provide an effective solution.

One area that that megasonic cleaners are incorporated into large processing systems is in wet bench chemical stations used by semiconductor manufacturers. Incorporating megasonic cleaning systems into the semiconductor production line reduces chemical use and improves cleaning performance. Megasonic cleaners work mechanically to remove contaminants from surfaces of silicon wafers.

For more details read the complete article, Incorporating Megasonic Cleaners into Large Processing Systems. Contact Kaijo Shibuya at 808-675-5575 to set up a free consultation or  email info@kaijo-shibuya.com.