August 2020 Volume 2

EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

More US Success for Nutec Bickley in Steel Heat Treatment

The Metals Business Unit of Nutec Bickley has recently completed the installation of a significant new production

line for a leading steel industry customer based in Houston, TX. Specifically, this is a heat treatment line for the austenitizing, water quench, and tempering of high-quality steel parts. The customer needed to increase production at its Houston plant, and, after considering all options, chose Nutec Bickley to design, fabricate, and install the new line. This heat treatment line was sold as a turnkey project and is fully automatized. The overall arrangement of this line and the configuration of all the equipment were carefully and specifically designed with both the material flow and the customer’s existing factory layout in mind. As far as system energy input is concerned, the installed thermal capacity of the austenitizing furnace is 5.55 MMBtu/ hr and for the tempering furnace is 4.75 MMBtu/hr. Excellent temperature uniformity is a feature across the heat treatment line, with both furnaces keeping within a tight +/-10°C tolerance range. The principal products being handled on the new Nutec Bickley installation are ANSI carbon steel pipe flanges, often used in critical flow systems such as in the petrochemical and waterworks industries. SmoothWork Flow The system delivered to this particular client is highly integrated, largely automated, and offers superior thermal efficiencies. At the front end, trays loaded with the pipe flanges are introduced into the process in the loading area at a rate of one tray every 20 minutes. These trays are transported by means of a roller conveyor towards the entrance of the austenitizing furnace (1,800°F/980°C maximum operating temperature). A pusher system advances each tray through its cycle in this austenitizing furnace, then trays are extracted by a puller device at the exit end. After this step, the trays are transported to the quench tank elevator—each tray is submerged in the quench tank for between 12 and 15 minutes. After tank immersion, the elevator raises the tray up, and it is then transported to the entrance of the tempering furnace. This consists of a table with a pusher system that indexes the tray forward to begin its cycle through the tempering oven (1,400°F/760°C maximum operating temperature). Once the tempering cycle is complete, the tray is extracted by another puller device. The tray is subsequently transported to a dump station; this station automatically lifts the tray via a tilt-up mechanism so that the pipe flanges are unloaded into a container. The now-empty tray is taken back to the parts loading area.

Fig. 1. Pusher tray furnace, insulated with ceramic fiber modules system

Fig. 2. Quench tank elevator system

FIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2020 34