ExpertTalk - Years of experience for a thorough clean

In our “ExpertTalk” interview series, colleagues from the Fraunhofer Cleaning Division present an innovative cleaning technology in detail – explaining its capabilities and limitations, as well as where it is used. For this edition, we interviewed Helge Thomsen and Daniel Templin from Fraunhofer IST. They discuss how IST uses large-scale, water-based component cleaning to achieve precise results. Read all the details, key points, and their future plans in our ExpertTalk. 

1.     What specific cleaning technology does your institute offer?

The Fraunhofer IST has a large aqueous-based cleaning system with a total of 17 stations. The system enables cleaning of a wide variety of components and samples under practical industrial conditions.

2.    What competencies does your institute offer in relation to this technology?

Our expertise is built on many years of experience in industrial component cleaning as well as on the close, manufacturer-independent, ongoing collaboration of our team. This enables us to evaluate cleaning processes objectively and adapt them optimally to the specific requirements of each application.

3.    Why should one choose your service rather than opting for a solution available on the market? What advantages does it offer to the customer?

As a founding member of the Fraunhofer Cleaning Business Unit, we have been operating our large-scale cleaning plant for over 25 years. Due to low personnel turnover in the team, we have been able to continuously build and pass on our knowledge over many years. As a result, we know very precisely from practical experience how to respond to different requirements or to problems that arise in the cleaning process. Our customers particularly benefit from our many years of experience through rapid and thorough troubleshooting as well as individually tailored solutions instead of standardized approaches.

4.    In which industry and for what cleaning tasks is the technology primarily applied?

Typically, our customers come from mechanical engineering, the automotive industry, or related supplier industries. The cleaning technology is primarily used as a key process step in pretreating samples and components of all kinds for coating in high vacuum systems.

5.    Were there any amusing or interesting incidents during the development or application of the technology?

In recent years, the cleaning system has regularly been an attraction at the annual Future Day at our institute. What always impresses young people most is the effect of ultrasound. Using aluminum foil, it can be vividly demonstrated what forces are generated in the ultrasound bath when the foil tears within a short time.

6.   What does the future hold for this technology? What direction is it heading, and what developments can we expect?

An important future topic for us is the reduction of the plant's energy demand. In this context, the focus is particularly on lowering the bath temperatures. The challenge is to increase energy efficiency without compromising the cleaning quality.

7.   What specific services do you offer in the field of cleaning technology? (e.g., seminars, services, development of customized process technology, etc.)

This year, we are offering the seminar "Understanding Industrial Component Cleaning – Ensuring Product Quality" for the first time. The aim of the seminar is to convey practical knowledge in order to specifically optimize cleaning processes and to sustainably ensure product quality.

8.   What has been the most interesting project you have worked on in this field?

Our cleaning system may no longer be one of the newest systems, but it is continuously being further developed and modernized. Particularly exciting in recent years has been the gradual digitization of the system. Through the continuous collection of process data, more and more processes could be digitally mapped and analyzed. This creates the foundation for a digital twin of the system and even more targeted process optimization in the future.