Drying the paint on dumper trucks
Warwickshire-based Thwaites supplies the construction industry with a wide range of dumper trucks and has been at the forefront of specialist design and manufacturing for more than half a century. Their wide range of dumpers range from smaller models suitable for residential property projects up to industrial size vehicles used by contractors on full scale commercial sites.
Despite having already benefited from 20 years of reliability from two Lanemark FD5EP-3 burners installed back in 1998, the newer FD5GAP-3 design had been developed in the intervening time, offering significant improvements in control, efficiency and, importantly, safety. After experiencing the performance gains from one of our newer FDGA air heating burners installed on a standalone oven, they asked us to carry out the same swap on the two older burners in their paint drying facility.
We installed new FDGA burners to two separate drying ovens, which fire through the wall of the oven into a combustion chamber with a recirculating fan which then distributes the heat evenly. By retaining the existing mounting flanges we were able make the installation as straightforward as possible, completing the work within a two-day maintenance shutdown period.
Both ovens receive products via an overhead conveyor; one for an epoxy primer preheat facility and the other for a polyurethane top coat drying installation. Utilising a Propane gas source, they handle up to 60 different components per day for machines weighing up to 10 tonnes.
The Result
Our FDGA burners utilise the latest ‘air pressure lead’ mono-bloc gas valve technology which helps maintain safe and efficient gas/air ratios at all times, even under variable plant operating conditions. These offer greater benefits than alternative fixed gas/air valve linkage control arrangements, where the absence of mechanical linkages between the gas and combustion air control valve and dampers avoids the risk of sticking or the need for adjustment.
“Temperature control and stability are vital for the paint adherence process to be optimised and this is fulfilled by the Lanemark burners,” says Thawaites’ Paintshop Supervisor. “We typically set the oven temperature to 90°C but the burners can operate at up to 110°C – a useful factor during winter months when ambient temperature can be somewhat lower. The added performance of the new standalone burner meant we had no hesitation in opting for the two additional Lanemark burners for the paint drying facility”.
Here’s to delivering another 20 years’ worth of reliability, performance and efficiency!
