Colossal cleaning
ROBOWASH is an Australian manufacturing success story.
With more than 35 years of experience in the mining and earthmoving industry, Robowash has developed a unique and innovative way to automate industrial cleaning, and offers an environmental alternative to conventional hydrocarbon and caustic cleaning methods.
Since 1993 the company has been designing and building automatic parts washers from its manufacturing facility in Henderson, WA.
The company started with smaller units suitable for automotive workshops but the range has now grown to include the largest parts washers in the world designed to clean 6t, 20-cylinder train and earthmoving engine blocks and components.
Effective cleaning principle
The Robowash machine cleans parts using the same principle as a household dishwasher.
The parts to be cleaned are placed in the internal basket, the lid is closed and at the press of a button the machine does the rest.
While the basket containing the parts, or the mesh tray supporting the block are rotated, jets of hot water and cleaning agent spray from all sides to penetrate caked on carbon, oil and grease that can take hours to clean manually.
Hot water is filtered and recycled constantly within the machine and once the cleaned parts are removed from the Robowash, the absorbed heat permits them to ‘flash dry’ and eliminates the need to rinse or blow dry.
The mighty R6
The very latest machine from Robowash is the imposing R6, released in early September and designed specifically to thoroughly clean 3500 diesel engine blocks and components, as well as 793 wheel hubs to OEM specifications for contamination control.
This means that a re-machined used block, cleaned in an R6, with the additional spray bar fitted for internal oil gallery cleaning, can have contaminant levels at less than 50ppm.
This is a remarkable cleaning achievement and one that is literally unobtainable by hand washing, where typical contaminant levels are 600ppm at best and not sufficient to meet OEM standards.
The R6 Robowash machine is perfectly designed for heavy industrial cleaning applications.
Apart from state-of-the-art engine block cleaning it is also capable of cleaning large, heavy components like wheel hubs, final drives and precision gears.
Wheel hubs can be washed without the need for complete stripping, such as the size of the cleaning cabinet.
The R6 also runs electric and optional gas for heating and has the ability to run caustic and rinse functions, through a separate wash circuit, if necessary.
It is the R6’s design features that set it apart from anything else in the world and show the true depth of innovation and engineering know-how present in the Robowash team.
They have designed, developed and built every single component of this machine, which from the outside may look like a giant yellow and blue tool box but inside is a complex mesh of hardware, electronics and software.
The turntable, which is 2.4m in diameter with a 2m internal height, has a super-smooth electric gear drive, can support a 6t engine block and has spring suspension to prevent damage to the unit if the block is accidentally dropped.
Bringing a 6t mass to a stop also takes finesse if damage is to be avoided.
Allowing a smooth stop is a custom-designed clutch system that gradually ratchets until a given torque load is reached before being fully applied.
Sealing the machine during its wash cycles is a solid steel lid, lifted by the largest air-actuators on the market.
But just lifting the lid was not enough; in order to prevent it twisting as it opened, the Robowash engineers had to design and build a complex control system with an algorithm that assesses the position of each ram relative to the other.
This ensures that the lid lifts evenly throughout its range of movement and cannot damage the lid.
Part of the lid is the front flap, which gradually folds back as the top retracts to give clear access to lifting equipment.
The linkage mechanism to control the flap was the subject of an international patent (interestingly, this mechanism is similar to that used by Ferrari and Lamborghini to open their convertible tops).
The heart of the beast is the 2000l water supply and the muscle behind that is provided by dual pumps.
A smaller booster pump circulates the cleaning water through a series of debris traps and filters while a huge 15kW pump supplies 1000l per minute and 9.5bar of pressure to deliver superior cleaning power through multiple spray bars and an array of strategically angled nozzles – designed to clean as the part approaches and moves away during its rotation.
For ease of maintenance, each pump can be isolated through valves and cam locks and then slid out of the machine on a roller slide.
The interest from industry in the R6 has been intense since its release in early September.
It is very clear to maintenance managers around the country that the R6 not only saves money because less time needs to be spent preparing parts for cleaning, but also the actual cleaning time is dramatically reduced, resulting in faster turnaround of equipment.
Add to that the degree of cleaning possible with the R6’s filtration system and multiple spray bars delivering less than OEM-spec contamination levels, and the benefits of this behemoth are very evident.
The end result includes significant cost reductions and huge increases in throughput and capacity, resulting in significant productivity gains.
Clients also welcome the complete onboard logging and data sharing system that not only records every wash, filter clean and standby hour but also sends that information to Robowash, which can monitor its status, wherever it may be.
This also allows 24-hour monitoring of each unit and allows instant diagnostics and support to be given to site crews in the event of an issue.
This remote monitoring function allows for not only preventative maintenance but creates predictive maintenance that ensures downtime is virtually eliminated.
After 35 years in the industry, Robowash delivers reliability too, thanks to the world’s best components, in-house innovation and Australian manufacturing.
A fully self-contained unit, the R6 only requires an external three-phase power supply and 2000l of water to be fully operational anywhere, anytime.
Available for sale or for hire, the R6 can be lowered onto the back of a truck and sent to even the most remote mine sites.