LEWCO Tackles Challenging Humidity Control Oven

When a Fortune 500 company was in need of an oven to suit their unique application, they turned to the experts at LEWCO. Their application involved curing a special coating while maintaining relative humidity above 40%RH. The custom batch oven will operate around 135°F and will sustain temperature uniformity of +/- 3°F in the qualified zone.

The oven features a top mounted heater box with heat capacity of 380,000 BTU/Hr. and an 8,000 CFM high-efficiency circulation fan. A variable speed drive is included on an exhaust fan to facilitate faster cool down cycles.  As an additional safety feature the circulation and exhaust fans were upgraded to AMCA (Air Movement and Control Association) “C” spark resistant construction.

Maintaining relative humidity above 40%RH created a challenge for the engineers at LEWCO as increasing the relative humidity at elevated temperatures is not an easy task to accomplish. The amount of moisture air can hold increases dramatically as temperature increases. To combat this issue, LEWCO’s engineering team utilized a unique humidification system to inject moisture directly into the oven’s circulated airstream.  A custom PLC/PC based control system was developed to ensure all critical parameters are monitored and controlled.