Furnaces North America 2024 – The Buzz? Energy Efficiency and Standards Compliance

Blog Summary:

1.  The 2024 Furnaces North America (FNA) trade show showcased significant advancements and challenges in industrial heat treatment, focusing on energy efficiency, regulatory compliance, and process certification standards.
2.  Efficiency and environmental responsibility: The industry is moving towards greater energy efficiency and sustainability, driven by regulatory requirements and corporate goals. Advanced Energy (AE) offers solutions like silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) power controllers to optimize power factor and reduce costs.
3. Process certification and digital transformation: Advances in process certifications and digital transformation were highlighted, particularly for aerospace and military applications. AE supports compliance with technologies like infrared pyrometers, thermal mapping, and calibrators, helping companies meet stringent requirements and ensure quality and reliability.

The 2024 Furnaces North America (FNA) trade show is a premier event for industrial heat treatment. It attracts global attendees and highlights advances and challenges affecting heat treatment processes. The show offered insights into emerging industry trends, including energy efficiency, regulatory compliance and process certification standards. 

One thing was clear from the show: with the growing demand for reduced carbon footprints and optimized power usage, companies must embrace advanced solutions to stay competitive and compliant.

Advanced Energy (AE) remains at the forefront of these efforts, providing state-of-the-art solutions that enhance power factor, enable precise temperature measurement, streamline digital transformations, and support high-stakes compliance for industries like aerospace and defense. 

Below are two key takeaways from the event and information on how our technologies are enabling facilities to achieve cost savings and operational excellence.

Key Takeaways from FNA 2024

1. Efficiency and Environmental Responsibility 
While environmental considerations are not typically associated with industrial heat treatment, the industry is advancing in energy efficiency and sustainability. Influenced by regulatory requirements and corporate goals, companies are working to lower their carbon emissions and improve power usage efficiency.
 
Large plants must comply with stricter utility requirements, as power providers impose penalties for low power factors (PF). Utilities often charge fees if PF drops below 0.9, or sometimes even 0.95. This incentivizes facilities to improve their power factor to save costs and enhance electrical system stability and capacity.
 
AE Solutions for Power Factor Optimization
Technical sessions at FNA emphasized the benefits of advanced power controllers for improving power factor (PF). AE’s silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) power controllers with Voltage Sequence Control (VSC) mode offer a solution. The Thyro VSC mode optimizes SCR firing angles based on load requirements, reducing reactive power losses and enhancing PF.
 
2. Process Certification and Digital Transformation 
The conference also highlighted advances in process certifications and the digital transformation sweeping the industry. Many FNA attendees are actively involved in professional committees dedicated to maintaining quality and safety standards, especially for aerospace and military applications. 

Key discussions centered around updates to the Aerospace Material Specification (AMS), managed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and Nadcap compliance standards—particularly AMS2750, which defines pyrometric requirements for heat treatment processes as well as Nadcap’s standardized auditing and accreditation for suppliers. 

Another focus was the essential role of professional services in helping companies meet these stringent requirements, offering technical expertise to navigate complex compliance.
 
How AE Supports Compliance
There are a growing number of professional services companies that help heat treat shops manage both AMS and Nadcap requirements. AE’s Critical Sensing & Control (CSC) product group has delivered several technologies for implementation at many points along the heat treatment process. These include:

• Measuring process and product with Impac® infrared pyrometers,
• Enabling thermal mapping inside furnaces with Mikron® infrared imaging,
• Calibrating furnaces with TEGAM® calibrators,
• Calibrating infrared pyrometers with MIKRON blackbody calibration sources.

With the support of professional service firms specializing in AMS and Nadcap requirements, heat treatment shops can better manage the complexities of these standards, ensuring the highest levels of quality and reliability in their operations. For more information about Advanced Energy’s portfolio of CSC products and their features, click here. 

Finally, to learn more about Advanced Energy’s presence at this year’s FNA, visit: Furnaces North America | Advanced Energy.