Meyer Tool Upgrades Cleaning Facility

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Meyer Tool Upgrades Cleaning Facility

May 29, 2013

Meyer Tool has just completed upgrades to our cleaning facility to meet the changing requirements of our customers. The facility, consisting of a 1000 sq. ft. cleaning area and 160 sq. ft. clean assembly room located within the cleaning area, was first installed in 2006. Originally the facility was designed to meet National Ignition Facility (NIF) requirements for cleaning of stainless steel and aluminum components and weldments for ultrahigh vacuum and laser applications. However, since its inception, the facility has been used to meet customer requirements in applications requiring high levels of cleanliness. Some examples of non-NIF applications have included:

Aluminum Vacuum Chambers for Industrial Processes.
Aluminum Vacuum Chambers for Advanced Instruments.
Aluminum Vacuum Chambers and LN2 Pressure Vessels for Astronomy.
Aluminum Radiation Detectors Vessels for Proton Therapy.
Copper Plated Stainless Steel Waveguide Components for Accelerators.
Stainless Steel Liquid Oxygen ASME Pressure Vessels.
Stainless Steel Vacuum Chambers for Industrial Electron Accelerators.
Stainless Steel Vacuum Chambers for manufacture of Thin Film Solar Panels.
Stainless Steel Radiation Detector Vessels for Border Security.
Stainless Steel Vacuum Vessels for High Energy Physics.
Titanium Helium Gas Return Pipes for High Energy Physics.

The cleaning facility consists of a high pressure wash area utilizing 2500 PSIG, filtered and heated (120°F) de-ionized (DI) water at 18 M-Ohms or better. Environmentally friendly surfactant detergents, selected for use with the proper materials, are mixed in the high pressure DI water stream. Ultrasonic cleaning and rinse tanks are available for smaller components. Utilizing cleaning processes based on NIF MEL99 we utilize phosphoric acid for etching of aluminum as a key step in our aluminum cleaning processes. A tank filled with a citric acid based passivation product is available for stainless steel passivation. Filtered dry nitrogen and oil-free dry air are both available. Clean handling protocols are strictly followed with clean room level wipes, swabs, gloves, and clothing all in use. Directly from cleaning, components can be assembled in a 160 sq. ft. clean assembly room. The assembly room, located within the clean area, maintains a HEPA filtered positive air flow. The room is isolated from the cleaning area via a clean room plastic strip doorway. Clean room clothing must be worn when working within the clean assembly room. Cleanliness of the cleaning area and clean assembly room is maintained with a documented cleaning schedule.

Upgrades to the cleaning facility allow us to better isolate clean components from the cleaning process, handle larger, heavier components, and more easily do precision clean assembly functions. Upgrades included:

Larger DI water reverse osmosis beds to allow longer cleaning times while maintaining correct process parameters.
Isolating the high pressure wash area from the other cleaning room areas. This eliminates the possibility of overspray causing contamination of cleaned components.
A significantly larger phosphoric acid tank (more than double the size) allowing the immersion of much larger aluminum components and weldments.
Installation of a 2 ton capacity jib crane and chain hoist increasing our ability to handle large awkward components and vessels.
Installation of new isolation curtain doorway between the cleaning area and clean assembly room.
Addition of a 2000 CFM HEPA filtered positive air down-flow in the clean assembly room. Resulting in 75 number of air exchanges per hour.
Stricter controls and utilization of clean room clothing including boot covers, bouffant caps, beard covers, and coats to better maintain cleanliness during assembly and packaging operations.

Upgrading our cleaning facility allows Meyer Tool to remain current with customer needs and expands our capabilities. We believe that making these investments is part of our promise to Reduce Project Risk by providing value added services to our customers to assist them in achieving the lowest total cost of ownership.