Conveyor Ovens: Portable Conveyor Oven for Drying Alloy Steel Parts: LEWCO Engineers get Creative with Airflow Patterns

LEWCO recently delivered a 350°F electric conveyor oven for drying various alloy steel parts after a washing process. Completely drying the parts before they went to the next step in the manufacturing process was critical. This created a challenge for the customer in the past because the parts are inconsistent in shape and wet on all sides, so LEWCO engineers knew they needed to get creative with the airflow pattern to ensure effective distribution. Instead of their standard dual, horizontal, or vertical down airflow patterns, they utilized a “Dual Vertical” airflow pattern, which supplies air from both the top and bottom of the oven. This maximizes the airflow contacting the product’s surface area and provides more uniform heating. Dual Vertical is an airflow pattern that LEWCO engineers have used in the past, but it’s not the most common airflow pattern for industrial ovens.

Parts will flow through the 120” oven on a flat wire mesh belt conveyor. Due to the high moisture content, the belt and slider bed were fabricated from 304 stainless steel to prevent corrosion. Another unique design feature was portability. Per customer request, the entire conveyor oven was mounted on large steel casters and equipped with a 20 ft. long, heavy-duty, power cord with 480V pin and sleeve plug/ receptacle. Standard controls were upgraded to include remote start/stop stations for the conveyor at the entrance and exit of the oven. The oven was also supplied with a variable speed conveyor drive and single zone temperature controller with a redundant high-limit controller. LEWCO’s Senior Application Engineer, Lou Schaefer, worked closely with a LEWCO conveyor distributor and the end user to develop a solution to meet the end user’s requirements. Conveyor Oven Airflow

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