Heat treat oven controls help.

M

magneto

Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Messages
502
I am wondering if you can set up a heat treating oven with a set up that adjusts the amount of power that the oven gets (like a dimmer switch) in order to stop the temperature fluctuation's you get from the full on and full off method. Is there anything out there that does this? This may decrease the life of the heating elements but may save on electricity usage. Is this doable? Where would you get the controls and what would they be called? I ask this because I am thinking of putting together a oven for low temperature tempering, which I think is called ageing. This may require a weeks worth of tempering for the process to be completed. Long enough to I think justify the extra cost of replacement elements. Any opinion's?
Thanks in advance,

Phil
 
I would not expect any reduction in the life of the heating elements. In fact, such a setup might prolong their life by reducing the stress associated with the thermal cycling. The downside is that precision control just got an order of magnitude more complex and you are probably looking at a higher end controller. A variable output is more complex than a simple on-off output.

Many industrial controllers that I deal with every day will do what you ask, but prices start at $500 and go up fast...and that is my cost with OEM discounts (usually 40-60%).

I don't think the benefit outweighs the extra cost and complexity. Making an oven with 'right sized' elements and a good controller will serve you just fine. Even at more moderate temperatures a 'traditional' controller will keep the temperature sufficiently stable over a long time period.

My 2 cents...good luck!
 
Thanks CDH, I sure was not expecting a $500 price tag for the controller! And is way out of my price range. To bad there isn't some liquid of some sort to immerse your blades into during tempering to create a thermal mass that would be less prone to temperature fluctuation's.
Thanks,

Phil
 
Building a proportional controller would be expensive.
Setting up the program on a PID to have very short cycles would be the way to go. With it set to 0.1F it will cycle on and off in seconds. The temperate fluctuation would be very small. This should only cost $40-80.
Stacy
 
Now that sounds like a great alternative Stacy. I will check into finding one.
Thanks a lot,

Phil
 
I think it may be do-able if you like to experiement. I have a Paragon HT oven that runs on 110V on a 15 amp circuit, and just by thinking about it, this may work. My oven is fine the way it is with its 10 degree fluctuation, but if you like to experiment then try this.

If your set up is such, open up the controller and find the leads that are between the controler and the elements and place a 110V 15amp dimmer switch there, but only between the controller and the elements.

Becareful, because you only want to reduce the voltage to the elements themselves and not the controller. If you reduce the voltage to the controller itself, it will be running undervolt and it will burn out.

Then operate the oven by setting your temperature. Bring the oven up to temperature and then bring the dimmer switch into play, and set it to a level so that the oven remains at your desired setting.
 
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