Laser cleaning as a new cleaning technology, compared with the traditional industrial cleaning supplies, has many advantages. The following is a comparative analysis of laser cleaning and several common traditional industrial cleaning methods:
1. Environmental Protection:
· Laser cleaning does not use chemicals, so it will not produce waste liquid pollution, environmentally friendly.
· Traditional chemical cleaning methods may produce harmful chemical waste liquid, which requires complex waste liquid treatment procedures and causes greater pressure on the environment.
2. Cleaning efficiency:
· Laser cleaning is fast and efficient, and can quickly remove contaminants from the surface of various materials.
· Although the traditional mechanical grinding cleaning method has high cleanliness, its efficiency is relatively low and it is easy to damage the substrate.
3. Cost:
· The initial equipment investment of laser cleaning is large, but because there is no need for consumables and chemicals, the long-term operating cost is low.
· Traditional cleaning methods such as chemical cleaning require the continuous purchase and treatment of chemicals, which may be costly in the long term.
4. Cleaning Quality:
· Laser cleaning can remove the pollution particles below the nanometer level, high cleanliness, and minimal damage to the matrix.
· Traditional cleaning methods such as sandblasting may cause damage to the treated surface and have limited fineness.
5. Operational flexibility:
· Laser cleaning through optical fiber transmission, mobile operation, can clean the hard-to-reach parts, easy to automate.
· Traditional cleaning methods such as liquid solid jet cleaning method have higher flexibility, but the cost is higher and the waste liquid treatment is complex.
6. Security:
· Laser cleaning has no contact, no grinding, no stress, and is safer for operators and equipment.
· Traditional cleaning methods such as high-frequency ultrasonic cleaning method, the waste liquid treatment is more complex, and the cleaning size is limited.
7. Energy consumption:
· The energy consumption of laser cleaning equipment is relatively low, for example, the total energy consumption of a laser cleaning equipment is only 7KW / H, far lower than the 70KW / H of sandblasting equipment.
· Traditional cleaning methods such as sandblasting cleaning have high energy consumption and require a lot of consumables, which is not conducive to environmental protection and energy saving.
8. Policy Support:
· With the strengthening of environmental protection policies, laser cleaning as a green cleaning technology is more in line with the policy orientation and may obtain more policy support and market favor.
· Traditional cleaning methods may be subject to policy restrictions due to environmental issues, such as the increasingly stringent environmental assessment reports for pickling production lines.
In summary, laser cleaning in environmental protection, cleaning efficiency, cost, cleaning quality, operational flexibility, safety and energy consumption have shown significant advantages, is the future development trend of industrial cleaning. Although the initial investment is large, in the long run, the total cost of ownership of laser cleaning is lower and more sustainable.
