Direct evaluation of the particulate cleanliness of surface

Clean components guarantee the quality of high-value products. Particulate contaminants have a negative impact on the functionality of technical systems. They increase the production costs due to rejections and higher quality management efforts. Furthermore in hygienic ambience like pharmaceutical industry or operation rooms of hospitals high cost effort is carried out to ensure the cleanliness of the production or operation environment. An objective evaluation of the particulate cleanliness and the cleaning efficiency is nearly not feasible. Referring to this an adequate cleaning according to the particulate contamination is not possible. The particulate cleanliness of flat technical surfaces and components with falt and accessible functional areas can be determined direct by glancing light inspection. The glancing illumination works like a filter: the rough technical surface is faded out the particles become clearly obvious and can then be recorded using appropriate camera techniques and image-processing routines. Thus the cleaning efficiency can be determined and the cleaning efforts adapted. The method and principles of glancing light inspection will be presented. In addition the field of application will be illustrated on the basis of technical implementations and considering as example.