Military base installs LEWCO composite curing oven

 

 

LEWCO (Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.) recently reported the delivery of an enhanced duty composite curing oven to a military base. The oven has a maximum temperature of 650°F and is used to cure vacuum-bagged composite aircraft parts.

According to the company, the enhanced duty walk-in oven features a top-mounted heater-box with a 1,500,000 BTU direct fired natural gas burner, and two 36,000 CFM high-efficiency circulation fans provide uniform heat throughout the workspace. The airflow volume of the oven is designed to meet the strict temperature uniformity requirements. The temperature uniformity exceeded customer specifications of ±10 °F, by achieving better than ±5 °F at an operating temperature of 375 °F.

Included with the oven are six vacuum ports, one vacuum transducer, six type “J” thermocouple jacks, an integral vacuum pump, and a 60-gallon vacuum pressure accumulator tank with variable pressure controls.

Oven controls include a Eurotherm Nanodac temperature controller with a redundant high-limit controller to provide precise temperature control with over-temperature protection. Controller capabilities include a serial communication port, ramp/soak programming and data logging. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) interfaced with a Human Machine Interface (HMI) to communicate over Ethernet IP enables remote monitoring. The equipment and controls are designed to be compliant with AMS2750E. Due to flammable volatiles present in the workspace, the oven is designed to NFPA 86 Class A Standards.