Improving the efficiency of a retort furnace
Academic Coordinator | Elena Martín Ortega. Associate profesor at Universidad de Vigo and affilitated researcher of ITMATI.
Specialist | Fernando Varas Mérida. Associate profesor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
Business Coordinator |
- Anxo Feijóo Lorenzo. General Management and Technical Management at Ecomanagement Technology.
- Jose Carlos Perez Ramilo. Quality Manager at BorgWarner.
Description | EcoMT is an ICT company dedicated to the implementation of solutions for the control and remote management of installations based on expert systems technology. One of the biggest challenges in the field of materials processes engineering is to integrate technical, economic and environmental considerations in a rational and efficient manner. The company has a retort furnace in which a “brazing” process is carried out, joining pieces from the automotive sector made of different metals with different thicknesses and complex designs.
The process to reach the correct results follows some guidelines, among them, distance between the pieces and speed of the fixed tape. Hydrogen and nitrogen are blown inside the furnace, which must keep the dew point in a pre-established range so that the pieces do not rust.
The goal is to model the operation of the furnace to optimize the position and distance between pieces, the speed of displacement of the tape and the gas proportion that must be insufflated to reach a greater efficiency.
Scope | Numerical simulation, optimization
