What Is a Pallet Washer?
A pallet washer is a machine that washes pallets. Used pallets may be dirty, moldy, or contaminated with foreign matter, and pallets need to be washed to avoid exposing loaded cargo to an unsanitary environment.
Pallet washers are machines that, once loaded and installed, strip, wash, centrifugally de-water, dry, and stack pallets. Various types exist depending on the shape and type of pallets to be cleaned.
Uses of Pallet Washers
Once stacked pallets are installed in the washing machine, the pallets are first washed entirely using the low-pressure, high-water-volume method while the rotating brush removes dirt from the entire pallet.
After washing is complete, the pallets are rotated at high speed, and centrifugal force is used to remove water. Finally, high-temperature air blow is applied, the remaining water is drained off, dried, and the process is completed.
There are various types of equipment available, ranging from simple equipment that performs only washing to large-scale equipment that can perform the total process, from washing to drying.
Equipment is selected according to needs, such as equipment installation space and pallet size.
Principle of Pallet Washers
Pallets, an important material handling equipment in the logistics industry, used to be mostly made of wood, but wooden pallets had no concept of washing, often exposing the loaded cargo to unsanitary conditions. This problem is particularly serious at production sites in the garment, food, and electronics industries, where keeping pallets clean has become more important, and pallets have been replaced by plastic and steel pallets that can be cleaned and sterilized.
However, plastic pallets also accumulate dirt if they are used continuously. Pallet washing is a labor-intensive manual process, and some stains cannot be removed by hand. Pallet washing machines automatically perform all processes from washing to dehydration and drying to improve the efficiency of pallet washing.
The size, shape, and type of pallets that can be cleaned, as well as the cleaning efficiency, vary depending on the type of machine. Compact washing machines that take up little installation space can process dozens of pallets per hour, while larger machines can process hundreds of pallets per hour.