
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA
Solar Atmospheres of Western PA is installing a new rapid quenching vacuum furnace that will eliminate the need for costly helium and increase production throughput. Solar Manufacturing’s 10 bar vacuum furnace, with a revolutionary cooling design, is similar in size to an older 2 bar Solar furnace. However, this new 48" x 48" x 96" deep 10 bar furnace is equipped with a 600hp blower designed motor and will outperform its older model by processing larger, heavier workloads with the use of nitrogen.
“The difference in operating costs is a no brainer,” says President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA Bob Hill. “To marginally harden one 2000 lb high-speed tool steel roll die in our older 2 bar vacuum furnace, light helium gas was a necessity. The prohibitive cost of a two-atmosphere helium backfill was $1,065. Our new furnace will enable us to fully harden three 2000 lb roll dies at once using the more cost-effective process gas, nitrogen. The cost of a 10 atmosphere backfill of nitrogen will be only $89.”
Hill predicts that with these increased efficiencies and savings, his normal return on investment (ROI) on a new piece of equipment will be significantly advanced.
Once operational, Hill will author a technical paper with the cooling data for these new vacuum furnaces.
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