Akin Malas, head of metals market applications technology for Linde LLC, Americas, Bridgewater, N.J., detailed advancements in furnace atmosphere circulation technology in a case study presentation to a well-attended event by members of the Cleveland Chapter of ASM International.
Linde hosted the meeting at the company’s Cleveland Technical Center in October. The case study highlighted Linde’s patented CARBOJET gas-injection technology which can increase the productivity and improve efficiency of heat treatment furnaces without the use of circulation fans.
This event also included a tour of the development facility, including various labs, system testing, and development areas with a focus on the metals industry, as well as time for networking. “Cleveland is one of the nation’s important industrial areas, and the presentation and facility tour generated a lot of interest from the group, represented by experts from the heat treating industry,” says Grzegorz Moroz, Program Manager, Heat Treatment and Atmospheres for the Metals, Glass & Industrial Markets of Linde.
CARBOJET technology can be applied to most types of heat treatment furnaces including continuous, pit and rotary retort furnaces. Ultra-high-speed injection of a gas or gas mixture through special CARBOJET lances improves gas and atmosphere flows and circulation. This includes both the better mixing of the injected gases with the furnace atmosphere, and better movement of gas flows within the furnace.
“For rotary retort furnaces, CARBOJET gas-injection can achieve up to 20% higher output when processing bulk materials due to deeper gas penetration,” Malas says. “For pit furnaces, gains up to 20% can be achieved through more uniform heating and carburizing. And for continuous furnaces, CARBOJET technology can boost productivity up to 10 percent after better burn off of oily residues at the front of the furnace.”
Image caption — CARBOJET gas injection technology improves gas and atmosphere flows in heat treatment furnaces and can completely eliminate circulation fans.
