Northern Combustion Systems submitted a tender to The University of Sheffield for the supply of an Advanced Heat Treatment Facility. Through evaluation we were successfully awarded the contract for our most economically advantageous tender based on price and technical capability.

Hempel paints is one of the world leaders in intumescent passive fire protection coatings. In 2015, Northern Combustion Systems designed, manufactured and installed a new fire test furnace and control system, and upgraded their current furnaces in their coatings R&D centre in Poliyna, Barcelona, Spain.

Working with Goodwin Steel Castings to supply a new 50 tonne heat treatment facility within the Stoke-On-Trent Jubilee Building, Northern Combustion Systems turnkey supply was to incorporate a new 50 tonne heat treatment furnace for the heat treatment of large complex alloy castings. The facility included a charging machine and 500,000 litre water quench tank designed and installed by Goodwin Steel Castings.

The furnace was designed for a load capacity of 50 tonnes plus an 8 tonnes hearth tray, heated in a working survey zone of 5.0m³.

At the time of installation this plant has the largest capacity in terms of treatable component length in the UK. This complete turn key heat treatment line is used by our customer for contract heat treatment. Transfer time for the load from furnace to quench is as low as 48 seconds, with the whole plant being PLC controlled from a single control room with no access to the working area being required by the operators during heat treatment or quenching. The plant layout is designed such that the bespoke pass-over charger does not have to travel laterally to transfer the load from the furnace to the quench therefore significantly reducing the time components are exposed to atmosphere, allowing better quenching and ultimately better metallurgical properties for the components

Full turnkey, design, manufacture and installation of two furnaces to walk spring steel through to pre-heat bars up to 1000°C delivering the bars on demand to a robotic arm, accurately positioning the bars in the coiling machine in the manufacture of coiled springs. Furnace 1 capacity – Bars in length up to 5 meters ranging from Ø16mm – Ø35mm. Throughput of 1.5 tonnes per hour.

Another furnace supplied to a client in North East of England, Northern Combustion Systems carried out a turnkey project for a new Slab Pre-Heating Furnace
The new furnace was designed to operate at 1320°C with a temperature uniformity of ±25°C at soak temperature. The furnace duty to reheat reference slabs in less than 400 minutes – hot furnace / cold slabs. To reheat reference slabs in less than 600 minutes – cold furnace / cold slabs.

With the use of a clamshell style furnace with an outdated and inefficient burner system Northern Combustion Systems worked with the client to increase production with a new efficient burner system for hardening and tempering cycles. The replacement furnace style installed included a door operated in the vertical plane, counterbalanced and a motorised gearbox. A pneumatic door clamping and guide system included to allow quick access for rapid polymer quenching achieving the crucial grain structure of the maximum 4 tonne load.

Another furnace supplied to a regular client in South Yorkshire, Northern Combustion Systems carried out a turnkey project for a new Roller Hearth Tempering Furnace.
The new furnace was designed to operate in a range of 440°C to 800°C with a temperature uniformity of ±5°C throughout the operating range in accordance with Nadcap class 2 & AMS 2750. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modelling was provided to simulate uniformity and thermal heat loss to discuss possible countermeasures to optimise the furnace prior to manufacture.

2013 marked a milestone for Crosby Premier Stampings with the supply of a continuous water quenching heat treatment plant. Northern Combustion Systems provided a package which included the design, manufacture, installation and commissioning of one hardening furnace, one tempering furnace, one water quench tank and associated loading and transfer systems providing continues treatment. The equipment utilises the latest PLC technology and was designed to the customer specific requirements, which allows for full control of mechanical properties of all their components.

Northern Combustion Systems supplied a new heat treatment plant for a local customer, Furniss & White (Foundries) Ltd. The package consisted of one gas fired furnace, a transfer charging machine, water quench tank and all appropriate ancillary equipment for the complete heat treatment of castings fully designed, built, installed, commissioned and includes operator training with a service package.

As a regular supplier to a superior Indian steel producer, Northern Combustion Systems Ltd supplied a number of plant as part of a major contract for a 3.9 million Tonne expansion.

The 4 off Vertical ladle heaters designed on the cantilever principle, comprised of a pivoted, refractory lined cover with a centrally positioned, down firing duel fuel gas burner. The burner equipped with separate valve control systems to enable the burner to operate on corex gas with rapid change over to natural gas operation. The burner and ladle cover raised and lowered through 90°C using an integral hydraulic lifting system. The duty of the vertical ladle stations ranged from 450°C to 1200°C to preheat ladles in accordance with customer heating cycles.

Complete Heat Treatment Line for hardening and tempering of steel bars. Supplied to Abbey Group, Sheffield, England.
Comprising of: Two Heat Treatment Furnaces, Water Quench, Adiabatic Cooler, Charging Machine and Loading Tables.

A large kiln designed and built for a clay pipe manufacturer. The pipes which are mainly for drainage can be up to 800mm diameter. A full kiln area door opening is provided for drive in fork truck loading. The door itself is of the garage type ‘up and over’.

We were asked to design a ladle preheater for the heating of ladles before filling with molten steel.
On a site visit we noticed there was an unused jib crane, we incorporated this as part of the design to suspend the preheater lid allowing it so be to raise , spun and lowered on to three ladles positioned on stands within the jib arm radius.
The result proved to be very efficient and safe for our client’s employees use.

This preheating station shown here installed at a large steel producer in India is used to preheat vessels used in a steel de-gassing process. The twin burner system has been designed to run on Corex gas for the low temperature part of the heating cycle and then to automatically switch to the second burner which uses a mix of pure oxygen and gas capable of taking the vessel to a temperature of 1550ºC. The main vessel cover is water cooled and a smaller cover is provided for the vessel spout. This PLC controlled system utilises full electronic flame safeguards to shut the burners down should there be a loss of gas, oxygen or combustion air pressure, operating limits or over temperature alarm.

Northern Combustion Systems supply bespoke charging machines for the heat treatment sector, designed to the needs of the customer. Full design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and training can be provided.

The main objective of the charger is to safely transfer the load in the shortest time from opening the door to total immersion of the load into the quench which is critical. Northern Combustion can achieve this in less than 30 seconds. This depends on speed and size of the facility.

Northern Combustion Systems has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the design, manufacture and install of quenching systems. Optimal quench uniformity is essential if the potential for cracking, distortion, residual stress and spotty hardness is to be minimized. Cooling must be as uniform as possible throughout the quenching process.

Northern Combustion Systems Limited offer a full in-house electrical team, this includes system designers, PLC programmers, panels builders and installers.

All our Control Panels and systems are designed bespoke to the individual project requirements. Our manufacturing facility utilises the latest technology for both the design and the manufacturing processes, as well as having the backing and support of leading brands such as Siemens, Phoenix Contact & Eurotherm for our components.