Quench Furnaces

The QED quench furnaces are built for the continuous rapid quenching of multiple in-line steel wire strands in a patenting process. Industry leading high velocity nozzle-mix burners fire under the heavy walled steel pan in a staggered pattern. Solidly built and designed with a conservative heat-flux, the furnace has an extended pan life. Liquid metal pumps continuously re-circulate the lead to dissipate heat from the quench zone. Submerged cooling tubes, with forced air flow, provide additional cooling in the wire entry zone. The wires are submerged under two heavy duty sinkers before exiting the bath through a heated wiping chute. Our new pan lip design minimizes warping of the pan.

Features

• Rapid wire quenching
• Advanced cooling system
• Heated discharge wiping chute
• Heavy duty sinkers
• Individual burner flame safety
• Latest generation burners & controls
• Multiple fuel capability

Robust Furnace Construction

As with all QED furnaces used in our continuous furnace heat treatment, our Lead Quench is designed and built to last. The furnace shell is fabricated of steel plate and structural steel sections in an all-welded construction. Thick steel top plates are with countersunk bolts allow access for easy pan removal. The pan itself is made of a special quality hot rolled steel plate with a proven dependable service life. The joining of the rolled sides and end walls is by means of continuous seam welding from both sides of the joint. Following fabrication the pans are stress relieved and the welds are fully x-ray inspected to insure correct penetration and bond. The quench furnaces are lined with the latest refractory materials and designed for minimum heat loss and low furnace skin temperature. The wires are submerged in the lead by two sinker assemblies constructed with cross shafts, steel framework and special wear resistant steel skids. Each assembly is supported and rotated by heavy-duty reduction gearboxes with hand wheels.

Advanced Cooling System

The first zone is normally operated in the cooling mode in which the zone’s burners are off and the excess heat from the wires must be removed from bath. A high volume blower supplies cooling air to submerged cooling pins located under the lead surface. The pins are fabricated in stainless steel and are designed by computer modeling to extract the maximum heat.

Liquid Metal Pumps

Depending on the production rate, one or two special liquid metal pumps are supplied to circulate the lead and promote uniform bath temperature. The circulating lead rapidly dissipates the build-up of temperature in the area of the wire entry.

Latest Combustion & Control

The quench furnaces are controlled from a custom designed electrical control panel built to international standards. The panel incorporates the latest Siemens PLC hardware that is controlled by QED’s industry specific user-friendly program. Each zone has an air control valve, modulating motor and gas ratio regulator for precision combustion regulation. As an authorized distributor of Kromschroeder products, we offer the latest in top-quality combustion equipment.