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Cost of Ownership
Although cleaning is crucial to many electronics industries, it is still only one aspect of the total manufacturing process, and so the cost of cleaning needs to remain reasonable to the overall manufacturing cost. Fortunately, the cost-per-cleaning for the vapor degreasing process is considerably low and can be comparable or less than that of aqueous cleaning. When comparing solvent vapor degreasing to aqueous cleaning systems, there are many factors to consider including capital investment, equipment footprint, power supply, cleaning time, detergent/solvent supply, and waste disposal. In other words, a vapor degreaser and an aqueous machine capable of cleaning the same number of parts-per cycle will have different overall costs, thus different costs-per-part cleaned. Aqueous systems typically have larger working footprints, power requirements, and longer cleaning cycles; these are due to the need for several washing and rinsing stations, high temperature inputs, and reliance on mechanical spraying and washing mechanisms4. Although vapor degreasers require less time and overall maintenance, the cleaning solvents are typically more expensive than aqueous detergents; however, properly maintained equipment should retain solvent, and the distillation process keeps solvent pure for continuous use.
To read the full version of this article, which appeared in the April 2017 issue of SMT Magazine, click here.
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