Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing Magazine - May/June 2023 - 26

INDUSTRIAL FINISHING: OVENS
HOT LINE
Optimising oven technology improves
throughput and operating efficiencies
BY NOELLE STAPINSKY
s a lot of manufacturing started shifted overseas
over the past several years, there was an ambiguous
feeling that demand would move with it. However,
manufacturing in North America remained quite
robust and as it weathered the supply chain crunch caused
by the pandemic, many manufacturers transitioned from a
'just in time' model to a 'just in case' attitude, carrying more
inventory, sourcing suppliers closer to home, or bringing
processes in house. With this mentality shift, there has been a
significant increase in demand for finishing systems. And oven
technology and curing system manufacturers and suppliers
are fielding increasing requests for not only optimised
solutions and technology combinations, but systems that will
also offer energy savings and reduced emissions.
" Customers have become very concerned about lowering
pollution discharge from their facilities, " says Brian
Bozdilsky, sales engineer at Therma-Tron-X, Inc. (TTX).
" Ovens account for the majority of CO and NOx emissions,
and we are constantly investigating ways to reduce the
amounts released into the atmosphere. "
Of course, convection and infrared (IR) oven technologies
have been on the market for a long time, and while oven
technology hasn't changed much in recent decades, there
have been innovative strides to improve efficiencies through
design and combining technologies.
All of TTX's ovens and finishing systems are custom
designed to meet the customer's part and production
requirements, and it strives to design its ovens to be as
efficient as possible. For example, Bozdilsky says that TTX
uses a thicker oven panel to reduce heat transmission through
the walls. At the entrance of the oven, it will use recirculated
powered air seals to reduce heat from escaping, and wherever
possible TTX will elevate the ovens to create a bottom air
entry/air seal to eliminate heat escaping out of the openings.
" TTX also supplies a system to preheat the combustion
air using heat from the exhaust fan. This process saves gas by
increasing the temperature of the air required for combustion
prior to entering the chamber, " says Bozdilsky. " TTX has also
developed a VOC destruct system, which can be added onto
an e-coat oven. This system reduces the amount of VOCs
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released into the environment by passing the exhaust stream
over a catalyst bed. "
Bozdilsky points out that there are some burner
companies that have introduced low NOx or ultra low NOx
burners to reduce the amount of emissions released into
the environment. This is just another area of improvement
in reducing NOx emissions, which are produced during the
combustion process, and such advancements will continue in
the future.
" Infrared oven technology has been around for a long time,
but people are starting to really lean into it now, " says Martha
Sawyer, CEO of Protherm and Trimac Industrial Systems.
" Carbon reduction is what is accelerating everything, but it's
also the space. If you have a 100-foot convection oven, you
need the space to fit it or build a new building, which in this
market could be millions of dollars. So it depends on where
you want to put your money. "
During the pandemic, Trimac provided an all-infrared
system-five stage washer, infrared dry off and infrared cure-
to QTG, a Quebec-based metal fabricator that specialises in
tubular steel.
" They were one of the first customers I've dealt with that
prioritised carbon reduction. I've done some testing to verify
the carbon reduction of catalytic infrared versus convection
and I have results, but it's an ongoing process, " says Sawyer.
" QTG did its cost justification and the building savings
almost paid for the system. When people start making it about
the economics, infrared becomes a much more attractive
technology. "
The IR oven system designed for QTG, which was paired
with Gema powder coating technology, replaced an aged
convection oven, and not only met the facility's speed
requirements, but was one third the size of other systems on
the market, according to the fabrication company.
http://www.cfcm.ca
Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing Magazine - May/June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Finishing & Coatings Manufacturing Magazine - May/June 2023
