Lanemark's customer and plastic specialist’s Romold is benefiting from the latest process of gas heating thanks to the engineering firm. Rotational moulding operations are undertaken by the Livingston-based company feature a Lanemark FDGA forced draught burner system which is delivering clear benefits in terms of both improved operations and greater energy efficiency.
Maximising energy efficiency and reducing emissions is the prime targets of any process heating application, in which the FDGA forced draught burner system achieves. One of the ways in which this application reduces emissions whilst optimising efficiency is through heat released directly to the airflow. All of the available energy is delivered to the process.
Talking about their latest installation at Romold, Lanemark Sales Manager, Adrian Cadman said: “Over time, the company’s gas burner had reduced inefficiency and, indeed, some of the spares and consumables it can need had, effectively, become obsolete – so the gains that could be achieved by the new installation were clear cut.”
A Lanemark FD30GAN-3 burner, rated at 1,320 kW, together with a combustion air fan inlet filter, control system and associated pipework upgrade are all now operational at the site. The improvement in efficiency was evident from day one, according to the company’s Production Planning Manager, Michael Adams –
“Our old burner would take some 45 minutes to reach the target temperature of 260°C, which has now been reduced to just five minutes,” he says. “Heat distribution is also very even throughout the chamber which has a direct operational input on the quality of the product that is at the heart of our reputation.”
The Lanemark burner fires through the wall of a Rotospeed machine within which a multi-directional arm, that supports the mould, moves to achieve the optimum flow of the heated crushed polyurethane pellets that are central to the rotational moulding process.
“Significantly, the design of the FDGA burner features an electronic variable speed drive which receives temperature control signals from the system temperature controller, interfacing them directly with the combustion air fan motor,” explains Adrian Cadman. “When the required process operating temperature has been reached a control signal is sent to the burner controls and the combustion air fan speed slows down reducing the air pressure that it generates. This is then transmitted to the latest generation gas/air modulating control valves so that the gas flow is reduced proportionally.” He adds that this not only helps to maximise efficiency but also eradicates the need for mechanical linkages which can be prone to slippage or wear and tear.
The Lanemark installation at Romold has been supplied complete with the burner manufacturer’s BurnerCare support package which delivers ongoing operational confidence via a combination of factors that include service agreements, spares supply and engineer support.