January 2010

New furnace concept offers more effective press hardening

Heating is the decisive bottleneck in a press hardening production solution. Production profitability is very much dependent upon parameters such as heating time, furnace availability, energy consumption and space requirements.

Thus in cooperation with Schwartz*, AP&T has developed a new furnace concept – Feeder Furnace – which offers quicker heating, greater availability and smaller space requirements, and it consumes less energy than conventional furnaces. Instead of transporting blanks on a roller conveyor through a long furnace, it is possible to use several furnace modules with separate compartments that are stacked on top of one another and that allow the blank to remain still in the furnace.

"For those of us working with automation, resolving part movement is a natural step. We use our SpeedFeeder press feeder to feed parts into the furnace and remove them when they have reached the right temperature," says Per-Arne Mattsson, who is the automation product supervisor at AP&T.
"The process is basically the same as baking a pizza."

Feeder Furnace is very space efficient since it is possible to stack several furnace modules on top of one another. It only takes up a fourth of the floor space as a conventional furnace with corresponding capacity. The level of reliability is high since the Feeder Furnace solution only contains a few moveable parts, which cuts down on maintenance and results in greater availability.

Feeder Furnace is also scalable, which makes it possible to initiate press hardening production on a smaller scale without needing to invest in a furnace for larger production volumes. Rather than heating the big furnace, only the furnace capacity needed for the occasion is purchased and heated.

*AP&T developed Feeder Furnace in cooperation with furnace supplier Schwartz GmbH in Germany (www.schwartz-wba.de).