Car-Bottom Furnaces

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been awarded a contract to design and manufacture two 50,000-pound-capacity car-bottom furnaces for one of the world’s largest metals and mining companies. These custom-engineered furnaces will support the manufacture of critical metal hot-rolling machine components used in the production rolling of high value-added automotive steel sheet and plate. The two systems, although located side by side, will utilize completely independent control systems to allow flexibility for scheduling and maintenance. Both furnaces will be interconnected to the larger plant-wide system for data acquisition and trending capabilities.

During the bidding process, Can-Eng was able to identify areas of improvement within the company’s existing heat-treatment system. This allowed Can-Eng to develop a concept that better suited the customer’s needs while providing faster heat-up and improved part uniformity. This, in turn, will increase efficiency, enhance part quality and reduce operating costs.

Mesh-Belt Furnace

SECO/WARWICK will supply an electric mesh-belt furnace to bolt manufacturer Solvera Gawel Technology S.A. The line is designed mainly for carbonitriding and hardening processes and for washing and tempering of high-quality screws and other hardware manufactured near Rzeszów, Poland. The process line, which will be delivered in 2022, will be adapted for operating with endothermic atmosphere supplied from an external endothermic generator. It will consist of a loading module equipped with a weighing system, a main furnace, oil bath (for hardening the workpieces), and vibration and reloading tables. After the hardening process, the workpieces are transferred to a drum washer where they are washed, rinsed and dried.

Horizontal Quench System

Wisconsin Oven shipped an electrically heated horizontal quench system to the defense industry. It will be used for the solution treatment and aging of aluminum. The maximum temperature for this oven is 1100°F, and the normal operating temperature is 985°F. The overall dimensions are 14 feet, 6 inches wide x 17 feet, 6 inches high x 27 feet long, while the interior chamber dimensions are 7 feet wide x 3 feet, 6 inches high x 3 feet long. The system, which has a maximum 7-second quench delay, proved to be in compliance with AMS 2750F pyrometry requirements for class 2 furnaces prior to and after shipment from Wisconsin Oven’s manufacturing facility in East Troy, Wis.

The system also includes a digital Eurotherm 6180A touchscreen recorder with batch functionality. A lift system is utilized for manual loading and unloading to and from the quench tank.

Auto Steelmaker Orders Industrial Furnace

Andritz received an order from Valin ArcelorMittal Automotive Steel Co. Ltd. of China to supply a galvanizing furnace for a new coating line that will produce third-generation advanced high-strength steel. The line will produce hot-dip galvanized or zinc-aluminum-magnesium-coated flat steel for the automotive industry. Start-up is scheduled for the end of 2022. Andritz’s scope of supply includes a direct-fired furnace (DFF) with pre-oxidation functions, high-temperature radiant tube (RT) annealing and soaking sections, advanced ultra-rapid cooling and partitioning sections, and after-pot cooling (APC) and post-treatment sections.

The delivery will also include a sustainable Andritz solution for a heat-recovery system that will use hot exhaust gases from the furnace to heat the air needed for the drying process in the coating section.

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Walking-Beam Furnaces

Tenova successfully started up two 400-ton/hour walking-beam furnaces at Ternium’s new hot-strip mill in Pesqueria, Mexico. The furnaces are designed to heat steel slabs (up to 39 tons) at 2282°F (1250°C) while keeping NOx emissions lower than 60 ppm. This emissions level is well below the required limit. According to Ternium, the furnaces will produce coils to be used in the North American automotive market.

The furnaces include the SmartBurner Monitoring System (SBMS), which enables the monitoring and optimizing of burner performance, operation and maintenance. The SBMS is a network of embedded sensors connected to the Tenova Digital Infrastructure through secure connection protocols and intrinsic system reliability. The collected data is post-processed locally on an edge computing unit as well as remotely on the Tenova Cloud. By constantly monitoring the status of the burner, the SBMS offers approaches to inspection, maintenance and tuning.

Image courtesy of Tenova

INDUSTRIALHEATING.COM | 90th ANNIVERSARY | SEPTEMBER 2021