Temperature Control in
Applicaon
Batch Furnace Applicaons
Challenge
To achieve consistently high quality within same
and mulple batches of products, being processed
in large industrial oven and furnace applicaons.
Soluon
Use dual loop controllers with gain scheduling
control funconality for advanced temperature
precision and accuracy.
Applicaon
Batch Furnace Applicaons
Challenge
To achieve consistently high quality within same
and mulple batches of products, being processed
in large industrial oven and furnace applicaons.
Soluon
Use dual loop controllers with gain scheduling
control funconality for advanced temperature
precision and accuracy.
Batch Furnace Applications
Application Story
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Temperature Control in
Typical Batch Furnace Applicaons
• Coangs for metal substrates such as
alloy wheels to protect against abrasion
• Scratch resistance and
an-reecve (an-glare) coangs for
glass lenses
• Glazing on ceramics such as le nishes
to prevent wear and corrosion
Typical Batch Furnace Applicaons
• Coangs for metal substrates such as
alloy wheels to protect against abrasion
• Scratch resistance and
an-reecve (an-glare) coangs for
glass lenses
• Glazing on ceramics such as le nishes
to prevent wear and corrosion
Batch Furnace Applications
In a batch furnace
application, an industrial
oven or furnace is
used to bake a coating
or substrate on to the
product. Often, due to
the size of the product
batch or large product
size an industrial oven or
furnace with a number of
temperature control zones
is required.
Batch Furnace Fusion
Application for Glass Lenses
Example – As part of the
manufacturing of eye glass
lenses a batch furnace fusion
process is used to apply an
anti-reective coating. This is
an incredibly thin layer that
is applied to the glass that
prevents reections from the
front and back surface of the
glass.
In this process the industrial
oven is split into 4 zones for the
purpose of temperature
control. Each zone
requires its own control
loop to ensure an even
temperature is achieved
throughout the oven.
This is essential for
product quality.
Traditionally a master
controller was used as
a programmer
to set the
temperature
prole for
the process
application; in
this example
the master
would then
talk to 3
further
controllers
(Slaves), one for each of the
zones. Each PID controller
would be tuned at a setpoint
in the middle of the operating
range.
Why Use a Dual Loop
Temperature Controller?
There are now products
available that bring greater
functionality to batch furnace
process, improving control and
quality. In the above example
two dual loop controllers
could be used, immediately
making a signicant reduction
on cost. Cost is not the only
factor though; the temperature
control and quality can also be
signicantly improved.
By using a controller such
as the new Pro-EC44 from
West Control Solutions,
gain scheduling can be
introduced to the process.
What is Gain Scheduling?
Gain scheduling is used
for applications that have a
wide setpoint range or where
thermal conditions change
in the working range e.g a
vacuum furnace changing
from atmospheric pressure to
vacuum. With gain scheduling
you are able to tune for multiple
set-points during the process
allowing you to effectively
tune for the different ranges
throughout the process
This results in much greater
precision with the temperature
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Temperature Control in
Temperature Control Funconality
• Proling
• Master / Slave Communicaons
• Gain Scheduling
• Data Logging
Temperature Control Funconality
• Proling
• Master / Slave Communicaons
• Gain Scheduling
• Data Logging
Batch Furnace Applications
control, improved performance
and thus better product quality.
With a controller such as
Pro-EC44 you can tune up to
5 PID sets automatically called
within dened temperature
bands allowing for a wide range
of setpoint variation or changes
in conditions.
Batch Furnace Data
Monitoring and Analysis
To effectively monitor a batch
furnace application, data about
the whole process, including
each of the temperature zones
must be able to be quickly and
easily understood. It is worth
considering that users generally
nd graphical representations
of data quicker to digest and
understand rather than having
to read text descriptions to
determine the process status.
In the example above, the
introduction of the Pro-EC44
brought further benets. Its
innovative text/graphic display
screen is designed to
provide users with
important process
information in one
place, meaning 2 loops
(2 temperature control
zones) can be monitored
at a glance, on one
screen.
The dual
temperature
controller, further
supports
data monitoring
for a batch
furnace
application with
its color change
green/red backlight
ensuring easily recognizable
alarms. This helps to increase
response times to process
issues allowing faster
corrective action.
Data Logging of Temperature
Control
For many batch furnace
applications it is not only
important to monitor
temperature control data, but
there is also the requirement
to log data. An audit trail and/
or proof of batch control is
increasingly important to
meet industry standards.
This is especially true if your
company manufactures parts
or components that require a
quality control system which
documents historic data for
your sellers.
In our glass lens example
above the organisation wanted
to log the temperature data
for their own internal quality
monitoring process. The
Pro-EC44 was able to save
costs through its in-built data
logger. The ability to download
data log les locally via the
front USB port in addition
to using the communication
tools proved an unexpected
advantage in the day-to-day
running of the process.
To nd out more about
how moving to a dual
loop controller would
benet your batch
furnace application
please request a call
back from a member of
our highly experienced,
technical sales team.
www.West-CS.com
Temperature Control in
Batch Furnace Applications
West Control Solutions is a global specialist in temperature and process control instrumentation. Through its four leading
product brands, CAL, West, PMA and Partlow, it has been supplying the industrial and scientic industries with reliable,
easy-to-use temperature control equipment for over 100 years. For more information on the temperature control product
range from West Control Solutions please visit www.West-CS.com.
Tel: +1 800 866 6659
Email: NA@West-CS.com
Website: www.West-CS.com
www.West-CS.com
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