HOFMANN Wärmetechnik

www.hofmann-waermetechnik.at

Solution heattreatment facility

for aircraftindustry

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Solution heat treatment facility for aluminium par ts

Welcome to the quality ofH O F M A N N W ä r m e t e ch n i k

The material characteristics of aluminium com-ponents used in aircraft industry are of extreme importance. Particularly the application of special alloys makes heat treatment more and more im-portant. This pushes the requirements of process performance and reproducibility to a higher level.

H OFMANN Wärmetechnik looks back on a long tradition in the range of plant designing and construc-tion. The designing and construction of furnaces and facilities for heat treatment in various branches re-aches back to the year 1946.The company was established by Mr. Herbert Hof-mann.In 1974 Mr. Hermann Gründl took over the company and enlarged the location in Linz. Since 1999 the company has been led by Mr. Nieder-länder and his wife.In the last years Hofmann has been specialising on heat treatment for aluminium and steel parts. The new company building covering 5000 m² in Hellmonsödt (Austria) including laboratory and testing area pro-vides enough place for further development.Furthermore, companies of automotive and aircraft industry belong to our customers.

Flexible:A main focus in our thinking and working is the flexibi-lity in association with our customers. We try to meet the requirements of the customer and search together for the best solution.

Common:We are keen to improve together with our customers.The customer is directly involved in the designing and

engineering of his facility. Only this makes it pos-sible to meet the requirements and demands of the customer. It is assumed that the facility meets ex-actly the application.

Made in Austria:Our furnaces and facilities are designed and built in our company in firm conviction of our Austrian quality standard. This protects also the experience and knowledge of our company and the customers‘.We guarantee our customers the most efficient service support by sending qualified employees which were involved in the construction and buil-ding of the facility.

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Furnaces:The facility is equipped with 2 fur-

naces. The loading of the furnace is done by the furnace crane au-tomatically. The overhead prin-ciple assures high energy effici-ency. The material is heated up in

a short time to the adjusted value. A new temperature control system

is in use which obtains a high tempe-rature accuracy and uniformity. By means

of the full automatic charge transport short quenching times could be realized.

Automatic crane:The transport of the charge inside

the facility is done automatically, there is no action of the operator necessary. Using the automatic crane system shortest handling times could be obtained. The po-

sitioning is done very exactly by means of frequency converters.

Automation system:The complete facility is operated

and controlled by a PLC. The vi-sualisation is state of the art and runs on a PC. The archiving and recording of all data is provided with extensive analysis software

as well as the automation system is connected to the process control

system. All parameters and adjust-ments can be set via this PC.

Quenching basin:In the quenching basin the charge is quenched after the heat treat-ment. The basin is equipped with a recirculation pump and the gly-col mixture could be cooled via an integrated heat exchanger. This ensures a reproducible pro-cess for the material.

Cleaning basin:The facility is equipped with a spe-cial cleaning basin to remove the cooling fluid of the parts. With the vacuum cleaning process a high grade of cleanliness is rea-ched. After evacuating the basin air is led in and the bubbles clean the surface.

Drying basin:In order that the following process steps are not disturbed the com-ponents have to be dried. The drying is realized with a high pressure blower. To keep the noise to a low limit the basin is tightened with a cover.

Handling system:The loading of the components into the facility is done with a special handling system. This system enables the operator to handle parts up to 2500 mm er-gonomically and integrates the charging and discharging into the other process steps.

Scheme

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I t took a few months of designing and constructing to meet the needs of the customer.A main challenge was the handling system of the facility. Due to the high level of automation it was necessary to include the new solution heat treat-ment facility in the complete process of the custo-mer. This results in a very flexible but easy to ma-nage system which ensures the operator to handle parts up to 2500 mm ergonomically. The charging is carried out into charging frames which are then put into the charging basket.From charging and discharging the baskets all pro-cess steps are achieved and controlled automatical-ly by the PLC. This automation ensures a reprodu-cible process inside the facility.

Process steps:• Loading of the charging frames with the components.• Charging the frames into the charging baskets.• Transferring the charge to the facility.• The charging basket is transported into the furnace by means of the automatic crane and the crane inside the furnace.• Automatic start of the heat treatment.• The execution of the heat treatment is controlled and archived by the PLC.• Quenching the material in the quenching basin. The handling time out of the furnace into the quenching basin was limited with 7 seconds. This short time was reached with many optimizations due to the door and the crane of the furnace. • Transport of the charge into the cleaning basin.• Transport of the charge into the drying basin.• Transport of the charge to the discharging place where the operator picks out the parts

• At the end a protocol of the complete cycle is prepared and the file is sent to the process control system

The furnaces were designed and built to obtain optimum temperature accuracy and high energy ef-ficiency.The heating up time was limited with 15 minutes; the time reached effectively was between 10 and 12 minutes, this is a time saving of about 25%.The furnace is equipped with 24 thermocouples. These temperature values are used in the PLC for a special maximum and average control. The thermo-couples are checked on plausibility and in the case of a mistake the thermocouples can be deactivated separately. With this temperature controlling an ex-cessive temperature on the aluminium parts is pre-vented during the complete heat treatment. During the soaking time the allowed temperature tolerance can be improved by the average control. The perio-dical adjustment of the thermocouples has become easier by a new feed through.The short transport time of 7 seconds from the fur-nace into the quenching basin was only possible with a special construction of the furnace door and the furnace crane. This transport system and the temperature range of the furnace make this facility also applicable for future alloys.Caused by the glycol mixture during quenching the aluminium parts are contaminated and have to be cleaned, not to disturb the following process steps.By the use of the vacuum cleaning basin this point could be reached. This basin is closed with a tig-ht cover and then evacuated. Afterwards air is in-jected. The air bubbles cause a very efficient clea-ning of the surface and a recirculation of the glycol mixture. Another positive effect is the delay of the organic action in the fluid. This provides a longer availability and minimizes a bad smell.Furthermore, the charge is transported to the drying basin where the parts are dried with a high pressure

blower. To avoid too much noise a cover seals this basin. The special charging in the frames prevents a damage of the parts in the air flow. The design and construction of the frames were another challenge due to the thermal and dimensional stability. This was realized by a comb-shaped design. The light weight construction has also advantages relating to mass which has to be heated up and cooled down.The automation system is developed on the latest state of the art. A connection to the process control system and a complete archiving of the process was required as well as an easy to operate and maintai-nable facility.HOFMANN Wärmetechnik has reached the goal to satisfy the customer ’s specifications in a brill iant way.Initiated by this development other facilities for aircraft industry in Germany, Austria and India could be realized.This concept was further engineered for automotive industry.In this industry as well as in aircraft industry the ac-curate heat treatment becomes more important and is a decisive factor in competition.

In conclusion, it has to be mentioned that such a heat treatment facility with that high level of automation and process availabili-ty is another mile stone in the deployment of HOFMANN Wärmetechnik.

Description of the facility

DetailsWe especially pay attention to small details with great effects.

InnovationsSave time and money. Turn our innovations into your profit.

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Spheroidize annealing heat treatment facility for aircraft industry

general data: 3 furnaces hanging basket principle optimized temperature distribution integrated cooling system

technical data: application: aircraft industry charge: alu parts, alu sheets temperature: 100 °C to 600 °C accuracy: +/- 3°K charge dimensions: 1250 x 2500 mm charge weight: up to 400 kg

Solution heat treatment facilityfor aircraft industry

general data: 2 furnaces automatic crane glycol basin, cleaning basin, drying basin automatic charging

technical data: application: aircraft industry charge: alu parts, alu sheets temperature: 100 °C to 600 °C accuracy: +/- 3 °K charge dimensions: 1.250 x 2.500 mm charge weight: up to 400 kg

Ageing facilityfor aircraft supply industry

general data: 2 furnaces charging wagon cooling station automatic charging

technical data: application: aircraft supply industry charge: aluminium plates temperature: 100 °C to 220 °C accuracy: +/- 2 °C charge dimensions: 1.700 x 2.000 x 6.800 mm charge weight: up to 30.000 kg

ExperienceHOFMANN industrial furnaces have been produced since 1946. In developing our products we focus intense-ly on the experience of our customers.

ReliabilityWe know about the problems of many users in heat treat-ment and offer innovative solutions. Today HOFMANN furnaces are well known for their reliability in more than 40 countries.

Heat treatment facylities foraircraft industry

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Furnace line plantfor automotive supply industry

general data: 12 furnaces overhead principle 12 buffer places inert gas operation

technical data: application: automotive industry charge: steel parts temperature: 100 °C to 800 °C accuracy: +/- 3 °K charge dimension: up to 1.300 x 1.100 mm charge weight: up to 3.000 kg

Solution and ageing facilityfor automotive supply industry

general data: 4 furnaces handling equipment 2 water basins automatic charging

technical data: application: automotive industry charge: cylinder heads temperature: 200 °C to 540 °C accuracy: +/- 3 °K charge dimension: 1.200 x 800 x 1.100 mm charge weight: up to 400 kg

Die heater batteryfor aluminium industry

general data: 7 furnaces overhead principle 4 buffer places inertgas operation

technical data: application: aluminium industry charge: dies temperature: 100 °C to 550 °C accuracy: +/- 5 °K charge dimension: 550 x 285 mm charge weight: 2 x 600 kg

Ageing facilityfor aluminium industry

general data: 16 furnaces overhead principle charging wagon automatic charging

technical data: application: aluminium industry charge: aluminium profiles temperature: 100 °C to 250 °C accuracy: +/- 3 °K charge dimension: 1.150 x 2.400 x 8.000 mm charge weight: up to 15.000 kg

Heat treatment facilitiesmade by HOFMANN Wärmetechnik

HOFMANN Wärmetechnik GmbHGewerbezeile 7; 4202 Hellmonsödt / Austria

Tel.: +43 (0) 7215/3601; Fax.: +43 (0) 7215/3606 6office@hofmann-waermetechnik.at; www.hofmann-waermetechnik.at

© 2006.09 Hofmann Wärmetechnik GmbH; by T. Seidl; Druck: H+S Druck; Alle Rechte vorbehalten; Technische Änderungen und Druckfehler vorbehalten.

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