Equipment & Control Upgrades

Control system upgrades can improve reliability and reduce maintenance costs. Industrial temperature controls have been improved to the point where major adjustment is not needed and periodic calibration verifies long term reliability and stability. CIC Pittsburgh can design and install new automatic temperature controls with PID capability to improve the operation of your older furnace.

Many temperature controllers can now perform ramp and soak programming to make heat treating processes consistent. Programs can also be saved in the controller or your computer to avoid reprogramming for every different cycle or grade of material.

Please call us with your control system problems!

An innovative way to improve temperature control and furnace efficiency is by implementing Pulse-Firing of the burners.  With Pulse-Firing, as demand necessitates burners are cycled from high-fire to low-fire.  Burners are inherently most efficient and provide optimal temperature uniformity when at high-fire.

Given enough time, furnaces eventually reach a critical moment at which the condition of the structure has deteriorated to the point of threatening the operation. 

CIC Pittsburgh can provide solutions to either rehabilitate the existing structure or provide new replacement supports that will fit within the available space.

The typical service life of a Galvanizing kettle is 5-7 years, by which time the kettle walls become thin and leaks develop. CIC Pittsburgh has helped with hundreds of kettle changes. In addition to the kettle, we provide a kit of typical materials needed, such as refractory, cover plates, and kettle supports.  We also send a field supervisor to assist with pump-out, installation activities, kettle packing, zinc smelting, and combustion service.

It is also common to take advantage of this rare downtime period to check and/or replace critical furnace components, or to even upgrade the control system to make performance improvements to the operation and to attain compliance with the current safety standards.

As plant operators become more safety-conscious, there is great interest in upgrading the furnace Burner Management Systems to comply with the latest standards (ie- NFPA-86, CSA B149.3, etc.).  CIC Pittsburgh starts the process with a review of the existing equipment and identifies the gaps that need to be addressed. 

Upon implementation, the upgraded system will include an automatic purge, ignition, flame detection, and over-temperature controls.  Additionally, all alarm conditions are recorded and displayed on an HMI terminal to facilitate troubleshooting.  The conditions and alarms detected can then be tied into plant-wide systems for further notifications and monitoring.