Refurbished Furnace for Picatinny Arsenal Sent to U.S. Army

Solar Manufacturing of Telford, PA has recently shipped a refurbished Vacuum Industries Workhorse II horizontal vacuum furnace for installation at the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in Picatinny, New Jersey. The refurbishment work included upgrading the all-metallic hot zone to improve thermal efficiency, new power terminal feed-throughs, new water cooling system, and an updated control instrumentation.

The hot zone received new molybdenum shield end caps on the main hot zone and new front and rear end shield assemblies consisting of seven layers of molybdenum. The hot zone is capable of a maximum operating temperature of 3200°F. The water cooling system was improved with a new copper manifold and brass fittings for better corrosion-free water distribution. The instrument upgrade included a new Honeywell DCP-551 temperature controller, new Honeywell UDC-2000 overtemperature controller and new Televac MM200 vacuum gauge controller. The control cabinet was also configured for partial pressure operation as well as additional standard valve sequencing.

Solar Manufacturing is focused on high quality, energy saving solutions for vacuum furnaces. With a combined total of over sixty (60) years of hot zone design experience and over ninety (90) years of vacuum furnace experience, Solar Manufacturing provides high and super high efficiency hot zones utilizing today’s most advanced insulating materials and user friendly designs.