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22.05.2015 - Fachartikel - Produktionstechnik
Extremely efficient heating of metals with the MAX infrared oven from Heraeus
Advantages over standard ovens By Using QRC® Material
(Initiative Mittelstand)The coating of metal strips with tin or aluminum, enameling, melting of aluminum blocks or sintering of metallic inks requires very high temperatures. Such heating processes need a lot of energy, time and space. Heraeus Noblelight offers the “MAX” infrared oven for heating process requiring very high temperatures. These ovens combine infrared radiation with convection and extremely high reflection. As a result, they are much superior to conventional industrial ovens. They can be matched exactly to the process, which makes them more robust and stable. This allows capacity to be increased and quality to be improved. And these more efficient ovens save space, time and energy. Heraeus Noblelight will show infrared systems for metal processing on Stand C01 in Hall 9 at the Thermprocess Exhibition in Duesseldorf from 16 to 20 June.
In order to change the structure of metals, such as complex aluminum trims in motor vehicles, it is necessary to heat aluminum or magnesium components to very high temperatures. The heating of highly reflective metals is a real challenge for conventional technologies. Up to 90% of the energy input can be lost by reflection or transmission. Thanks to the new MAX infrared technology, an energy efficiency of up to 90% can now be achieved for these tasks, depending on the particular application and the oven design.
Tests with various customers in our in-house Applications Centre have delivered very impressive results. Compared with conventional electrical heating methods, the heating process with a MAX oven was three times faster for metals. At the same time, energy consumption was only one fifth.
Advantages over standard ovens By Using QRC® Material
Tests have shown clear advantages of MAX ovens with QRC over conventional ovens using fireclay as the insulation material. Unlike conventional ovens, MAX ovens can be used in a continuous process, as the process chamber is made completely of quartz glass, which makes the oven resistant to thermal shock and a smaller, more compact oven is possible for the same power rating. With a MAX infrared oven, the oven inside is comprised exclusively of quartz glass including QRC® nanoreflectors. The QRC® (Quartz Reflective Coating), developed by Heraeus is essentially an opaque, white, quartz glass. The nanostructure imparts a diffuse reflective capability to the material, resulting in a very high homogeneity of the temperature field in the oven.
In addition, quartz glass is also very clean, which is very important in the manufacture of items such as sensors and other sensitive parts in the car industry.
MAX – Exactly Tailored To Customer Needs
MAX infrared systems are flexibly tailored to meet customer requirements, in order to achieve the highest possible energy-efficiency for the process in question.
All MAX infrared ovens share a compact design and construction, so that the input energy is used more efficiently because the infrared radiation is optimally reflected within the oven, while the natural convection is also used. As a result, process times can be shortened, which significantly increases energy efficiency and reduces operating costs. MAX infrared ovens provide systems solutions. Computer simulation at the design phase also helps to ensure energy efficiency.
MAX oven elements can be arranged one behind the other in a modular fashion. They can then be individually controlled, making possibly very fast product change-over. The compact ovens can also be combined with conveyor systems.
www.heraeus-noblelight.com
