Rising energy costs and Furnace Energy Optimisation

What is Furnace Energy Optimisation?

Furnace Energy Optimisation is a methodology in heat treat industry for calculating uniform work load temperature, that identifies when a load has reached “Steady State” at furnace temperature without the need for a load thermcouple. This reduces process time whilst ensuring soak time.

The Furnace Energy Optimization controller monitors the power required to heat the loaded furnace.  By performing a number of specific calculations, the controller is able to identify when a steady state has been reached where the work piece is at an homogenous temperature.  Depending on the process, this can either flag the end of the process or the start of timed period at temperature.

By knowing the moment that the work piece reaches the required temperature, the overall process time can be optimized, providing increased throughput and not only delivering increased productivity and ROI, but also reduced energy costs.  These combined savings serve to reduce overheads and increase OPBIT.