IR Furnace News & Events

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LA-309 CE IR Furnace installed in Ireland

LIMERICK, IRELAND December 2012.  Installation and start up of a new LA-309N 3-Zone computer-controlled infrared furnace was completed in South Western Ireland. 

Computer-controlled, the furnace was built to perform a number of critcial production processes at 300-500C normal operation in a nitrogen atmosphere.  An almost unlimited number of specific furnace recipes can be configured and stored by the process engineer for operator recall and use.

The furnace has 3 heating zones in the standard 190 mm-380 mm-190 mm (7.5", 15", 7.5") configuration for a total of 760 mm (30") IR heating.  Baffle sections before and after the furnace are 380 mm (15") long. A 760 mm (30") long closed atmosphere cooling tunnel or CACT provides high efficiency convective cooling before parts exit the furnace.

Limerick, Ireland in December

The furnace was manufactured compliant with applicable CE directives.  Before shipping the furnace passed factory acceptance testing (FAT) reulting in Oxygen levels well below 20 ppmv in the furnace chamber at 500C. The furnace was designed to process solder seal, glass seal and PCB reflow products to specific profiles.

The furnace was manufactured by LCI in the USA. ev12-12

New SENSLAS Laser Product Alert System

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA June 2012.  A new CMOS Laser product alert system was introduced featuring pushbutton calibration of foreground and background objects to dectect desirable products within a defined field of view.  The audible chime is adjustable to 4 discrete levels.

Simple to operate, when the system is enabled the ON-OFF switch is lit with a white light.  When product is detected by the lasor sensor the orange pushbutton lites.  Press the orange butten to silence the system and reset the sensor.  The SENSLAS system can be purchased with a new or rebuilt RTC furnace, or as an add-on SENSLAS Pendant for an existing furnace.  ev12-06

LA-306 Compact Lab Furnace Updated.  3-Phase Available!  

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA, USA February 2013.  The popular LA-306 compact IR furnace reintroduced in 2012 has been updated with a new PLC (programmable logic controller) control system.  The new control system removes the manual time delay for shutdown-after-cooldown and replaces it with automatic shutdown after all zones reach 100°C for 2 minutes, similar to our larger computer-controlled furnaces.

The LA-306 is a ten-foot long 3-zone infrared lab belt furnace capable of operating continuously up to a maximum temperature of 550°C or as high as 1000°C with the HT option. Use Instrument Air (CDA) or select HC (hermetic chamber) option to use with another process gas. Nominal belt width is 6 inches (15 cm).  The 30-inch long small furnace heating chamber facilitates stable temperatures throughout the heating zones.

For those familiar with earlier LA-306 models, the  heating zone in the new improved LA-306 is slightly longer than the original RTC LA-306 and the cooling transition has been improved over the earlier design to provide better temperature control and isolation of the furnace chamber.

Select 208, 220 or 230 240 Vac (50 or 60 Hz) single phase operation; or 208-415 Vac 3-phase.  The heating elements controlled by three independent PID controllers coordinated by the PLC to fire SCR's to assure high efficiency, fast response and very low power consumption (typically 4.5-6 kW) even at higher 750°C to 1000°C operation.

These furnace systems are designed and built-to-order by LCI Furnaces in southern California, USA to assure high quality.  Many options of larger furnace systems can be added to suit individual requirements.  ev13-02