Heat Treatment Furnaces and Furnace Control Systems
It is common knowledge across a number of industries that temperature regulation and monitoring is of the utmost importance for all furnaces and burner applications. Uncontrolled heat is not only detrimental to your product but your equipment as well. These are just some of the reasons temperature control is essential for all applications, and The Combustion Group offers innovative temperature control technology and temperature recording devices for monitoring and further study.
The Importance of Furnace Control
It’s not hard to imagine that uncontrolled heat and flame is less than ideal for your operations. Having control over the temperature of your applications is beneficial for a number of reasons.
Consistency
By taking control of the airflow and temperature of your furnace, not only can you evenly distribute heat throughout, but you can control the rate by which you heat your furnace. This is especially important for reheaters and preheaters, as all metals should be gradually heated to not avoid damage to the metals.
Quality
As mentioned above, introducing metal to extreme heat causes what is known as thermal shock, and causes damage to your metals. A rapid increase in temperature causes surface scaling on metals and damages the strength and make-up of the metal.
It’s through controlled heat that you can most effectively treat metal, whether you’re melting it down, heat treating it for moulding, or setting paint and powder coating.
Varied metals
Not all metals can be heated at the same temperature, and not all treatments set at the same temperature either. By being able to control the temperature with furnace control systems, you can work with a broader range of materials and treatment options.
Efficiency and accuracy
Not only do furnace controls take the guesswork out of your heat treatments, but they allow your operations to run efficiently. By monitoring the temperature of your furnace and changing it accordingly you can avoid problems during every stage of the process.
This is especially important for smelting purposes. Burners with good turn-down characteristics are required for this application, as the temperature has to be accurately controlled during the ramp-up, soak (the time in which the metal is allowed to retain the heat) and cooling periods of the cycle.
This is achieved in the continuous system by controlling the temperatures in the various zones of the furnace through which the metals pass. All the while the control system monitors the temperature of the furnace and the metal within, recording temperature data to be presented to the customer as a QA data pack and to provide source materials for study later on. It’s by recording these temperatures that we can learn what works and doesn’t work during heat treatment.
Custom Furnace Control Systems from The Combustion Group
The Combustion Group takes all of these benefits into account when designing and installing furnace control systems into heat treatment furnaces, and will often recommend their inclusion when designing many of our other custom systems. We have designed and installed these furnace controls for clients across South Africa, including Mittal Steel, SCAW Metals, and Columbus Stainless Steel.
Call us on the numbers below or fill in the contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
PO Box 459 28 Mopedi Road, Edenvale Sebenza, 1610 South Africa Tel: 011 452 5060 Fax: 011 609 5773/ 2405
150 Greyling Street Pietermaritzburg 3201 South Africa Tel: 033 342 0160 Fax: 033 345 7052