The application of water to spray and immersion rinses in chemical and cleaning processes tends to be on an arbitrary basis, derived from past practise and operator experience, and quality standards set for particular products.

The volume of water applied is usually preset and continuous, regardless of the workload or quantity of contaminant being removed. Whilst multistage rinses operating in cascade reduce the needed volume, there is no proactive intervention to regulate the rinse condition and effectiveness. e-RPM have developed a rinse control strategy Rinserite™ to address the needs of processors looking to save water and assure product quality under all operating conditions.

As opposed to simple visual flowmeters and go/stop water monitors, we have introduced a completely electronic solution hosted on an industrial PC computer.

The condition of rinses is monitored by multi-parameter sensors which report to, and are logged by the PC. The parameters include:

• pH
• Conductivity
• Turbidity
• Temperature
• Flowrate

Following installation, the system is placed in monitoring mode to capture process data and the range of operating parameters.

Thereafter the system has set limits for excess and minimum contamination which control the flow of water to the rinse. This can typically save 40-60% of the water normally applied.

In the case of deionised water the cost savings in the additional preliminary purification processes as well as water purchase often mean that the cost of a Rinserite™ package can pay for itself after a few months of operation.