CleanFeed - the right concept to eliminate harmful particles in the clean r
Integrated design for the reduction of contaminating particles
Technical cleanliness is gaining increasing importance, particularly in automotive technology. Minute particles can cause devastating damage. For example when components are assembled onto a PCB a tiny stray piece of metal could connect two of the conducting strips and cause a short-circuit. Contaminating particles themselves have an effect on how components function. They can clog up jets and filters, block valves, or cause bearings to jam. The requirement for ever higher power density means that components and units are increasingly more complex, with much tighter tolerances. In recent years the importance of technical cleanliness has grown greatly. It started with active and passive driving safety systems such as ABS, progressed to include diesel and direct injection models, through to variable camshaft phasing and lead-free bearing cups.
With the aim of preventing hazardous contamination caused by particles just 50 - 1000 µm in size, the VDA has created some comprehensive guidelines in its VDA 19 publication for the inspection of technical cleanliness and “VDA 19.2 Technical Cleanliness in Assembly” for processing clean components.
Looking at the assembly process as a whole
“Technical cleanliness is not an isolated process. The technical cleanliness concept affects every department. It starts with staff training, and continues through the engineering design, the manufacture of the components, the manufacturing environment, logistics, assembly, the assembly equipment and the assembly environment,” explained Jürgen Hierold, DEPRAG Sales Manager. And now the choice of appropriate assembly equipment to cope with joining technology is coming increasingly under the microscope. “This places a heavy demand on us as manufacturers, which can be achieved only by providing components that are harmonised to one another, along with innovative technologies, without major additional effort and at competitive costs,” added Jürgen Hierold.
“In our CleanFeed system we have developed a comprehensive concept for technical cleanliness, which includes decades of knowledge of processes, solutions and the components developed especially for technical cleanliness,” he continued.
