Rising electricity prices mean that we keep a closer eye on our consumption, looking for savings. Every activity, even the smallest but recurring one, a change, a saving that can be optimised, offers tangible benefits.
SECO/WARWICK, being a manufacturer of metal heat treatment equipment that supplies its industrial furnaces to various industries and companies, including mass production, also considers optimising the performance of its solutions.
The reason?
A more environmentally friendly and economical use of technology.
What has been done?
The control of the pumping system in the vacuum furnace was changed.
How?
The pumping system and its components are only switched on when they are really necessary. For example; during gas or blower cooling and during convection heating, when operation of the vacuum pumps is not required, they are switched off. The heaters of the diffusion pump are also switched off if a high vacuum is not required in the recipe.
The new control method was tested on the 10VP-669 vacuum furnace. A heat treatment recipe was selected and the process was carried out with the eco mode turned off and on. In both cases, the duration of the process was almost the same. Energy consumption, on the other hand, decreased by 11% compared to the process without the eco mode.
Fig.1. Comparison of energy consumption
Tests prove (Fig.1) that the use of ECO mode has real benefits in terms of reduced electricity consumption. The effect is scalable in the long term or when having several furnaces.
A change in the control method of the pumping system could also be implemented on older equipment.
Sounds promising?
If you wish to learn more or are interested in introducing such savings to your furnace – get in touch with me krzysztof.wachowski@secowarwick.com.
