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Tube Products International March 2014
products & developments
Cleaning and de-burring in one machine
When heating and cooling equipment
manufacturer HC Coils started
producing copper tubular components
in-house, the company needed an
industrial washing machine to remove
coolant residue and swarf deposited
during sawing, and to wash off mandrel
lubricant used for CNC bending.
Failure to achieve a high level of cleanli-
ness would have resulted in unaccept-
able joint porosity when subsequently
brazing the tubes in a heating or
cooling block. In addition, unpleasant
smoke would have been generated in
the working environment, contravening
health and safety regulations.
To clean the components thoroughly,
the company bought a Turbex 2100
aqueous cleaning machine that uses
a slowly rotating basket to maximise
exposure of the components to jets of
hot water. Not only does the automatic
batch washing remove all soils to the
required standard, but the action of
the tubes gently tumbling against each
other was also found to remove small
burrs created by sawing. Joining the
tubes to the blocks is consequently
more consistent and there is no risk
of operators touching sharp edges
during assembly.
HC Coils manufactures finned heat
exchangers and associated products
for heating, ventilating, air conditioning,
refrigeration, process cooling and heat
recovery. The firm designs and supplies
systems worldwide for a diverse range
of uses in supermarkets, commercial
buildings and hospitals, food manu-
facturing and storage facilities, and
induction furnace and plastic moulding
machine manufacture. Fast turnaround
and production of bespoke new and
replacement heat exchangers, as well
as standard units, are hallmarks of the
company’s service.
Mike Theed, in charge of production at
HC Coils, commented, “We wanted to
avoid solvent-based cleaning due to
the legal restrictions on its use. After
researching aqueous cleaning machine
suppliers on the Internet, we shortlisted
four potential suppliers. Turbex was our
eventual choice due to successful trials
on our tube components carried out at
their technical centre in Alton.
“The machine has been very reliable
since it was installed. I think only one
seal has been replaced in two years
and that was done on the same day by
a Turbex engineer. Apart from clearing
out the filter weekly, the only other
maintenance is to empty the machine
annually and give it a thorough clean.
For the rest of the time, it runs without
a hitch.”
During operation, the basket is pulled
forward from the machine on its central
spindle, approximately 350 copper
return bends or header legs are loaded,
and the basket is pushed back until it
engages with a drive mechanism at the
back. To ensure thorough penetration
of all components, water and detergent
are sprayed through the spindle and
continuously recycled via the filter.
The program is set to rotate the basket
at two revs per minute and spray water
at 70ºC for five minutes, after which a
seven-minute drying cycle ensures that
the parts are free from water when the
operator removes them.
All process parameters can be adjusted
– a facility that HC Coils has recently
exploited to process mild steel hanging
brackets that have to be oil-free before
being powder coated.
Turbex Ltd
– UK
Batches of copper header legs are de-oiled and de-swarfed in a 12-minute automatic cycle in
the Turbex 2100 aqueous washing machine
