Ultrasonic PCB Cleaners for New and Reconditioned Boards

Fast, Safe Ultrasonic PCB Cleaners for New and Reconditioned Boards

Removing soldering flux and residues from new PCBs and dirt when reconditioning PCBs by using an ultrasonic PCB cleaner is faster and more gentle than soaking and scrubbing with sprays and solvents.  Manual PCB cleaning is time consuming, can damage delicate PCB assemblies and can be environmentally unfriendly.  An ultrasonic PCB cleaner provides your best assurance that contaminants have been completely removed from new or reconditioned board configurations. 

 How an Ultrasonic PCB Cleaner Works

If you are familiar with ultrasonic cleaning proceed to the next section.

Ultrasonic cleaners come in a variety of sizes and capacities ranging from benchtop to floor mounted industrial units.  Regardless of size, ultrasonic cleaners work in the same way. 

A tank sized to accommodate objects being cleaned contains a biodegradable cleaning solution formulated for the task at hand. 

Controls range from a simple on-off switch to more sophisticated timers, heaters and other features such as … Read the rest

Explosion Proof Ultrasonic Cleaner Options

Explosion Proof Ultrasonic Cleaner Options

Explosion-proof ultrasonic cleaners must be used when cleaning tasks call for the use of volatile solvents to achieve the desired results.  See examples below.  When low flash point flammable solvents are involved in an ultrasonic cleaning operation, a number of precautions are called for in addition to using an explosion-proof ultrasonic cleaner.  This is because using these solvents creates what the NEC and NFPA term a hazardous location.

A flash point is the temperature at which a particular organic compound gives off sufficient vapor to ignite in air when given an ignition source.  In view of this, selection of an ultrasonic cleaner must take into account that not only do volatile solvents evaporate, but the heat generated by the ultrasonic cleaning process accelerates solvent evaporation and vapor generation.… Read the rest