Demonstration of furnace curtains to reduce heat energy. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6463202

Burgess, V E; Wahle, H W; LaCount, D F; Seibert, K D

A gas-fired forging furnace was operated in a steady state for a range of temperatures from 1500/sup 0/ to 2100/sup 0/F, both with and without two types of ceramic furnace curtains over the door opening. To simulate a throughput of workpieces, a water cooled heat sink was placed on the furnace hearth for half the tests. This simulated a relatively light load at about 10% of rated furnace capacity. Gas consumption rate and furnace temperatures were measured for a total of 18 test runs. For the runs without the simulated furnace load (i.e., empty furnace), the furnace curtains reduced gas consumption by 43 to 68%. For those runs with the simulated load, the reduction in gas consumption was 25 to 33%. This indicates that the benefits of furnace curtains are a maximum without a load, and are reduced as the load increases. The furnace was fired at its maximum rate from room temperature to 2200/sup 0/F, both with and without curtains over the door opening. A total of 5 different curtain materials were tested - 4 refractory cloth type and 1 metallic type. Although anomalous results were obtained at lower temperatures, it was found that to reach 2200/sup 0/F the furnace curtains reduced gas usage by 15 to 22% and time required by 7 to 22%. The metallic curtain had the best overall gas savings with a 22.3% reduction.

• Research Organization: Babcock and Wilcox Co., Alliance, OH (USA). Research and Development Div.
• OSTI ID: 6463202
• Report Number(s): NP-4901778; ON: TI84901778
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320303* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes-- Equipment & Processes
CERAMICS
CURTAINS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
FABRICATION
FIBERS
FIELD TESTS
FORGING
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FURNACES
GAS FURNACES
INDUSTRY
MATERIALS WORKING
TESTING