The Problem
You may wonder, how did the Automated Medical Cleaning come about? A major medical device manufacturer was having a huge fall out and poor yields in it\’s manufacturing that result in what are called tear downs in the industry. Basically, their process was to perform 100% visual inspection for Particulate Matter (PM) inside of a sealed tray that housed the medical devices they manufactured. The device has a lid stock that is heat sealed into place. When they see a particle inside of the finished tray, they put that tray aside as a reject. At some point after the manufacturing, they tear open the rejected trays, which means lots of additional labor, discarding the package, re-cleaning the product and the new packaging materials and re-packaging the product.
The Solution
The aforementioned medical device customer of Static Clean, purchased one of our manual medical cleaning systems and ran 50,000 parts with zero tear downs. An operator now simply passes the trays under a pair of cleaning hoods that are integrated into one of our work stations. It proved so successful that they ended up ordering a dozen of our manual medical cleaning systems. To further enhance the efficiency, the throughput, and to take any human error out of the equation a customer asked if we could provide an automated system that transported their trays and products through the cleaning zone. After some work with our Engineering teams, we created the automated medical cleaning system. Now the Automated Medical Cleaning System is gaining wide acceptance in the Medical Device manufacturing community.
Static Clean International’s (SCI) Medical Cleaning System with Automated Shuttle (MCS-AS) provides all the benefits of the MCS system – an effective, efficient, time-proven system for cleaning products / packaging, source capturing particulates in critical medical device manufacturing and packaging processes – and elevates it to a whole new level.
SCI’s Medical Device Manufacturer and Packaging customers, many you rely on for health care products, have enjoyed over a decade of reduced tear-down, better quality, higher yields and profits using our MCS system. Previously only available in a manual-feed system, SCI proudly introduces our new MCS-AS with automated shuttle for complete control over the cleaning process for optimal, repeatable results. By incorporating a speed-adjustable pneumatic or servo-electric slide with stainless steel nest, custom fit to your packaging-trays, your operator simply places a tray, loaded with your product, into the nest, touching the Opto-Touch button to begin the cleaning cycle. The MCS-AS shuttles the nest at a controlled speed through the cleaning zone where static bars and stainless steel air tubes provide compressed, ionized air to neutralize static charges on the trays/parts, stripping particulates off surfaces, nooks & crannies.
Once airborne, particles in the cleaning zone are captured via the Medical Cleaning System – Automated Shuttle (MCS-AS) dust collector which draws a powerful vacuum, high velocity air from the cleaning zone, conveying the contaminants into the vacuum slot of the stainless steel hoods. The particles are captured in the dust collector’s internal filtration, gently delivering clean air back into the clean room through a HEPA filtered exhaust.
Integral safety features E-stop the system if an obstruction is encountered, exerting more than 3~5 lbs. of force along the shuttles path, easily reset with the push of a button once the obstruction is cleared. Power to the static bars and compressed air to the air tubes at the cleaning hoods are controlled by the systems PLC, turning on only during a cleaning cycle, significantly reducing energy costs.
An anodized aluminum profile frame provides a sturdy foundation for the system, supporting the dust collector and all components in a sleek, clean package. Locking swivel casters, a quick-connect compressed air fitting and a standard 120V plug make moving the MCS-AS easy within your facility.
