To forecast and plan, you need to know what's happening
around you. Air Products' economists have compiled these graphs to illustrate
three-year trends for utility and metals pricing as well as industrial production. We hope you
find their perspective useful.
Industrial Production Indexes
Source: US Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors
Click here to view the graph.
Utility Pricing Metrics
Source: Inside F.E.R.C., Bureau of Labor Statistics
Click here to view the graph.
Steel Prices
Source: Market Pricing
Click here to view the graph.
Key Metals Prices
Source: London Metals Exchange
Click here to view the graph.
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Not all flames are created equal. That's logical, because not all burners are identical.
Designing combustion equipment involves more than simple pipe and nozzle sizing.
A solid understanding of combustion science helps to harness its power safely and
efficiently.
Burner design considerations that maximize the heat transfer efficiency include
mixing intensity, flame shape, flame momentum, and fuel or oxidant staging arrangements.
Obtain a detailed
article about the various burner design configurations and how they could affect your heat transfer.
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In general, heat treating processes are nonlinear and interactive, and include
dynamics that are difficult to measure and control. However, advanced multivariable,
model-based predictive process control techniques can be used, resulting in savings in
energy, capacity, yield and productivity.
The advanced control techniques can apply to any complex industrial process, including
furnace brazing, carburizing and sintering. For example, when brazing, fixed operating
conditions such as inlet gas flows, furnace temperature set points, and belt speed can
use manipulated variables to maintain a reducing atmosphere in the furnace.
To learn more about predictive process control techniques and how they can help your
heat treating system, read
the full technical article, or contact us via
email
or telephone (800-654-4567, code 401) for a copy.
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Air Products' microbulk systems provide a simplified, more economical gas delivery
method for small to mid-range applications. Microbulk gas delivery includes supply
of argon, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide in a liquid cryogenic state with relatively
small storage tanks (230 to 1500 liters) and offers several cost-savings and efficiency benefits:
- Less waste: microbulk virtually eliminates the expense of residual gas, sometimes up to 20% in a cylinder. You only pay for gas metered off the truck each delivery.
- Reduced labor costs and improved safety: Eliminate cylinder change-outs.
- Fewer purchasing and inventory transactions.
- Reduced contamination potential, a common problem when you source from different tanks.
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You don't stay in business for almost 40 years without delivering quality, customer service,
and competitive prices. So when Alpha Sintered Metals, Inc. (ASM), a leading manufacturer
of sintered metal parts, was examining ways to modernize production and reduce costs,
it needed to be sure that its reputation for quality and service would be maintained.
With equipment partner Surface Combustion, Air Products conducted a demonstration
program to evaluate the practicality of using a Surface Combustion RX® Endothermic
Gas Generator to provide the hydrogen portion of a sintering atmosphere with a less
expensive Nitrogen–RX® atmosphere blend from Air Products, which ASM has trusted
for its atmosphere supply for more than 20 years.
ASM test-sintered a full array of materials in the production furnace using a
nitrogen–endo blend, then compared the dimensional change and physical properties
of the parts with its normal nitrogen-hydrogen production atmosphere. In half of
ASM's parts, the tolerances and quality met the company's high standards and tight specifications.
As a result, ASM plans to convert four furnaces to an 80% nitrogen-20% RX blend, for
a gas cost savings of 20% over the nitrogen–hydrogen atmosphere—without degradation
of quality or production time. With progressive thinking like this, another 40 years of
success at ASM looks promising indeed.
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Don Bowe
Senior Principal Industry Engineer
Q:
I'm experiencing intermittent oxidation in my furnace. Could leaks in the nitrogen houseline be the problem?
A:
Yes, leaks in any pressurized high-purity gas line can cause intermittent oxidation. There
are several possible causes. One is through retrodiffusion—the movement of impurities
from the surrounding air to a high-pressure, low-impurity gas houseline.
To learn how to minimize wasted product and part oxidation, call us for a leak detection
or full process audit at 800-654-4567, code 401.
Learn whether you're following best practices in atmosphere supply and other
operational areas by assessing your process at
www.metalsassessment.com.
As seen in Industrial Heating, past "Ask the Expert" questions
can be viewed online.
Send us your questions.
Send it to gigmrktg@airproducts.com.
Each quarter we'll select the most challenging question to win a $100 gift
certificate. Congratulations to Robert O'Neill, last quarter's winner.
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Our representatives will be at the following events. We hope to see
you there to discuss your metals processing needs.
- EASTEC 2006 Exposition and Conference
May 23–25, 2006
W. Springfield, Massachusetts
- MPIF's PowderMet 2006
June 18–21, 2006
San Diego, California
- International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS)
September 6–13, 2006
Chicago, Illinois
- Furnaces North America 2006
September 27–28, 2006
Reno, Nevada
- Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T)
October 15–19, 2006
Cincinnati, Ohio
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Robert Kelly
An Englishman in New York?
Well, Allentown actually; however, it could be New York or Paris, London, Moscow,
Mexico City or any one of up to 20-plus cities around the world in which principal
applications specialist (and U.K. native) Bob Kelly has done business.
Kelly admits that his lifelong hero is James Bond. In fact, he sees a handful of similarities
between his role at Air Products and that of the fabled British field agent. While
you won't see Kelly tracking down Goldfinger or foiling the evil schemes of Dr. No,
you will find him working with customers to help improve their manufacturing performance.
After all, he has more than 20 years of international experience in the field of heating and
combustion, in industries including iron and steel, glass, power generation and petrochemical.
His black belt is in Six Sigma rather than martial arts, helping him bring a wealth of expertise
and quality focus to the heart of customers' plants.
He is particularly proud of a recent project that involves incorporating oxygen into a metals
treating process, realizing $3.5 million in annual fuel savings. Like all good field operators,
Kelly sees this success as a result of teamwork. "Bond had Q, M and Moneypenny. I have
the support of the team at Air Products."
Kelly's devotion to customers extends beyond standard work hours. "I once received
a call at 1 a.m. from an oil refinery where we had to dispatch several tons of equipment and
be on-site immediately," he says. "The refinery manager was actually waiting
and watching us. Every minute of time saved him thousands of dollars.
"Bond reinvents himself constantly-the learning process is ongoing, just like it is in
the field," he adds. "Our job is more than just providing a product and an invoice
again and again. The difference is service."
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You can request more information or any of the documents referenced
in this issue by calling us at 800-654-4567, code 401, or by sending an email to
gigmrktg@airproducts.com.
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© Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. 2006 330-06-031.1-US
