Product category:
Materials Testing
News Release from: Lenton Thermal Designs | Subject: Test furnace oven
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 16 April 2007
Custom-built furnace has integral
weighing system
Lenton Thermal Designs has custom-made a test furnace for Jaguar and Land Rover, providing a method for measuring the soot content of exhaust filters fitted on the company's diesel-engined vehicles.
A special custom-built Lenton furnace with an integral weighing system has provided Jaguar and Land Rover with facilities for measuring the soot content of exhaust filters fitted on the company's diesel-engined vehicles The soot content of diesel particulate filters (DPF) is a key indicator of engine performance
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Jun 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Knowing the quantity of soot generated by different driving cycles over specific lengths of time allows design and development engineers to optimise engine performance.
Euro stage 5, due to come into force in 2009, specifies a maximum particulate output from diesel engines of 5mg/km - a performance that most Jaguars and Land Rovers already achieve.
The Lenton furnace has been designed to remove moisture and other contaminants from the accumulated deposits in a DPF, so that they can be weighed and compared with other samples very accurately and with precise repeatability.
The maximum soot content of a filter weighing 15kg is about 40g but may be only 4g, so very accurate equipment is needed to measure the relatively small differences generated by different driving cycles.
The equipment consists of a work chamber 750mm wide x 300mm high x 1600mm long with elements mounted in the base and the lid.
Maximum operating temperature is 1000degC, with an eight-segment PID instrument allowing various processing programmes to be pre-set and run automatically.
A weighing system is incorporated within the furnace base, with a cradle in the chamber supporting the item being processed.
The instrumentation provides continuous displays and hard-copy records of temperature, weight and time.
Drying the soot in a DPF typically takes around five hours at 100degC.
The furnace is also used for removing binders, oils and other volatiles and for regenerating DPFs by burning off all contaminants, for which Lenton has incorporated an air supply linked to the equipment's temperature controller.
These processes require temperatures around 680degC and last up to 20 hours.
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