Retrofitting Multiburner Furnaces for Improved Performance
When critical flame safeguards and control systems age, keeping your system operational becomes increasingly difficult. If the controls are no longer being manufactured, replacement parts may be sourced online. If parts are unavailable, components may be scavenged from another offline system. However, ensuring that replacement parts function properly can be challenging—and when parts cannot be found at all, the next steps are unclear.
A Midwest steel processing plant recently encountered this situation and reached out to Kele Industrial for assistance.
The customer operates approximately 30 batch annealing furnaces, each overseeing an average of 10 burners. Because their panels were designed decades ago, the flame supervision equipment had become obsolete, and replacement parts were increasingly difficult to source. Kele Industrial designed a solution using a Fireye MB multiburner control that fit within the existing panel enclosure, making the retrofit straightforward.
In addition to gaining a system with readily available replacement components, the customer used the upgrade to improve day-to-day operations. Their previous system required manual intervention to progress through the light-off sequence, and troubleshooting issues was extremely difficult. The MB series automates the light-off sequence and provides fault code messages, making it easier to diagnose issues when a furnace shuts down.
Kele Industrial also recommended adding a Honeywell Maxon SmartLink DS actuator for furnace temperature control. The actuator is mounted near the top of the furnace in a hard-to-reach location. With the actuator's built-in Modbus interface, it can connect to a laptop running configuration software, allowing technicians to make adjustments safely from the ground instead of climbing 12 feet to access it.
By upgrading their system, the customer was able to maintain uptime, reduce troubleshooting challenges, and improve worker safety.
Need help with your combustion system upgrade? Contact us to help design an instrumentation package that addresses your most critical challenges.
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