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The Light at the End of the Tunnel IS a Tunnel!

April 17th, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous

The problem? Because the ultrasonic cleaning process was so fast, items began to pile up while waiting to be dried.

The solution? The Omega 6900 tunnel dryer was created to alleviate this bottleneck.

Tunnel DryerTunnel Dryers were originally manufactured by Omegasonics for disaster restoration cleaning purposes.  However, building upon the initial success found in the restoration market, numerous other industrial applications are continuously being discovered for aiding in parts drying. Countless ways of combining ultrasonic washers and tunnel dryers are being implemented to improve overall cleaning process efficiencies, saving you time, labor, money.  And in the highly competitive contents restoration industry, contractors are looking for any edge they can get.

After extensive research, development, and field-testing, Omegasonics has developed a tunnel drying unit that allows for washed parts to be dried instantly without much effort from the operator. As an example, our dryers use guillotine doors, locking in heat and airflow necessary to properly dry parts while maintaining energy efficient protocols.

Alternative drying methods from other manufacturers include separate ovens which have no airflow, centrifugal dryers that can’t be used on sensitive parts due to mechanical damage, or hand held dryers which are extremely slow. Using these other methods can increase your drying times, thus costing you money due to increased production costs.

Tunnel dryers can be applied in both industrial and restoration settings. The key is getting help with the application from a knowledgeable ultrasonic cleaning supplier who can provide advice on maximizing your efficiency so that more green goes into your pocket.

Improve Contents Processing Efficiency

April 3rd, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous

If you are a contents restoration company not yet using the latest technology in ultrasonic cleaning, then you are potentially missing on countless amounts of clients, jobs and money.

With today’s technology, using an ultrasonic cleaning machine is the ONLY way to reduce cleaning costs, improve cleaning time/effectiveness and reduce the number of cash outs on highly damaged items.

After a disaster has struck, such as a residential home fire, the insurance company and homeowner work together to find a suitable restoration company. Insurance professionals are now only choosing restoration companies that use modern ultrasonic equipment because of their ability to quickly clean fire damaged contents and restore them to pre-loss condition.

Some of these items may be impossible to restore by hand. Cleaning a box of contents by hand would normally take about hour for an experienced contents cleaner. Inside a typical box, you may find everyday items such as statues, fine china, a T.V. remote, etc… The cleaning technician would use specialized brushes and sponges to reach every crack in and around the item. This process is often long, tedious, and expensive.

In one hour, a team of workers single worker can clean an average of 10-12 of these boxes using ultrasonic equipment. Ultrasound reaches those hard to get nooks and crannies in a fraction of the time, allowing a worker to use their time more effectively on other projects. Because of the extreme difference in cleaning time, insurance companies now pay a lot less to restore a home filled with damaged items. If you are a restoration company not using the latest in ultrasonic technology, you simply cannot afford to stay in the dark ages of inefficiency and hand cleaning.

What is Ultrasonic Cleaning Really?

March 20th, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous
Ultrasonic Cleaner

Picture sound waves being pumped through water, generating cavitation bubbles that implode and remove dirt.

When technical folks try to explain what ultrasonic cleaning is, you get some really technical explanations that no one outside of the industry frankly understands.

The smart engineering types talk about a cavitation bubble. They talk about rarefactions and defractions of bubbles in water created by waveform patterns. They talk about frequency of the waveform affecting cavitation sizes. They might talk about the tensile strength of fluid and the need for more surfactants. They might even get sidetracked with different frequencies and their affect on cleaning. Scientific types love to talk about implosions versus explosions. It can all be pretty complicated and not really that necessary to understand.

Some will give you a simple explanation that it is a jewelry cleaner and most of us have either had jewelry or watches cleaned or heard of it. Most don’t know how it really works, but at least we have seen an ultrasonic unit in miniature form or seen its brilliant effect on a diamond ring.

The bottom line: ultrasound is analogous to putting a stereo system in water. You pump sound waves through water and magical things happen. Sound waves do create cavitation bubbles that clean. The bubbles hit the surfaces to be cleaned and implode (which is the opposite of explode). When the bubble implodes, there is a vacuum pressure release that sucks the dirt right off your parts.

What more do you really need to know or care about? Do you have any questions about ultrasonic cleaning?

Ultrasonic Cleaning of Sensitive Metal Parts

March 14th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

Ultrasonic Cleaning of Sensitive Metals

Ultrasonic cleaning can be applied to a wide range of metals such as aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium to name a few. But what happens when those surfaces are highly sensitive and require specialized care?

Because aluminum is such a soft metal, it is susceptible to the cavitation implosions that ultrasound cleaning produces. The cavitation bubbles can actually scar and slightly etch away the top surface, leaving what looks like star bursts. Couple this with a polished chrome finish, and the scarring looks even more pronounced in comparison.

Ultrasonic cleaning does wonders for aluminum wheels!

Forgiato wheels found on Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other luxury speed cars are often cleaned via ultrasonics because of their sensitivity.

To protect this very delicate finish, a few alterations to the general ultrasonic cleaning process must be implemented:

  1. Reduce the temperature of the ultrasonic bath to no more than 130°F;
  2. Use a reduced pH ultrasonic soap with aluminum buffers;
  3. Don’t leave the parts in the bath for as long as you normally would when cleaning other metallic items; and;
  4. Adjust your ultrasonic washer to operate at a higher frequency. Washing the item while alternating between a standard frequency (40 kHz) and a higher frequency (68 kHz – 170 kHz) will give you the best of both worlds — thorough, yet gentle, cleaning.

These modifications will help clean your parts without inflicting visible damage.

Case in point… Forgiato wheels found on Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other luxury speed cars are often cleaned via ultrasonics because of their sensitivity. In order to get the most efficient cleaning possible without damage to the pristine surface; a mix of 40 kHz and 170 kHz is commonly used. This coupled with a tightly controlled bath temperature, and just the right length of time, produces a clean custom rim. Finished with a quick dip in a hot reverse osmosis bath and you are ready on race day!

 

 

The Importance of Choosing the Right Ultrasonic Soap

January 14th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

Process Cleaning (www.processcleaning.com), an online magazine dedicated to exploring new and efficient cleaning solutions for manufacturing professionals, is featuring Omegasonics in its January issue. The article, entitled, “Maximizing the Ultrasonic Process”, evaluates the use of certain chemical applications when using an ultrasonic cleaning machine.

Ultrasonic Cleaning SoapsFor example, did you know that picking the wrong soap can cause your machine to suffer from a poor cleaning performance? It can damage the item and disrupt the cavitation process, as well. Using the wrong soap can also decrease efficiency in ultrasonic cleaning, resulting in un-maximized gains.

Omegasonics is one of the few companies that offers 40 pre-designed and formulated detergents that work in any industrial ultrasonic cleaning application.

Many companies may offer soaps; Omegasonics also offers “detergents”. Detergents are developed specifically for industrial use. These detergents range from:

  • Abrasive to rub or scour away accumulated dirt
  • Acids for removing mineral deposits and rust
  • pH modifiers to regulate various chemical activities
  • Oxidizers to bleach and disinfect
  • Enzymes to break down oils
  • And much more…

For a complete list of all the soaps we offer. Click here: http://www.omegasonics.com/industrial/chemistry.shtml