Cold Jet outlines benefits of dry ice blasting for printing industry
Before and after dry ice blasting
Cold Jet on use of dry ice blasting for printing industry:
Printers must have their presses running full speed and contaminant free for optimal production.
Dry ice blasting reduces press cleaning time by 65% or more and provides a complete online clean without damaging press equipment and parts.
Dry ice cleaning significantly decreases machine down time - compare the manual cleaning of one 56 inch print roll at 90 minutes to the rapid 30 minute clean with dry ice blasting online.
ROI
Dry ice blasting quickly pays for its initial investment, with companies reporting as much as a 1.54 ROI on cleaning time costs alone. Dry ice cleaning completely penetrates into the springs and brackets of press equipment beyond the limited reach of traditional wire brushes and solvents used with manual labor.
The impact of this deeper clean is reduced labour costs, extended machine life and improved efficiency. It virtually eliminates those costly, unexpected press breakdowns that eat away at company profits.
Quality output
ISO 9001 certification requires businesses to meet quality management standards that monitor manufacturing processes to ensure that they are producing quality products.
Printing press maintenance and repair procedures must comply with ISO 9001 to keep high quality output from their presses.
The integrity of the dry ice system technology is essential to continually maintain the improved standards.
High quality dry ice cleaning process starts from the loading of ice pellets or blocks into the hopper to the nozzle outflow on the surface being cleaned.
Enviromental benefits
Dry ice cleaning eliminates both secondary waste or residue and the usage of chemical solvents, which improves worker safety and helps with environmental concerns.
ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to help organizations minimise how their operations negatively impact the environment and comply with applicable laws and regulations.
These ISO 14000 standards are easily met and surpassed with dry ice blasting cleaning’s environmental friendly operation.
Application specific capabilities
Successful cleaning applications for dry ice include many different types of printing processes, including Flexography, off-set, gravure printing, web press and sheet fed equipment.
The wide selection of dry ice nozzles enables application specific jobs, that range from general plant cleaning to the more intricate cleaning needs of delicate anilox rolls.
How does dry ice blasting work?
Dry ice blasting uses compressed air to accelerate frozen carbon dioxide (CO2) dry ice particles to a high velocity. A compressed air supply of a minimum of 50 scfm (1.4 m3/min) at 80 psi (5.5 bar) can be used.
The dry ice particles sublimate to a gas upon impact with the surface being cleaned.
As they convert from a solid to a gas they expand to 800 times their size resulting in a mini-explosion that lifts the contaminate from the substrate.
The dry ice particles are blasted through nozzles to clean, which leave no secondary residue.
A wide variety of dry ice blasting nozzles can be used for various cleaning needs, that range from heavy duty to more delicate applications.
Benefits of dry ice blasting
It is a dry, non-abrasive, evironmentally responsible process that is both effective and efficient.
- Cleans faster
- Able to clean online and in-place without disassembly/reassembly
- Reaches into areas that manual cleaning cannot
- Easy to operate and eliminates intensive manual cleaning
- Does not use hazardous chemicals and enhances worker safety
- Reduces or eliminates press damage/extends machine life – no wire brushes
- Lowers labour costs
- No secondary waste
- Does not harm active electrical parts
- Will not contribute to mould growth
- Cleaning savings can also be transferred to other ancillary applications including gluing, packaging and bindery machinery
Dry ice FAQs
How do I get dry ice?
Dry ice companies have local distributors that produce both dry ice pellets and block dry ice.
How do I need to store it?
Dry ice is not a stockable media. It is typically delivered in 500lb(226.8 kg) fully insulated, sealed totes that remain fresh 5-7 days while sealed.
Once opened the dry ice should be used within 3 days for best blast performance.
What are the safety concerns?
Dry ice should be handled with industrial gloves (with its low temperature media) and used in a well ventilated area as CO2 displaces oxygen. Typical plant ventilation systems easily meet these safety requirements.
Dry ice blasting- A clean and productivity solution
Scheduled preventative maintenance for press equipment is a necessary component of the printing business, according to an American Printer report.
Dry ice blasting offers the optimal advantage of reducing downtime for those jobs. With its complete clean, it also eliminates or reduces the occurrence of costly unexpected equipment breakdowns, while offering predictable print quality on a consistent basis.
The initial investment of dry ice blasting quickly pays for itself with decreased labour costs, a safer work environment and dependable equipment uptime.
Dry ice cleaning provides a pro-active insurance policy for printing profits and productivity.
21-Nov-2007