As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of technical cleaning and surface finishing equipment, North Yorkshire-based Guyson International is experiencing unprecedented export success in China and South East Asia with its ‘Kerry’ brand Microsolve Mono and Co-Solvent ‘vapour cleaning’ systems.

Typically, these systems are used to clean medium- to high-volume PCB assemblies, such as insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power module packaging for electric vehicles (EV), produced by local indigenous manufacturers as well as by subsidiaries of Western-owned companies.

This export growth is not a coincidence. A significant part of this has to do with Guyson’s Shanghai-based China team, who even during a troubled 2020 and 2021, have continued to attend and exhibit at a series of nationwide electronics seminars with the support from Guyson’s Malaysian staff.

These regional sales efforts have also been supported by an updated Chinese language website that highlights the wide range of cleaning and finishing products available from Guyson.

Microsolve Co-Solvent systems achieve cleanliness standards to specifications including British Standards, Institute for Printed Circuits, European Space Agency and MIL SPEC. The Co-Solvent process defluxes all types of PCBs, assembled and reworked, removes no-clean solder flux residues and eliminates the white deposits associated with traditional single-solvent and water-based detergent processes.

There are increasing concerns over the environment and personal health with the current worldwide climate change issue, leading to an increased demand for the Co-Solvent cleaning process. The Co-Solvent process replaces all VOC solvents (volatile organic compounds) which impact global warming and are also classified as CMRs (carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins).

Furthermore, Microsolve owners enjoy low, predictable running costs, thanks to intelligent machine design - a highly efficient reflux cooling system, a vapour break, and a deep freeboard zone all cut OEL (occupational exposure limits) for operators while minimising costly solvent loss.

With an optional automatic HFE (hydrofluoroether) top-up system, users can log the rate of solvent usage. In a seven-day test of a high-capacity co-solvent unit, the device showed a total consumption of only 2.4 litres. A typical HFE solvent use per week for PCB cleaning customers is less than 2%, and the solvating solution is typically changed every four to six months.

Automation of the cleaning process also reduces operating costs by ensuring consistently high quality, reducing reject rates and increasing throughput. Both Mono and Co-Solvent Microsolve systems achieve this by controlling the speed at which the basket enters and exits the vapour zone, thus reducing solvent drag-out and losses to the atmosphere that can occur when the vapour blanket is disturbed.

In this regard, Guyson offers a variety of automated handling systems, including the Autotrans Single Axis Lift, which provides vertical movement for loads up to 10kg, as well as the recently introduced Autotrans iDrive, which offers lifting capacities between 30-80kg, depending on the model.

In addition to being supplied with guarding to comply with CE regulations for moving parts, Autotrans handling transporters can be integrated with feed conveyors or loading and unloading tables for fully automatic operation. Options to suit machine location, factory layout and operating procedures can also be selected.

Guyson can arrange free ‘try before you buy’ ultrasonic cleaning trials for customers’ PCB components, prove the process and make recommendations on the most suitable cleaning systems.