The customer manufactures various parts for several aircraft manufacturers.
The oven was designed with the capacity to heat a 3500 lb load (per oven section) of composite material and steel structure from 70°F to 300°F within 1 hour when loaded into an ambient oven.
The oven is divided into two independent chambers that are separated by a vertical lift door which can be opened to combine the chambers for curing long parts. The front section of the composite curing oven has a useable chamber length of 25 ft and the rear section has a useable chamber length of 20 ft. When the centre door is open the curing oven has an overall useable chamber length of 45 ft.
Wisconsin Oven, a supplier of industrial ovens located in East Troy, Wisconsin, USA, says the composite curing oven has total chamber dimensions of 12 ft wide x 46 ft long x 8 ft high and a maximum operating temperature of 500ºF.
Each individual chamber utilises a 1 500 000 BTU per hour industrial air heat burner including a motorised gas control valve, flame detector and flame relay with alarm horn. The front chamber recirculation system has a 37 000 CFM @ 30 HP blower and the rear chamber has a 30 000 CFM @ 25 HP blower. A combination airflow design was used to maximise heating rates and temperature uniformity.
The industrial batch oven is specifically designed with composite curing features for precise temperature and pressure control. The exhaust features motorised dampers on both the fresh air inlet and the exhaust outlet for enhanced heating and cooling capabilities. The vacuum system has a total of 80 interior vacuum stubs and 40 vacuum ports located throughout the oven. The oven also has 80 type “J” thermocouple jacks and a jack panel wired to the data acquisition system for control and recording. These features provide the customer with the ability to closely monitor part temperatures for a high quality cure.
