u003ch2u003ePowering Innovation Worldwideu003c/h2u003ernu003cspan style=u0022color: #ffffff;u0022u003eWelcome to Prolific Group, your reliable and official agent for IPSEN in Thailand. We provide turnkey solutions for IPSEN furnace installations nationwide, along with spare parts, comprehensive repair, and overhaul services. As a leader in the furnace market, IPSEN stands out with its precise heat treatment and brazing processes, backed by excellence centers in Germany and the U.S. Prolific Group is proud to promote and sell IPSEN furnaces in Thailand and neighboring countries, extending our expertise to maintenance and after-sales services. IPSEN’s comprehensive solutions, from design and manufacturing to automation, process technology, and customer support, have been trusted by over 10,000 heat treatment systems in over 60 countries.u003c/spanu003e
IPSEN : TITAN Product Line Presentation
One of the furnace brand that trusted PHI to carry its promotion as well as sales in Thailand is IPSEN; as PHI has also the capability to do overhaul, maintenance and other after services for IPSEN. IPSEN itself is a well-known brand as the world that later on grew and expanded its manufacturing in Germany, Japan, China, and India. IPSEN’s integrated solutions covers the customer’s demand with design and manufacturing of equipment , automation and control software, process technology and customer services – parts, service, upgrades and retrofits. Currently IPSEN has the largest installed base with 10,000+ heat treatment systems in more than 60 countries worldwide.
IPSEN is the key contributor to significant technological advancement in industrial heat treatment, and it offers the Key Processes, such as:
- Hardening
In which iron or steel becomes much more durable
- Carburizing
Process in which iron or steel absorbs carbon when metal is heated.
- Brazing
Process of joining two metals by heat, using a third filler metal that melts at a lower temperature.
- Sintering
Process of compacting and forming powdered metal by heat and pressure without liquefying it.
- Nitriding
Surface-hardening heat treatment that introduces nitrogen into the surfaces of a metal.
IPSEN’s Customer Group:
- Automotive Industry – Highly efficient automotive transmission technologies with increased efficiency.
- Aerospace Industry – Safer commercial air travel through less mechanical failures.
- Tools & Dies Industry
- Medical Industry – better quality of the medical orthopedics with lower rejection rates and longer use in the body.
- Energy/Industrial Machinery
- Commercial Heat Treating
- Other Industries
Ipsen offers aluminum-brazing vacuum furnaces for a variety of workload and throughput needs. All vacuum brazing furnaces feature individually controlled heating elements that surround the work zone, minimizing cycle time and providing precise, uniform heating of the workload. Joint-free heating elements eliminate resistance buildup and hot spots.
AL Series batch furnaces are ideal for the Aerospace industry and small-volume automotive brazing applications with features such as:
– Easy thermocoupling for work surveys
– Cost-effective aluminum brazing designs
– Easy maintenance
BAL Series production batch furnaces are an excellent choice for medium to medium-high volume vacuum brazing applications in automotive-related industries. Here’s why:
– All work-motion drives and switches are external for increased reliability
– Easy access for cleaning, which reduces maintenance time
CAL Series three-chamber, a semi-continuous furnace for high-volume production aluminum brazing offers the following:
– Internal work handling hardware in the hot zone to prevent problems with magnesium buildup
– Rugged limit switch assemblies maximize online time
– Sturdy high-vacuum door design eliminates the need for special sealing of inner chamber and outer doors
– Clean-out port provides fast access and easy cleaning of area where magnesium deposits form
– Roll-away entrance and exit chambers permit easy access to the brazing chamber and inner doors
Built off of the innovative TITAN® platform, the TITAN® T true vacuum temper furnace combines cleanliness and efficiency through the use of both vacuum and convection heating. Tempering, age hardening and stress relieving can all be accomplished with the TITAN® T. This furnace is ideal for tempering applications in Medical, Aerospace and Tool & Die industries. The TITAN® T excels in workpiece uniformity and process performance efficiency.
Benefits
- Features a hot zone with stainless steel shields, graphite elements and graphite workload supports
- Able to process most materials including PH 17-4 series stainless steel, Inconel and tool steels
- Is capable of meeting Nadcap and AMS 2750E applicable requirements
- Utilizes gas cooling to 2-bar absolute pressure
- Accommodates larger load capacities with faster cycle times
- Incorporates state-of-the-art TemperPro® touch screen controls
- Includes all the advantages of the innovative TITAN flow-production process that uses premium components and reduces customer investment
Nitemper® is Ipsen’s patented, internationally acclaimed process of ferritic nitrocarburizing that uses a 50% Endogas + 50% NH3 atmosphere. Contrary to conventional nitriding, both carbon and nitrogen are diffused into the steel at a low temperature while the steel is in the ferritic phase. Instead of Endogas, other carbon-evolving gases, such as CO2, can also be used (e.g., CO2+N2+NH3).
Because of the low temperature – typically 570 °C – carbon solubility is low and so very small amounts of carbon are transferred to the steel surface. A Nitempered surface has unique properties that find application in diverse areas.
Improved abrasion and wear resistance
A Nitempered surface is resistant to wear and abrasion. If the steel has nitride-forming alloying elements, wear resistance can be further improved.
Tribological and corrosion resistance properties
A Nitempered surface has tribological properties (i.e., it can display self-lubrication). Thus, it finds niche applications in the precision or fine engineering industry for watch parts, instrument parts, etc., as well as for internal combustion engine crankshafts. The Nitempered surface is also corrosion resistant and can be made more so through a process of post-oxidation as a continuation of the basic Nitemper cycle.
Equipment flexibility – many processes in one batch
Ipsen’s dedicated Nitemper furnace can be used for preheating, tempering, Nitempering and fast atmosphere cooling inside the furnace. Ipsen Sealed Quench Furnaces can also be equipped (or retrofitted) with Nitemper® capabilities. Hence, it is possible to first do the basic hardening in the conventional way and then carry out Nitemper® in the same furnace on the same batch load.
Distortion-free heat treatment
For steels or charge geometries that are prone to distortion, Nitemper is a good option as it involves a process where the substrate is pre-hardened to a medium extent and then a Nitemper operation is carried out on the surface. Plus, the low Nitemper® temperatures mean almost zero distortion.
Pre- and Post-Oxidation
The Nitemper process can be modified to include a stage of pre-oxidation and one of post-oxidation. While pre-oxidation helps to activate the surface and improve reaction kinetics, post-oxidation creates a layer of oxide on the surface which dramatically improves corrosion resistance (up to 500 hours of salt spray test, typically). Post-oxidation can be done by air or water injection.
ProNox®
Ipsen’s patented sensor-based, oxygen-potential-controlled post-oxidation process for defined iron oxide layers.
Latest “flameless” ignition of flame curtain
In conventional designs, a pilot burner flame burns continuously at the unloading door to ignite the flame curtain whenever the door opens; however, this often wastes expensive gas. In the Ipsen design, an ignition device is automatically activated whenever the door is to be opened. This allows the gas to automatically flow when the ignition is activated, resulting in the flame curtain. Thus, the gas is consumed once in a cycle instead of throughout the day.
Unique rear door design
In the Ipsen Sealed Quench furnace, the rear (unloading) door moves inside a frame that can be moved away or clamped with respect to the furnace shell by four cylinders. While opening the doors, the frame is first pushed away and then the door is lifted, so that the seals are not worn or rubbed down. After the door is closed, the cylinders retract, effectively drawing the door onto the seals and clamping down, allowing for better sealing.
Floor-mounted atmosphere circulation fan
The heat-resistant recirculation fan is installed between the furnace floor and the hearth roller track. Because nascent nitrogen atmospheres are heavy, this is the best method to ensure atmosphere and temperature uniformity. No other design offers this feature.
Rear-mounted radiant tubes for indirect heating
The heating system is located at the back of the furnace and consists of several vertical radiant heating tubes, which can be gas or electric heated. An insulated heat-resistant steel radiation wall separates the furnace chamber from the heaters for indirect heating. No soft spots, no hot spots. Just uniform properties.
Fast cooling furnace system
The furnace is provided with a top mounted, gas-tight cooling hood, consisting of a pneumatically lowered / lifted stainless steel heat exchanger through which atmosphere is circulated for cooling the charge. While heating or a process is on, the hood is isolated from the furnace chamber by an insulated hatch which is lowered pneumatically into the heating chamber during the cooling period. The baffle-guided gas flow then discharges heat through the heat exchanger.
The Conti-Control® software is a computer management system developed especially for continuous and semi-continuous furnace systems. This software provides flexible process control, load size optimization and chart-based protocols. It optimizes production objectives such as cost control, repeatability, product quality and consistency, as well as operational safety.
The system provides a graphical display interface showing the complete configuration of the furnace installation, including tracking of individual tray positions with itemized parts information and tray movements throughout the furnace. The set points and process values of each controlled carbon and temperature zone are also shown.
The Conti-Control system records the specific load parameters and accurately controls the load-critical process parameters as the parts travel through the heating and cooling zones. At the end of the heat treatment process, all recorded parameters and metallurgical information are documented in a recipe, which makes them available for repeatable heat treatment cycles. Any necessary changes to the process parameters are automatically made by the computer, which also calculates the number of empty loads or idle times.
This software gives the furnace operator complete control of the furnace, rather than just loading and unloading the furnace and/or taking instructions from a supervisor.
Operator functions include:
– Keeping the job order production log
– Processing a job using either rows of the pusher furnace
– Verifying the proper heat-treat process
– Correcting part identification, quality certification and specific documentation
– Documenting and saving process parameters
The only constants in software development are constant change and constant progress. So it’s no wonder that we didn’t wait long to take our automation software to the next level with AutoMag® 4.0. We had three challenges in mind for this release. The first was providing a significantly more efficient use of energy and resources. The second, optimal reliability and third, even simpler operation. We succeeded on all three fronts with AutoMag 4.0.
Improved algorithms in the system’s integrated planning tools are the key to its improved efficiency. They provide better capacity utilization and, therefore, higher production efficiency. Our newly developed batch planning system is unique on the market. It allows you to prioritize individual heat treatment batches as part of your overall process planning. AutoMag 4.0 not only allows process observation, but also optimizes the distribution of component batches to specific furnaces for optional, energy-saving use of your facility.
Everything Under Control: Carb-o-Prof®
The Carb-o-Prof® furnace control software assures you maximum efficiency with easy, comprehensive and reliable control, as well as analysis and process optimization. Ipsen’s Carb-o-Prof® is a modular system solution designed to control a wide variety of processes; it dependably records and manages heat treatment parameters for optimum results and generates archive data and documentation.
Ipsen’s development objectives for the new generation of this system included achieving even greater process security and stability, all while providing a system that is easy to work with. The latest version of Carb-o-Prof® sets new standards: the basic structure has been modified and is now even more intelligent and intuitive, and the operating design has been simplified and adjusted to provide maximum ergonomics.
All of these aspects work together to ensure that companies using Carb-o-Prof® enjoy a range of valuable benefits: time and cost savings through enhanced operating reliability and more secure, faster system handling. The interaction between hardware and software in the new version has been further optimized.
Carb-o-Prof® was built using proven, robust hardware components capable of withstanding the rigors of industrial production environments. This enhances the system’s dependability, boosts ease of maintenance and repair and reduces the time needed for installation and configuration.
This furnace design is particularly suited for the continuous treatment of parts under a protective gas atmosphere. The extremely stable hearth structure is designed for high load weights. With single-, double- or triple-row configurations and free and/or press quenching capabilities, Ipsen Pushers will drive your parts through the full carburizing and ntriding processes, including: preheating, washing, tempering and cooling. All these processes are conducted in a fully-automated, “lights-out” system with customized layouts to fit your needs.
Multi-track designs offer high production flexibility as each track can move work pieces at different pusher speeds (cycle times) to allow for varying case hardening depths. Energy efficient designs, such as the Lock-Up and EcoFire systems, are also available.
The benefits of a Pusher furnace include:
- High operational safety through sturdy design
- Even distribution of protective atmosphere due to excellent recirculation
- Optimum repeatability
- Cost-efficient solution for treating large throughput volume
- Multi-row systems for flexible processing
- Designed for bottom loading front door to save energy
- Floor-mounted oil quench tanks eliminate the need for costly pits
Continuous Mesh Belt Furnace
IPSEN Atmosphere Heat Treatment Equipment
IPSEN also complete its product line with Mesh Belt Furnace. This furnace is initially developed and commercialized mainly for automobile industry since 1960. Best suited for mass production of smaller parts. The continous R&D effort for this type of furnaces are maintained to develop and enhance new technology in our system.
Mesh Belt Furnace has the advantages of:
- Longer element life by having the control point in the electrical heater
- Burner tubes of SiC (98%) for long life and maximum heat transfer
- Excellent uniformity in distribution of heat
- Faster start-up time
- Improved atmosphere control and uniformity
References
IPSEN’s Turnkey Project for Atmospheric Furnace
IPSEN Vacuum Furnace Installation Support
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