Plant engineering used in the push-through plant
We have developed a push-through plant especially for the production of wheels with a reference size of 20 inches and larger. It is characterised by a large loading width (3,650 mm) and lower energy consumption.
In the push-through plant, the wheels are transported through the ovens on stackable product carriers. The special feature of this is that only the wheels are quenched after solution annealing, but not the product carriers. This means that the product carriers are not subjected to quenching stress and the thermal energy contained in them is used for heating the ageing furnace. After quenching, the wheels are tilted to allow the water to drain off. When quenching with polymer, this minimises the rinsing effort.
A robust pusher system is used as the conveyor system for the solution annealing furnace. The transport through the ageing furnace is carried out by means of a slat conveyor. If required, the wheels can be cooled down for subsequent production steps after ageing.