Solar Manufacturing Inc. announced that its patent application for a new 20-bar vacuum furnace has been accepted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Solar Manufacturing Inc. announced that its patent application for a new 20-bar vacuum furnace has been accepted (Application Number 13/573,001 dated Aug. 13, 2012) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The application covers several aspects of a unique design that will provide optimum cooling performance using different gases at pressures ranging from 2 to 20 bar. Features of this new furnace include:

• Sliding rear graphite hot zone baffles to minimize radiation losses when closed and provide direct gas flow to the heat exchanger when opened. There are no standard fixed exit baffles to restrict gas flow.
• A chevron-type diffuser installed before the heat exchanger to minimize radiation loss during cooling and to provide optimum gas-flow distribution to the heat exchanger.
• A highly efficient and more compact heat exchanger that incorporates high surface area per unit volume.

Other features include:      

• A design that provides maximum available cooling-motor horsepower (HP) by reducing pressure drops throughout entire system, allowing for maximum acceleration of cooling gas through the tapered nozzles.
• A plenumless design that allows for better and more uniform gas flow and distribution throughout the entire hot zone.
• The optimum utilization of the cooling-motor performance with the inclusion of a VFD (variable frequency drive) and the ability to cool at various backfill pressures while continuously varying motor speeds to achieve constant maximum HP.