One of India’s largest air cooler/heat exchanger manufacturers recently selected a vacuum furnace from Seco/Warwick. The customer’s choice is a three chamber CaseMaster Evolution (CMe) furnace which will be used for heat exchangers. The client has decided on Seco/Warwick vacuum technology after a long period of trials with single and double chamber furnaces.

The CMe furnace with vacuum loading and cooling chambers is a semiautomatic brazing furnace that is quickly becoming popular especially in automotive, aerospace and defense industries due to its superb performance and high precision. Here, the client’s focus was on increasing production volume of its air cooling/heat exchangers.

The client was previously using single-chamber furnaces but Seco/Warwick’s three-chamber technology became so attractive that the client conducted a number of trials at various heat solution providers to finally decide on the furnace. The engineering team played a great role in the process with professional support to train the client’s crew and acquaint them with the vacuum technology. As both parties stressed, there was a close cooperation on both sides and on all the levels starting with top management and finalizing on operating levels of the production team. Sharing information was transparent and the learning process was smooth.

CaseMaster Evolution–T (CMe-T) is a three-chamber vacuum furnace that delivers economical surface hardening using low-pressure carburizing (LPC) technology and high-pressure nitrogen quenching. The CMe-T furnace can replace existing lines and generators used for mass heat-treatment under protective atmosphere and oil quenching, while ensuring higher precision and process repeatability. This solution stands out not simply because of its three-chamber design, but more significantly because of improved process quality, cost reduction from doubling yields, and increased production flexibility.

These are among the key reasons that aviation and automotive manufacturers are becoming increasingly attracted to CMe-T as their heat treat solution of choice.

“The client has chosen Seco/Warwick technology after long trials with other single and double chamber solutions from our competitors. Although initially the client focused simply on increasing the volume of production there was the whole spectrum of benefits not offered by the competitors. In a word, the advantage through technology prevailed,” said Maciej Korecki, vice president,  vacuum business segment at Seco/Warwick.

“Our engineering team worked closely with the client since this was the first vacuum technology purchased by the manufacturer; furthermore, Seco/Warwick is prepared to provide full customer assistance in implementing both technology and crew training at the site,” added Manoranjan Parta, managing director, Seco/Warwick India.