The work was completed in just two days during a shutdown maintenance period.
“The two new burners have been fixed to two separate drying ovens, both of which receive products via an overhead conveyor – one for an epoxy primer preheat facility and the other for a polyurethane top coat drying installation,” says Jeff Foster, Lanemark’s sales director, who says up to 60 different components for the 1-10 tonne machines are handled each day.
“In both cases the burners, which here operate with a propane gas source, fire through the wall of the oven into a combustion chamber with a recirculating fan then distributing the heat evenly around the oven chamber,” he adds.
The replacement of the two existing Lanemark burners – both hi/lo units which have delivered reliable performance since 1998 – have allowed Thwaites to gain from the latest designs and technology.
Lanemark’s FDGA burners utilise an ‘air pressure lead’ mono-bloc gas valve technology, and are said to offer significant benefits compared with alternative fixed gas/air valve linkage control arrangements. The absence of mechanical linkages between the gas and combustion air control valve and dampers means the need for adjustment and the risk of sticking is avoided.
Thwaites’ paint shop supervisor, who was not named, highlights the importance of the new installations. “Temperature control and stability are vital for the paint adherence process to be optimised and this is fulfilled by the Lanemark burners,” he says. “Typically, we 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, of course, be somewhat lower.”
Thwaites has also installed a further FDGA unit installed on a stand-alone oven recently.
It also benefits from support of the Lanemark BurnerCare service package, which offers a range of benefits from installation, commissioning and service plans to spare parts supply and rapid engineer call-out.