Through-out our application with PVA sponge roller, one of the common question from field engineer is “How to determine a PVA sponge life span? “ Here we would like to share with our reader about several perspectives which field engineer could consider while determining the PVA sponge life span.
We welcome all comments if you want to emphasize some points of view.
Main PVA Sponge Life Span Consideration
PVA Sponge is used in cleaning process, hence the cleaning yield should be the first criteria for judging a sponge quality. A deteriorating PVA sponge quality will reflect in cleaning yield. User shall make use the history data to generate a precise control limit for the cleaning yield. There are many factors affected the cleaning yield and the deteriorating PVA sponge quality should not be neglected.
Make use of history data and statistic software, field engineer could plot the relation between cleaning yield and PVA sponge life span. From the chart, we could clearly see that PVA sponge life span is always reciprocal of cleaning yield. This means while PVA sponge come to the end stage of life span, the cleaning yield normally deteriorate or with huge fluctuation.
In practical cleaning process, field engineer shall determine a PVA sponge changing frequency before impact of cleaning yield. Since all processes may have difference expected cleaning yield hence it will not surprise to see difference in PVA sponge life span.
Other Factors Determine Sponge Life Span
Besides the cleaning process yield, there are several criteria field engineer could observe:
- Sponge clog up. PVA sponge comes in snow white, this is because field engineer could identify if any colour change throughout the cleaning process. Dirt or removal substance will adhere in the porous o the sponge. This cause decline of cleaning ability.
- Sponge discolouration. Sponge discolouration mainly due to aging. An aged PVA sponge will start turning light yellow after several months. This also indicates field engineer should replace the sponge to avoid further impact on cleaning process.
- Wear off. The contaminant is removed through the scrubbing process between PVA sponge roller and the substance surface. The scrubbing process will cause wear off on the surface of PVA sponge roller. The wear off phenomenon will become significant while field engineer increase the sponge rotation.
- Tear down. In some occasion, field engineer will observe sponge tear down. When tear down happen, it indicates reached the sponge life span.
Why Determine Sponge Life Span
In practical cleaning process, after considering all the affected parameters, field engineer has to determine sponge life span for individual cleaning process. With predetermine the sponge life span, field engineer could maintain a consistent cleaning process.
Even though we have outlined several criteria for judging a sponge life span, but we are unable to prioritize the severity for every criterion. Field engineer should decide the sponge life span base on the process uniqueness and requirement.
In many occasion, we are seeing the sponge still be used in the process even part of the sponge has tear off. We always strongly urge field engineer should exchange a new sponge in order to achieve a consistent process performance. Let us know if you have other opinion on PVA sponge life span and we should discuss further in below column.