Air Water has developed a new dry ice cleaning system which is applicable to any auto parts in a complicated 3-dimensional shape in collaboration with NTN whose main products are bearings and driving shafts for automobiles. The sales has started in April.

In 2006 Air Water launched the precision cleaning device “Quick Snow” which sprays micronized dry ice (dry ice snow) generated from liquefied carbon dioxide to the cleaning objects and peels off microscopic foreign matters adhered to the surface by vaporized swelling action.

This technology is classified as sort of so-called dry cleaning and has a feature that no drying process or waste water treatments are needed and there remains no cleaning trace in contrast with the wet cleaning which uses chemical liquid or water.

In consideration of the main place of use such as semiconductor which requires high-level cleaning effects, Air Water takes thoroughly preventive measures against invasion of oils or contaminants by means of filling liquid carbon dioxide in the containers specially arranged for this purpose, although the gas itself is the one for general use.

It is basic to supply the gas in a dedicated cylinder, but in some cases a CE tank has been used as a matter of fact. The amount of gas consumed depends on users, but they say there has been a case of one ton (30 to 40 cylinders) for one month at a certain site where one Quick Snow is operated all the time.

A total of 94 units were delivered mainly for cleaning of flat parts like silicon wafers, but with the advancement of automotive and semiconductor technologies it was always an issue to develop a cleaning technology applicable to a three-dimensional object.

To this end, AWI has established a system to move the nozzle smoothly in all angles by means of associating Quick Snow into the “Parallel Link High-speed Angle Controller” of NTN who has been collaborating with AWI in the technological field since 2015. Thus even a 3-dimensional shape with many uneven surfaces has turned out to be cleaned effectively.

The control device can operate a dispenser up to a bending angle of 90 degree at maximum and a turning angle of 360 degree, which was developed by NTN in 2012 for sales to such applications as greasing of auto parts or coating of adhesives.

For the new sales target of new product, Air Water assumes the factories which will need a precision cleaning process in the field of automobile and semiconductor industries. The idea of expanding the sales of both companies is based on the effective use of Air Water’s strength in the semiconductor business tugged with NTN’s competitiveness in the automobile industry.

At the moment the sales channels and method have not been decided, but they will judge them watching the market reactions after the promotion activities like presenting in exhibitions starting in April.

According to Air Water, the market of cleaning machines in the automobile industry accounts for about 7 billion yen in the field of illumination most of which goes to wet cleaning. They aim to take 10% for dry cleaning within several years from now.

Quick Snow” co-developed with NTN