Intensive cleaning
September 1st 2008 Kärcher's IB 15/240 Ice
Blaster offers a portable, nonaggressive,
but thorough
method of cleaning surfaces,
tools, moulds and machines
without causing damage to
the substrate or the
environment. The machine
can be used in indoor and
outdoor areas and does not
require chemicals.
The system uses dry ice
pellets kept at -79°C, injected
into a jet of compressed air,
accelerated to speeds in
excess of 150m/s and then
fired at the surface to be
cleaned. The abrupt cooling of
the surface causes a thermal
shock and produces fine
cracks in the top layer. The dry
ice pellets penetrate these
cracks and sublimate instantly
(turn into a gas without becoming
a liquid) lifting the contaminant
from the surface, and return to the
atmosphere as CO2 gas leaving
only the contaminant behind. As
cleaning with dry ice is performed
without chemicals or detergents,
and leaves no wastewater, it is
environmentally friendly and can
be used in areas where cleaning
with water is prohibited or
inconvenient. Unlike sand blasting,
ice blasting keeps surface abrasion
to a minimum, and there is only the
contaminant to collect after
cleaning has been completed. More articles from Karcher (UK) Ltd: | 
