A Practical Development of Automated Cleaning System for Construction Aluminum Scaffolding Boards

"Aluminum scaffolding boards are widely used as contemporary material at construction sites due to light weight. However it is important to carefully clean dirty aluminum boards with mud and concrete paste because they are scratched easily. This paper describes the development of an automated cleaning system to improve the work efficiency and not to damage the board. Two washing methods are applied in this system. In the first stage, high pressure water jets from the rotating nozzles take off heavy dirt on the front side of the board instantly. In the second stage, by soaking this board in a large water tank generating a high power ultrasonic vibration, light dirt on the back side of board is gradually removed. The cleaning process is automatically controlled by some conveyor and handling robots. The waste water discharged in each sections is recycled by the process of chemical precipitation and multi-stage filters. Introducing this system to our Material-Equipment Center, more than daily specified pieces of aluminum board are cleaned carefully without damage, and the work environment is also improved considerably. "