TIPS FOR ACHIEVING HIGHER PRODUCTION FROM YOUR FURNACE - 13TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 - Nutec Bickley
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY TIPS FOR ACHIEVING HIGHER PRODUCTION FROM YOUR FURNACE 13TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
Editorial
DANIEL LLAGUNO
CEO
Without doubt, 2020 has turned out to be the most different and challenging year for
many decades. I sincerely hope that our friends, customers and business partners
have found that combination of strength and luck to enable them to cope as we here at
Nutec Bickley have managed to do – first and foremost taking care of our people, and
also managing to secure some important orders that got us through the year, and that
will help to keep us going strong in 2021.
As I have mentioned in previous editions of our e-bulletin, I’m also especially proud of
the progress we have made in improving company performance in terms of delighting
our customers with our various services. This is all based on our PESQ model,
which represents the four pillars of Equipment Performance, Project
Execution, Excellent Service and Quality.
We have also just formally launched our company’s Culture Code Book, where we clearly
lay out our Purpose, Vision, Values and Principles. It also explains how our Structure
is fully aligned with fulfillment of our Purpose, as well as defining the way we act
and behave in order to achieve these goals, and recognizing that having and keeping
Customers is our reason to exist.
While I appreciate that 2021 will still present tough challenges, I do believe that we are
well prepared to face them and to succeed in making the most of the potential in front
of us, to the benefit of all our stakeholders. I wish you all a truly safe and happy Holiday
Season, and may 2021 bring everyone health, joy, and success.
1
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
TIPS FOR ACHIEVING HIGHER PRODUCTION
FROM YOUR FURNACE
By: Alberto Cantú, VP, Combustion, Control and Services
Adjusting furnace burners not only saves fuel, but also allows us to increase the return on
investment (ROI) of the operation when faced with:
Problems reaching the desired temperature
Longer than expected processing cycles
Each kilogram of product that we fail to create has a great impact on the ROI obtained.
Adjusting your equipment can be the solution to reaching the ideal temperature, make your
parts heat up faster and increase production. Learn more in this article.
Performance evaluation methods
Some recommendations from our experts are:
1. Establish a benchmark of the standard values in your industry to evaluate your
performance in each furnace/process and discover the opportunities for improvement.
2. Measure the oxygen level inside the furnace to determine the current air/gas ratio and
whether there is any infiltration.
2
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
If oxygen levels are high, the furnace will consume more fuel, flames will be cooled, and
you run the risk of oxidizing your product (in the case of metals). If you introduce the correct
volume of air, there should be no oxygen in the furnace, since it is all consumed in the
combustion process.
This measurement can be conducted extremely rapidly without being expensive or invasive
and will allow you to evaluate the status of your processes.
3. Obtain a thermographic image in order to determine the furnace wall temperature, to
confirm the state of the insulation, and to verify that there are no relevant heat leaks that
represent a danger to the furnace or its instruments.
It is vital to check your entire system since sometimes the burners are correctly adjusted,
but there are leaks in the doors or walls.
Tips for optimizing operation of your furnaces
Some recommendations aimed at increasing productivity are:
Modify the heating curve by adjusting the set point and increasing the initial temperature value
to reach the required level faster.
Perform ramp-type reductions in temperature to increase production by shortening cycles.
Space out the individual parts in the load for greater heat transfer. Increasing the transfer area
decreases the heating time and allows us to produce more.
Nutec Bickley’s IMPS™ system intersperses the use of burners to optimize heat transfer thanks
to the principles of convection and radiation phenomena.
At Nutec Bickley we are specialists in custom systems. Contact our expert advisors to
learn more about all the solutions we have available for you.
3
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
REMODELING A KILN CONTROL SYSTEM
To this end, we worked 24 hours a day continuously,
conducting constant tests during the final week
of the year with our team of programmers and
commissioning engineers
Equipment supplied and technology
employed
Installation of new SCADA and PLC 1.- Allen-Bradley ControlLogix® PLC
equipment One of the highest performing PLCs currently
About the client on the market
Great processing power
This company, one of the most renowned 2.- New SCADA from FactoryTalk®
sanitaryware manufacturers in the world, Replaces the obsolete system the client
wanted to update the control system on one of was using
its older tunnel kilns. Greater programming versatility on screens
Our solution
The 30–40 year-old equipment had an
outdated control system. This made sourcing We proposed replacing the old MicroMAX controller
any necessary replacement parts extremely with an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix® PLC.
difficult when they needed renewing in the
Results obtained
event of failure.
Our client now has the latest hardware and
Our client’s challenge software
Technical support and easy refurbishment
Our client had been forced to search for spare
parts on eBay and other online sites as they There is the option to add more cards in the
had been discontinued by the manufacturer – future to improve monitoring
until even then it was impossible to find them.
Increased flexibility to customize systems
Tunnel kilns handle a substantial throughput Better monitoring and data analysis of kiln
and are generally only idle when they are performance results
closed down for a week at the end of the year
for maintenance. Remote access from our plant for testing and
troubleshooting purposes
The challenge for us was to uninstall the At Nutec Bickley we can work with any brand of
current system, install the new one, and get control systems that our clients require. We are
everything ready before the plant resumed currently preparing to work on engineering to
operations. upgrade a second kiln for this particular client.
4
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
CUSTOMIZED COMBUSTION CHAMBER FOR
LAUNCH OF NEW PRODUCTION LINE
Equipment supplied and technology
employed
Refractory concrete on lid and cone chamber
(reduction).
Chamber cylinder insulated with a ceramic
paper layer, isolated and hard bricks in the
chamber body.
Use of special chamfered bricks to achieve
optimal lining installation, and to prevent
brickwork collapsing under operating
conditions.
Installing a combustion chamber to operate
safely at 1,200°C (2,190°F). Improvements were made to the burner side lid
in the combustion chamber in order to keep the
internal and external walls cooler than with the
About the client
previous desing
This client is dedicated to the exploitation, Our solution
processing and commercialization of Although we initially quoted for similar
minerals located in the municipality of Villa equipment to the 2015 installation, a
Hidalgo, Coahuila State, Mexico. thorough review of the project led to an
adjustment of the specifications for the
It belongs to a group with several plants. new chamber, which would give it a higher
There are 50 workers at the plant where production capacity.
this project was carried out.
The previous one was 2.6 m (8.5 ft) in diameter
and 6.38 m (20.9 ft) in length.
Our client’s challenge
The new one was 2.9 m (9.5 ft) in diameter and
When this company put plans in place to 8.28 m (27 ft) in length.
open a new production line, it contacted Results obtained
us and asked us to quote for a new
Greater durability of the furnace insulation
combustion chamber similar to the one we
had installed in a previous project in 2015. Safer operation
Reduced maintenance requirements
5 Operating temperature of 1,200°C (2,190°F)
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
3 BOX FURNACES FOR FORGED PIECES
Equipment supplied and technology
employed
High velocity burners
IMPS® firing and cooling pulsing control
system
Variable excess air control
Operating temperature: 800°C–1,200°C
(1,472°F–2,192°F)
Excellent internal pressure control
Great temperature uniformity
Our solution
Installation of furnaces exhibiting great
uniformity and efficiency, for the aerospace We provided three furnaces that meet the
industry. AMS 2750-E standard, which requires
About the client high chamber temperature uniformity and
stable combustion chemistry across the
This company specializes in forging operating range.
seamless rings, parts and components
for engine turbines used in the aerospace Results obtained
industry. It was looking to add new furnaces
The furnaces are not easily decalibrated, so
to expand its operation. their operation is very reliable
Our client’s challenge Stable and uniform forging processes
These furnaces facilitate the forging and rolling
The manufacture of components with
processes
superalloys for this sector is subject to
very strict quality standards and tight Low maintenance requirements
tolerances.
Uniform heating of the parts
This particular client already had Nutec
Bickley furnaces, so it trusted us once
again for this expansion project.
6
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PLC SYSTEM
TECHNOLOGY FOR INDUSTRIAL FURNACES
By: Ernesto Pérez, Director of Engineering
The PLC (programmable logic controller) used for furnace control works together with
the operation panel, where the panel view is an interface to control the operation and the
PLC acts as the brain.
In this article we’ll cover some new technologies in PLC development and the associated
benefits for furnace operation.
1. Two-finger touchscreen 2. Direct connectivity with SQL
databases
New touchscreen operation panels have the
Today the entire computer systems industry
ability to recognize two fingers.
operates through databases. However, some
years ago this data transfer to a PLC was not
Although cell phones have had this feature
possible directly, so it was necessary to use an
for several years, this function is just being
additional computer with a SCADA system to
incorporated in industry, bringing with it
communicate with the databases.
great benefits:
The new PLCs include connectivity, mainly
Allows you to zoom in the screens, mainly in with SQL (Structured Query Language).
graphics.
They are very easy to program, so it is not
‘Shift’ functions with dual-key commands – necessary to request support from IT staff in
‘Ctrl + another key’, etc. order to set them up.
Increases security in some operations. They allow us to have the information that
interests us most for daily operation and
process optimization.
They save money and time in product
development.
7
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
3. Robot control via PLCs SIL-certified equipment has redundant (duplicated)
CPUs that separate risk functions from ordinary ones.
There are inputs and outputs capable of handling
redundant channels according to the case.
Programming with certified functions in emergency
shutdowns, safety curtains, etc.
The modern components of these PLCs (chips,
Security with powerful encryptions that help prevent
integrated circuits) give them extraordinary
possible hacks.
processing power.
There is mid-range PLC equipment currently 5. ‘The time traveler’
available that can handle up to 32 axes, which
can be translated into the control of five robots
with six axes each.
There are dual ethernet ports to facilitate ring
type topologies.
Many screens already incorporate a web
connection, so with a simple configuration we This tells us what was happening in the system
can access the robot’s operation console from logic when an error occurred in the process. This is
any mobile device. possible thanks to an integrated video camera with
an internal recording of the actions in the PLC.
4. Operator safety
Allows the user to ‘go back in time’ to reproduce the
recording of the failed process and see what the PLC
was doing at that instant.
Makes fault analysis easier and helps find solutions
quickly.
They comply with SIL2 and SIL3 (Safety Integrity Why buy your PLC from us?
Level) for safety applications in machinery. Nutec Bickley sets itself apart by:
Having the latest technology from the largest
This makes it possible to guarantee that the suppliers of PLCs.
risks posed by the equipment to people, the
environment and machinery have been reduced Helping you to build your systems with components
to the lowest possible level. from the best brands.
Where you have a preference for a specific brand, we
Some four or five years ago there were very few help you make the most of its capabilities.
companies that had this certification; however,
today it is almost standard in PLCs. At Nutec Bickley we are specialists in industrial
furnaces and their various components. Contact our
Reduces risk in everyday equipment operation for
the worker. expert advisors to learn more about all the solutions
we have available for you. 8
13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
B) Opportunities to improve furnace productivity
Practical applications: we talked about why it is more efficient to have the pieces separated rather than together,
and how increasing the surface area leads to improved and more rapid heating.
Modification to heating curves: we talked about how to adjust the set-point of industrial processes (where
applicable) by increasing the initial temperature value, this with the aim of reaching the desired heat level on the
surface of the pieces more quickly.
Furthermore, making ramp-type reductions in temperature translates into higher production thanks to shorter
cycle times.
Pulse control: we commented on the IMPS® system, which operates by pulsing individual burners to optimize
heat transfer through convection and radiation phenomena.
The system uses a very high velocity flame 50% of the time and alternates it with the other burners, achieving a
better efficiency than we would see with all burners at a medium or low flame speed 100% of the time.
Regenerative and recuperative burners in radiant tubes: we talked about our own technologies and also Fives
North American regenerative burners.
Concluding the webinar, we ran a temperature uniformity simulation using our Fluent software.
1313MA EDICIÓN - DICIEMBRE 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US AT ONE
OF THESE EVENTS
Ceramics Expo 2021
Aug 31 - Sep 1, 2021
Cleveland, OH
Furnaces North America 2022
Oct 3 - 5, 2022
Indianapolis, IN
FOLLOW US ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA
/NutecBickley /NutecBickley
/NutecBickley /NutecBickley13 TH EDITION, DECEMBER 2020 NUTEC BICKLEY
DO YOU NEED A QUOTE FOR ANY OF THESE SOLUTIONS?
Contact us at bulletin@nutec.com and let us know about your project
requirements so that we can respond effectively and as soon as
possible. We look forward to hearing from you.
2You can also read
