Heat Treatment Furnace Combustion System Upgrade – Clam Upgrade

Client

Leading metal components manufacturer


Services / Products

• Combustion system, electrical and control design
• Manufacture and procurement of system elements, including control panel
• Project management
• Site installation
• Commissioning and temperature uniformity trials

Scope of Service

After forming, long alloy steel products require heat treating, (such as hardening and tempering) to produce the required metallurgical and physical properties. Although the clam furnaces in question were being used to produce commercial quality material, this was not of sufficiently high standard to meet the requirements of the aerospace industry.

To ensure the high quality required for this application, the temperature distribution within any furnace used for this process has to be extremely uniform, and compliant with the requirements of any certifying authority. Therefore, the combustion and control systems for both clam furnaces required upgrading.

Additionally, it was required that both furnaces should be used for both hardening and tempering operations, something which could not be done at that time.

Using the concept of a working envelope within the furnace, the required temperature uniformity for both furnaces was required to be +/-6°C at operating temperatures below 750°C, and +/-10°C at operating temperatures above this.

The operating temperature range for the furnace was specified to be 550-1100°C.

Fuel efficiency was also considered important, in order to minimise operation costs.

The system was designed to meet specified requirements with regards to temperature uniformity, hardening and tempering operations, whilst reducing operational costs.

The project enabled our client to successfully enter a market sector previously closed to them.

Benefits of our work

• Both clam furnaces able to be used as either a hardening or a tempering unit
• Temperature uniformity certified to meet aerospace standards, on stock up to 7m in length
• Fuel usage reduced by the elimination of excess combustion air use
• Reduced operational costs