Case Study
Nutro Manufacturing
Nutro Machinery’s combo oven saved space and boosted speed for a garden shovel powder coating application.
Floor Space
The medium-wave quartz tube infrared oven length is 8′ long. Try accomplishing that in a gas convection oven.
Maintenance
With a typical life expectancy of 10,000 hours for Solar Products’ quartz tube heaters, the customer will be operating for a long time without any maintenance problems. With a normal operating time of 2,500 hours per year, that equates to four years of maintenance-free operation.
Response Time
One of the many advantages of medium-wave quartz tube heaters is response time. Most infrared heaters require 5 – 10 minutes for warm-up time. A convection oven takes 20 to 30 minutes to warm up. On average, quartz tubes can be at temperature in 30 seconds. This fast response time can additionally avoid product damage occurring as a result of overheating upon line stoppage.
Quartz tube heaters
Energy Consumption
The input power rating is often viewed as the actual power usage for an electric infrared oven. In this case, the oven required 42.5 kW of electric infrared energy. But in actual operation, its energy usage is less than 30 kW. If we use conservative calculations, we calculate 30 kW x $0.08 per kW hour = $2.40 per hour of operation. At 112 parts per hour, that equates to $0.021 per part. The energy consumption for paint and powder applications typically accounts for less than 1% of the product selling price. Our guess is that $0.021 is well below that 1% margin. The best part about Solar Products’ quartz tube heaters is the use of internal reflectors. External reflectors only get dirty over time, reducing system efficiency, whereas Solar Products’ quartz tube heaters maintain a consistently high radiant efficiency (76.5%) over time.
Solar Products’ quartz tube heaters
- Have a life expectancy of 10,000 hours.
- Have a fast response time.
- Have internal reflectors that maintain a consistently high radiant energy.
- Require far less floor space than gas convection ovens.
| Specifications | Part Details |
| Part description | Garden shovel |
| Coating | Powder – 2.5 mils thick |
| Coating application | Automatic spray gun with rotating parts |
| Length of oven | 8′ Oven |
| Zones per oven | The zones are the result of tube spacing |
| Zone 1 | Top half of the oven – shovel handle |
| Zone 2 | Bottom half of the oven – shovel spade |
| Oven type | Infrared with air assist |
| Heater type | Solar Products’ mediumwave quartz tubes |
| Input power | 42.5 kW |
| Actual power usage | Less than 30 kW |
| Conveyor type | Overhead monorail conveyor |
| Conveyor speed | 1.92 fpm |
| Part Weight | 7.5 oz |
| Production Rate | 112 parts per hour |
| Gel and cure time | (dwell time) 4 minutes |