A cleaning line can pass every check at the supplier and still fail on your floor: acceptance tests the machine, qualification tests the process. Split the release into an IQ, OQ and PQ validation — installation, operational and performance qualification — and give each gate one written output before the next starts.
CHUANGQI runs each platform through a multi-stage factory inspection before dispatch: water-tightness and spray-pressure calibration, a drying-temperature uniformity test, a 72-hour continuous run, and an ionic cleanliness check on test boards. Those records are the input to IQ, not a replacement for it. The reference window quoted in this article is the published datasheet of the CQ-C9610 inline PCBA water cleaning platform.
Key takeaways
- Factory acceptance tests the machine; IQ, OQ and PQ test your process.
- Run the three gates in order — a failed OQ voids every result after it.
- The CQ-C9610 platform moves workpieces at 0–1500 mm/min through wash, rinse and dry.
- Each gate needs a signed output; an unsigned gate is an unvalidated one.
- Validation covers your process, not your customer's residue target.
What Each Gate Has to Prove, and What It Does Not
Scope first: what follows is the three-stage qualification of a wash–rinse–dry line for soldered assemblies. The numbers quoted here come from the published CHUANGQI platform datasheet, and the article deliberately sets no acceptance level of its own — a residue target is owned by the product class and by the end customer, not by a machine datasheet.
| Gate | Question it answers | What you run | Evidence to file |
|---|---|---|---|
| IQ — installation qualification | Is the machine installed and connected as specified? | Utility verification, machine levelling, conveyor alignment, sensor and interlock checks | Installation checklist carrying the air, water and power values you measured |
| OQ — operational qualification | Does the platform hold the recipe across the full setting range? | Conveyor speed sweep, bath concentration and temperature checks, rinse flow and dry-stage setpoint trials | Operating ranges with a pass or fail recorded at each end of the range |
| PQ — performance qualification | Does the process deliver the result on real product, in routine use? | Three consecutive production runs on the actual board mix, with samples tested after each run | Sampling record, test report, and the recipe frozen at the settings used |
Source: CHUANGQI process application notes and factory inspection records, 2026-10. The table defines the sequence and the records it produces; it sets no acceptance value.
The order carries more weight than the template. IQ without OQ leaves a machine that is connected but unproven. OQ without PQ leaves a recipe that works on a test coupon and may not work on the board you actually ship. PQ is the only gate that faces your own flux and your own mix of board types, which is why it is also the only gate whose result means anything on its own.
A fourth gate is sometimes added and should not be confused with the three above. A factory acceptance test happens at the supplier, before shipment, and it is covered separately in the factory acceptance test checklist. Treat that record as the starting evidence for IQ rather than as a qualification of your process.
The Published Window to Write Down Before OQ
OQ needs boundaries to move between, and those boundaries should be read off the datasheet rather than remembered from the commissioning visit. The eight rows below are what the CQ-C9610 platform is published at, together with the thing that actually shifts each value.
| Item | Datasheet value | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Largest board it takes | 580 × 450 × 80 mm (W × L × H) | The carrier you build, and the tallest part sitting on the board |
| Belt speed | 0–1500 mm/min | Paste load, plus how long each zone must dwell for your recipe |
| Detergent draw | 1.0–2.5 L/h | How much board area passes per hour, and the concentration you hold |
| Rinse water flow | 10–16 L/min | The tightest pitch in your build and how many rinse zones you run |
| Rinse water quality | >15 MΩ | Your water plant, upstream of the washer |
| Connected load | approx. 130 kW at AC 380 V, 50 Hz, 65 A | Heater duty, belt load and the dry-zone setpoint |
| Footprint and mass | L 6560 × W 1760 × H 1660 mm; approx. 2600 kg | Deck capacity where the washer will sit, and how it gets into the building |
| Wetted body and belt | Imported corrosion-resistant PP body; SUS316 belt | The chemistry you run, and how often you clean the machine out |
Source: CHUANGQI published specification sheet for the CQ-C9610 inline PCBA water cleaning machine, 2026-10. Every figure above is a nameplate value taken from that sheet; none of them is a measurement made on a customer's boards.
Two rows are the ones that stall a commissioning visit, and neither of them belongs to the washer. Installed power at roughly 130 kW decides whether the plant can feed the machine at all, and DI water resistivity above 15 MΩ decides whether the rinse stage can do its job. Both are fixed upstream. (A batch platform follows different arithmetic and is not covered by this window.)
Read the window as a range to be confirmed, not as a result to be claimed. The datasheet tells you that the platform can be set from a standstill to 1500 mm/min; it does not tell you which speed suits a heavy paste load, and OQ is where that answer gets written down with a signature.
Where a Cleaning-Line Qualification Stops Applying
Not suitable for a board that carries open-cavity sensors or unsealed parts. Once rinse liquid gets into a cavity the drying zone cannot dry out, the problem is no longer leftover flux but trapped liquid, and masking and handling rules have to settle it before any qualification sequence starts.
Three more cases fall outside this three-gate sequence. A plant that washes boards purely to make them presentable before a cosmetic check has a visual pass criterion, so its rinse stage can legitimately run looser. A platform mounted inside a sealed atmosphere the product never exits is a different animal: there the rinse behaves as its own unit operation and needs its own controls. And a datasheet cannot promise performance — what it settles is whether the platform swallows your board size and holds your flows, not whether your own residue comes off under your own recipe.
Two other pages go further into parts of this sequence. If the open question is what PQ should be measured against, how an acceptable residue level gets set for a line traces who owns that figure. The machine behind the eight rows above is the inline PCBA water cleaning platform, model CQ-C9610.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between IQ, OQ and PQ?
IQ confirms that the machine is installed and connected exactly as the specification says. OQ confirms that the platform holds its recipe across the whole setting range you intend to use. PQ confirms that the process delivers the result on real production boards, run after run, with the recipe frozen at the values tested. The three gates answer three different questions, and passing one does not imply the next.
How many production runs does PQ need?
Three consecutive runs on the actual board mix, with samples tested after each run, is the common starting point. The count itself matters less than what the runs cover. Three easy runs prove very little, while three runs spanning your densest board, your heaviest paste load and your longest dwell cover the extremes your schedule will ask for.
Can the supplier's factory test replace IQ or OQ?
No. A factory test shows that the machine left the plant in working order; it cannot show that the installation at your site is correct or that the recipe you intend to run holds on your floor. Use the factory record as the starting evidence for IQ, and use the published datasheet window as the range that OQ has to confirm.
What has to be frozen when PQ closes?
Freeze the recipe, not only the result: conveyor speed, bath concentration and temperature, rinse flow, and dry-stage setpoint. A PQ report that records a passing sample without the settings behind it cannot be re-run, and a process you cannot re-run has not been released yet.
Next step: send the board mix, the flux class and the dirtiest assembly you run, and we will say which wash, rinse and dry setup suits that combination — open an inline cleaning line review and receive a quote within 24 hours.