WaterSave – Separate Rinse and Final Rinse Tanks

Rinse and Final Rinse, Kept Separate

In systems with only one rinse tank, the same water is used for both the initial rinse and the final rinse. Because the initial rinse picks up most of the cleaning agent residues, the water has to be replaced before the final rinse. This adds up to at least two tank fills per cycle.

Our three-tank systems with WaterSave technology work with two separate water tanks. The first rinse tank (city water) picks up the cleaning agent residues and is typically replaced after every cycle. As a result, the final rinse tank (DI water) stays clean and typically only needs to be changed after 10 to 15 cycles.

The Math

For the same tank size, rinse water consumption per cycle is:

• Single rinse tank system: 2 tank fills
• WaterSave system: around 1.1 tank fills

That equals savings of around 45%. Based on the actual tank volumes of our AQUBE^® XH and XV models, savings range from 42% to 47% depending on the model. Both tanks are fed from the municipal water supply, the final rinse tank via the DI water treatment system. The exact figure depends on the cleaning application, drag-out, and the selected conductivity limit.

Tank System Instead of Open Loop

Open-loop systems work like a dishwasher: For every cycle, fresh water is filled in, heated, and then completely drained. In kolb systems, the rinse water stays in the system and is filtered. This saves fresh water and wastewater and shortens cycle times, since there is no filling time. At the same time, process conditions remain stable and traceable because conductivity is known at all times.