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Sintering Furnaces
MRF, Inc. is widely established in the sintering industry with its line of custom built high-throughput
sintering furnaces.
We have several designs, ranging from a single & dual chamber design, to a five & six chamber
design. Temperature ranges up to 2300C. Our multiple chamber designs allows
processing of up to five loads
simultaneously, increasing through-put drastically.
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2100 C single station Sintering furnace
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Two station sintering furnace
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Incorporated in all our designs are rapid cooling,
a unique isolation and load transfer system
to ensure an oxygen free hot zone at all times, a controlled oxidation process for sintered loads
and a state-of-the-art control system with PLC control and a
Wonderware Operator interface.
Also available is a pre-heat debinder chamber (delubing or dewaxing) as
a separate unit or integrated into the sintering unit. |
Described below is our four station indexing sintering furnace:
This furnace is designed specifically for sintering up to 1750C in High Vacuum
or Inert Gas.
FURNACE CHAMBERS
The furnace consists of five chambers
- Load/Unload Chamber: can be opened at any time during operation to easily load/unload work. Specific process information
for new work stacks can be bar-coded at any point in the PC and will be buffered until the new run is initiated. The loading cycle will prepare the
new run before being sintered.
- Hot Zone Chamber: The heart of the furnace, this zone with excellent uniformity (+/- 10 C) can be made out of
Tungsten, Tantalum, Graphite, Molybdenum, Inconel or high temperature ceramics. Heating elements
and shields can be fabricated with different sheath thicknesses and rigidized, temperature stabilized materials
to maximize life expectancy. The hot zone in this particular furnace can accommodate a work
stack that is up to 8" in diameter and 16" high.
- Rapid Cooling Chamber: Equipped with high power heat exchanger, this chamber allows a newly sintered load of 100 Lbs.
to be cooled to ambient in less than 30 minutes with entry temperatures above 1000C. A unique infra-red
temperature sensor ensures accurate readings and measures load temperature rather than the surrounding
cooling gas temperatures.
- Controlled Oxidation Chamber: this relatively new technique ensures quality work parts by controlling
the oxidation process that would otherwise take place uncontrolled after unloading.
- Work Transfer Chamber: The work transfer chamber is located directly beneath the four
chambers described above. It contains the mechanism for raising, lowering and
moving the work stacks in transit from
station to station. The chamber is provided with a two foot
diameter hinged port for access. Two windows are provided for
observation. This chamber ensures an oxidation free environment for maximum
hot zone life and inert work transfer conditions.
All furnace chambers are fabricated of stainless steel,
Heli-arc welded, vacuum tight, polished and double walled (water Jacketed) where needed.
All "O" ring seals are of Viton.
The system is equipped with all safety interlocks and provisions to comply
with NFPA codes for industrial furnaces.
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POWER SUPPLY
The primary component of this Power Supply is a three-Phase SCR
Controlled Stepdown Transformer.
MRF transformers are purposely sized larger than necessary and provided
with an additional secondary tap to compensate for any change
in resistance due to element aging.
A set of water cooled Power Cables carries power from the transformer power buss to
the heating elements. The power enclosure houses the main step-down transformer,
control power transformer and all circuit breakers and contactors.
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CONTROL SYSTEM
| Apart from the PC interface, the furnace is equipped with a set of Amp & Volt Meters
and status indicator lights to permit visual monitoring of the furnace cycle progress and
Current and Amperage to the heating elements.
Described below is our standard control package with MRF's preferred components.
In the event your company has standardized on different components and controllers,
MRF will substitute and provide you with equivalent functionality.
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PC interface
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The Control System consists of three major
components.
1.COMPUTER AND SOFTWARE
A touch-screen flat panel industrial PC running Windows NTR is located on a work platform (mezzanine)
and is mounted in a movable pedestal mounted PC Enclosure. The PC and enclosure is splash
and dust proof (Nema 12 rated).
The Operator Interface (HMI) consists of the latest version of WonderwareR.
It provides intuitive graphical overviews ,
and allows the operator to select between automatic (continuous) operation mode or manual mode (sequencing).
It also provides data acquisition, current and historical alarms, real time and historical trends,
cycle reports, multi-level security, access to all process configuration data and automated recipe database functions.
This PC is network ready and can be equipped with a dial-in modem so we can trouble-shoot or support
you from our office.
2. PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLER (PLC)
At the heart of the control system is a PLC. It incorporates all digital logic control (automatic or
manual operation mode)
as well as temperature control and the vacuum system control. Extensive interlocks and alarm recovery procedures
are build into this program. The PLC provides all
analog signals (i.e. thermocouples, pyrometers, vacuum sensors,
power signals, etc.) to the PC for data acquisition and
display.
The PLC program can be monitored and modified "on the fly" side by side with
the Wonderware Operator interface, allowing for process changes during normal operation
and eliminating the need to shut down and re-start and possibly lose production time and product.
3. I/O FIELD DEVICES
These consist of motor starters, pumps and motors, valve solenoids, vacuum valves, limit switches,
cooling devices, vacuum sensors, temperature sensors, etc.
The hot zone temperature is controlled using two sensors. For
temperatures below 800C, a type "C" thermocouple is used.
Above 800C to maximum operating temperature, control
can be automatically switched over to a two-color pyrometer.
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HIGH VACUUM SYSTEM
The High Vacuum Pumping System is designed to evacuate this
furnace down to the 10-6 Torr Range and is able to handle
large gas loads. The vacuum system includes
the following:
- 10" Diffusion Pump, (5300 LPS) or 16" Diffusion pump (8000 LPS)
- Electro-pneumatic Vacuum Gate Valves with limit switches
- Cold Trap with Refrigeration Condensing Unit
- Mechanical Pump or dry pump with Blower, 400 CFM (189 LPS)
- Two Stage Rotary Vane holding and secondary Pump
- Cold Cathode Gauges and Pirani vacuum gauges. (or equivalent)
- Solenoid operated air Release Valves and Leak Check Valve.
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PROCESS GAS SYSTEM
This furnace is designed to operate in a Process Gas
environment at internal pressures of 2 P.S.I.G. (.14 kg/sq.
cm.) or in vacuum. All chambers are equipped with pressure switches
and relief valves to monitor and control gas pressures.
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FURNACE COOLING SYSTEM
The furnace cooling system is designed to adequately cool the
various furnace components that require water cooling.
Each water circuit is provided with a flow switch and shut-off valve.
Each water circuit empties into an open drain bosh which is equipped with
an Optical eye to detect water flow.
For rapid cooling, the cooling chamber is equipped with a heat exchanger. To obtain consistent
cool-down times and eliminate dependence of plant-water, the furnace is also equipped with closed loop
Chiller re-circulator.
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FURNACE MOUNTING AND MEZZANINE
The furnace is supported with a rigid, welded iron support angle frame.
The mezzanine provides the operator with a safe and convenient
place to work.
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UTILITIES
| ELECTRICAL POWER: |
125 KVA @ 575-480-380V/3pH/50-60Hz |
| WATER: |
15 G.P.M. @ 68 Deg. F. and 50 P.S.I.G.
(1 LPS @ 18 Deg. C. and 3.5 Bar)
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| PROCESS GAS: |
Argon or Hydrogen @ 5-25 SCFH. AND 60 P.S.I.G.
(140 - 700 LPH AND 5.6 Kg./sq. cm)
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| FLOOR SPACE: |
19 Feet Wide x 14 Feet Deep x 14 Feet High (5.8m x 4.3m x 4.3m)
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| WEIGHT: |
14,000 Lbs. (7 US Tons) 6,350 Kg |
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