Extending Furnace Campaign Life

The requirement to extend the Furnace Designed Campaign Life is becoming more common than in previous times due to both the present and proposed future production and financial restraints enforced by the World markets.

In order to extend the campaign life of a furnace a pro-active programme of observation and maintenance should be identified and set in place.

DISMATEC can help with the preparation and execution of this pro-active programme by offering their furnace refractory structure audit service together with their mechanical and electrical equipment thermography survey service.

The furnace refractory structure audit service includes for the following;

• A full visual audit of the total furnace refractory structure, including the melting end, throat, distributor, forehearths, ports, regenerators and flues.
• A thermography audit of predominately the glass bath and throat areas, although other areas of the furnace can be added, including the melting end crown to indicate wear patterns created by flame characteristics and other concerning areas.
• An endoscopic survey of predominately the internal area of the melting end with other selected areas that may be giving cause for concern due to internal wear or structure instability.

Each service includes for the recording of the present condition of the furnace refractory structure in the form of observations made and from these observations recommendations are given, where necessary, in order to secure or restore the stability of the furnace refractory structure.

Using the data obtained from the audit service, assessments are made by Dismatec on the condition of the furnace refractory structure, the concerning areas identified in the form of a summary and a full conclusion on the condition of the structure which in turn leads towards a schedule of audits and maintenance programme being formulated by Dismatec and the Customer for the required furnace campaign life.

From experience the furnace refractory structure audit service offered by Dismatec, either in part or total, has contributed to extending the furnace designed campaign life by between 2-4 years.

The Dismatec audit service is a unique ‘pro-active tool’ helping to identify potential problems at an early stage, prevent unexpected and sudden refractory structure failure thereby securing structural stability, allowing the time for the planning and formulating of a scheduled maintenance programme and assisting in the extension of furnace life.