The latest CC9 carbon cylinder and DC9 mixed bed ion-exchange cylinder from Purite, a major UK manufacturer of high performance water purification equipment, have enabled Chiltern Connections, a leading provider of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) coatings, to simplify its procedures and reduce its operating costs considerably. In addition to providing a constant supply of pure water for use in the cleaning process prior to the conformal coating of PCBs, the cylinders have contributed, in combination with a new PCB batch cleaning unit, to a noticeable improvement in coating quality, reducing waste and ensuring client satisfaction.

During their working lives, PCBs are often exposed to extremely hostile environmental  conditions and the risk of PCB failure in the field due to the action of contaminants such as water, moisture, condensation or salt laden atmospheres for example, can be very high. In order to help protect the PCBs in these cases, Chiltern Connections applies specialised coatings to the surface of each board, the coating choice being primarily dependant on expected environmental conditions.

A crucial element of this process is the sterilisation of the boards with purified water, before the coating is applied. If contamination is present underneath the protective coating it can have a negative effect on the PCB, reducing service life considerably and leading to increased maintenance and replacement costs.

Peter Woollcott, Managing Director at Chiltern Connections, explained, “Our PCB cleaning unit employs a wide variety of programmes using various cleaning chemistries  to ensure that all organic and inorganic particulates are removed from the PCBs before coating. We were previously using standard demineralised 25ltr containers of water to dissipate any remaining chemistry residue, however, our procedure proved time-consuming, costly and posed various health and safety risks mainly associated with the manual handling of the containers. Purite provided the perfect solution with equipment that purifies water to consistently high levels, ensuring that our coating processes can be carried out efficiently, reliably and to optimum standards.”

The efficient CC9 carbon cylinder offers a maximum flowrate of 2,000l/hr and adsorbs all dissolved organic contamination and free chlorine in a single pass, while the DC9 offers a flowrate of 1,500l/hr and is capable of removing up to 99% of ionic impurities from a mains supply, as well as reducing conductivity to <1µS/cm.

The cost-effective and high capacity CC9 and DC9 cylinders, are offering Chiltern Connections a solution that is simple to install and use; supplied complete with all the fittings necessary for connection to the mains supply. The deionised and organic-free water is sprayed through multiple nozzles ensuring that there is no spotting or pitting on the PCBs, and that the surfaces are extremely clean before the protective coating is applied, providing a consistently high quality finish.

Peter Woollcott commented, “The Purite cylinders have given us the reassurance, which can be verified by our own ionogragh testing, that the PCBs are free of contamination before we apply our protective coatings.  Perhaps as importantly, using Purite’s products has also allowed us to simplify our processes considerably, resulting in substantial time and cost savings, which are ultimately reflected in increased customer satisfaction levels.”