Normal operation requires the filters to be changed only twice annually at a cost of approximately $200 per maintenance cycle. The liquid hazardous waste never exits the system! 99% of the waste solder paste from stencils and misprinted PCBs is captured for easy recycling. The remaining 1% is removed by the EnviroGuard filtration system for a completely contained and environmentally benign cleaning process! Users simply return the spent filters to Smart Sonic for regeneration and reuse. Like a wastewater evaporator, the EnviroGuard filtration system is �zero discharge� but at a fraction of the cost, no venting requirements, much easier maintenance and all water is reused rather than released to atmosphere as vapor. The EnviroGuard 100% Closed-loop Filtration system is also retrofit able to all existing Smart Sonic Stencil Cleaners and will eliminate the need of a wastewater evaporator.
Prior to EnviroGuard, aqueous stencil cleaner systems, claiming to be closed-loop, could only clean water washable solder pastes or only recycle the rinse water. The chemical additives necessary to clean no-clean, RMA and other non water washable solder pastes required periodic changing due to chemical exhaustion or premature filter loading. This resulted in large amounts of liquid hazardous waste disposal. The EnviroGuard 100% Closed-loop Stencil Cleaner eliminates liquid hazardous waste disposal while significantly reducing cleaning chemical consumption.
In 1990, Smart Sonic introduced the original ultrasonic stencil cleaner and the first stencil cleaner to be verified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for specific parameters of environmental safety, user safety and cleaning efficiency. Continuing its mission to provide the best stencil-cleaning process with zero environmental impact, Smart Sonic will unveil the EnviroGuard line of stencil cleaners at Apex 2008, Booth #1664.