Sensor Technologies for Optimising Cleaning Baths Attract Many Visitors

ln 19th and 20th May 2014 the 5th symposium “Technical cleanliness in assembly and production processes” took place in the Dormero Hotel in Stuttgart, Germany. SensoTech (Germany) supported the conference program with a lecture on the topic "Sensor technologies for optimising the cleaning bath quality". The response of the participants was large and the event of the Süddeutscher Verlag Veranstaltungen GmbH booked up.

After a brief introduction to the process of cleaning baths and its application areas, different measuring methods have been proposed for online bath monitoring. The analysis of these measuring methods and discussing the pros and cons were of great interest to the participants. The comparison exposed that sonic velocity is the reliable and user-friendly measuring method for determining the cleaner concentration or the degree of bath contamination. Reasons for this include: measurement independent of turbidity, color or conductivity of the bath liquid; measurement directly in the running process and in real time; easy installation directly in the main pipe without bypass; high measuring accuracy even with gas bubbles and vibrations; robust sensor design without seals or moving parts; maintenance-free; corrosion-resistant due to special sensor materials; long lifetime; and easy integration in process control systems.

Reports of applications from well-known customers within the automotive industry, metal industry, mechanical and plant engineering or precision mechanics and optics industries gave information about the practical use of the LiquiSonic measuring technology, based on the measurement of sonic velocity. The analyser monitors the bath parameters inline and precisely. Lots of practical relevance was also part of the final discussion supplementing perfectly the knowledge transfer and exchange of experiences.