HMI/SCADA systems
MRF furnaces sport intuitive HMI software with fully automated custom run profiles integrating loading, atmosphere preparation, heating, cooling and unloading parameters in one recipe tied to specific batches. Furnace data is collected, displayed, and is available for reporting and quality control locally or over the enterprise network. Secure operation is provided by giving each user a username and password, allowing only access to those functions assigned to their access level. Manual operation or configuration options can thus be limited to engineers, technicians or supervisors. The interface is very easy to navigate even for non tech savvy users.
Crystal Growing Kit
Equips our systems with a high precision motion system and crucible for Czochralski crystal growing. The crystal pulling speed is adjustable and controls accurately as low as 0.001”/min. (0.025mm/min). Seed rod rotation motor is also provided and has an adjustable speed from 0-30 rpm. A rotating crucible is also available. This kit allows growing of single crystals up to 4″ tall. Volume of crystal depends on the crucible size. This option is available on select furnace models.
Diffusion Vacuum System
Allows vacuum levels to 10-6 Torr (mBar) range. Adds a diffusion pump, baffle and additional valves to our Standard rough vacuum system. An optional holding pump and valve can also be added to this pumping system.
Our diffusion pumping systems come in sizes from 1″ to 35″ and can pump up to 50,000 l/sec. Diffusion pumping systems come standard with a cold trap (baffle). This cold trap comes with a no-maintenance, ozone friendly refrigeration unit to cool the baffle, substantially reducing back-streaming of diffusion pump oil vapors in combination with lower ultimate pumping pressures.
Our diffusion pumping systems also come with a matching mechanical pump, all the necessary vacuum sensors, vacuum lines and vacuum controls to seamlessly operate this system.
Turbo Pumping System
Allows vacuum levels to 10-7 Torr (mBar) range with an oil free pumping system for ultra clean environments. Adds a Turbo pump, additional valves and controls to our Standard rough vacuum system. “Dry” or oil free roughing pumps can substitute standard dual stage rotary vane pumps which rely on oil for lubrication.
Our turbo systems are often found in applications where cleanliness is an issue and diffusion pumping systems are not an option due to the potential of back-streaming of oil vapors. . The turbo pumps offer the advantage of being oil-less, having high compression ratios with lower obtainable operating pressures, requiring less maintenance and taking up less space. Turbo pumps can also be operated in a horizontal orientation often eliminating large and expensive pumping elbows and support frames.
Our turbo pumping systems, as well as any of our other pumping systems, are equipped with a roughing pump, all vacuum lines, vacuum sensors and vacuum controls necessary for operation.
Ion & Cryogenic pumping systems
Allows vacuum levels as low as 10-10 Torr (mBar). Adds a cryogenic or Ion pump, additional valves and controls to our Standard rough vacuum system.
For ultra high vacuum applications such as material research and analytical applications, the ion pumping system is ideal. Its components are simple yet effective for pumping molecules that can be ionized. Regenerative Cryogenic pumps are available as well operating on the principle of condensing molecules onto a cold surface. This as well as any of our other pumping systems comes complete with all sensors, valves, lines and controllers which are completely integrated with the rest of the furnace system.
Partial Pressure Control
Adds the capability to control partial pressure in the chamber in a customer specified range. Adds a butterfly valve for pumping speed control, and mass flow controllers for gas flow control to our standard rough vacuum and inert gas systems.
A butterfly valve is added for downstream pressure control, it modulates the valve orifice to maintain and control overall system pressure. Upstream one or several mass flow controllers are present to set the partial pressures or amounts of the different process gasses introduced into the chamber. The components are fully integrated into the control system for seamless operation with the rest of the furnace. Partial pressure systems are suited for CVD, CVI and numerous other applications.
Flammable Process gas System
Adds capability to operate in reducing gas environments. The furnace is equipped with gas burn-off system and additional safeties.
Hydrogen is the most common flammable gas used for reducing environments. This environment is often used to remove oxides and contaminants, or is a reactive gas used as part the process.
This option adds gas supply pressure sensors, an emergency gas line that open in case of power failures or alarm conditions, a pressure relief port, CDG pressure gauge, igniter, flame sensor and burn-off manifold as well as all necessary controls to operate the furnace safely with flammable gasses.
Gas Dew Point Control
Gives control over the amount of moisture that is added for running in mainly reducing gas environments. Typical dewpoint range is from -70°C to +20°C. A gas bubbler and additional gas controls are added for this option. This option is used in some processes to provide a certain amount of oxidation potential while running in a reducing environment.
A dewpoint sensor measures the amount of moisture present in the gas stream, compares this to the setpoint and modulates the dry versus wet gas ratio to obtain the desired dewpoint. Gas lines are heated to prevent condensation of moisture. A water tank with heater, level sensor and over-temperature protection is used to add moisture to the gas supply. Mass flow controllers are used to control the amount of gas and their mixtures, all controls come completely set up and integrated with the rest of the furnace control system.
Rapid Cooling
To increase hot zone cooling speed, a recirculating forced gas heat exchanger is added to extract heat from the furnace at a rate of up to 150,000 BTU/hr (44kW).
A fan circulates cool gas throughout the chamber and into a water cooled heat exchanger which removes heat from the chamber. Depending on the type of furnace, different cooling options are available. A separate cooling chamber is provided on some systems, in such cases a hot load is moved into this chamber and cooled to ambient. This leaves the hot chamber ready for another load for high throughput. Another option is to add automated swing shields which remove parts of the heat shielding from the hot zone when rapid cooling is desired. This allows cooling gas to flow through the heated portion of the hot zone more efficiently. Lastly, the simplest option is to circulate the cooling gas around the heat shields to remove heat without additional provisions. The gas circulation accelerates the cool down speed. The gas heat exchanger, fan and controls are seamlessly integrated into the rest of the furnace control system.
Gas Purifier
For extra pure gasses, the gas purifier removes impurities from the supply gas to below 1 part ber billion (1 ppb) for a large amount of substances.
Several filtering options are available to cover the range of necessary gas flow and to target specific impurities. Cartridge filters of different sizes target the widest range of substances and will reduce them to the parts per billions range. Gettering furnaces target oxygen specifically and reduce their presence to the parts per trillion range. If supply gasses are not of consistent quality, a gas purifier can improve consistency and quality of the inlet gas.
Oxygen Monitor
Monitors Oxygen content of the inert gas supply or sample gas from the chamber allowing the user to observe and quantify the oxygen content within the furnace chamber. The sensing range can be anywhere between 10,000 ppm and 1 ppm. The sensor is integrated in the gas line and can also be used to sample gas from the furnace chamber. A separate pump with valving is provided to draw a sample from the chamber environment. All components to monitor the oxygen levels are integrated into the furnace control system.
Water Chiller
A recirculating cold water chiller eliminates the requirement to have continuously flowing city or well water for furnace cooling. The water chiller has a circulating pump and refrigeration unit sized to match the furnace heat load, providing a complete cooling package for more economical and environmentally friendly operation. In areas where water is scarce, expensive or of poor quality, a water chiller is a popular option.
Retort
A retort is a canister or vessel that surrounds the hot zone load. A retort serves two functions: it separates the load from the rest of the chamber allowing volatile gasses which may be caustic to be removed safely without interaction with the rest of the hot zone, and a retort also increases temperature uniformity by providing more even heating and cooling.
Retorts are available in several materials to ensure compatibility with the application temperature, process byproducts and the rest of the hot zone materials.
Load Cart
For production furnaces with a heavy or large load, a load cart is an option featuring a battery powered vertical hydraulic lift and manual horizontal transfer mechanism to safely and ergonomically move the workload from an operator loading station into and out of the furnace chamber. The load cart is set up for your specific furnace model so it has preset lift heights, ingress and egress fork depths with limits, and load capacity. Several sensors and push button operators automate and safeguard motions of the loading cart. The loading cart allows heavy loads (up to 800 lbs) to be loaded and removed quickly from the furnace and to be transported to a loading station. This saves production time and offloads operators from having to manual load and unload the furnace.
Pyrometer and Retractable TC
For furnaces exceeding a maximum temperature of 2000°C, a dual-color optical pyrometer is used to measure sample temperature above the TC range up to 3000°C. A retractable TC is used to remove TC’s from the hot zone above their useful safe measurement range or to remove it from the hot zone automatically to facilitate loading and unloading without interference from the TC.
The temperature control system automatically takes care of a bump-less switch-over from TC to pyrometer and a pre-selected temperature, and the TC is removed from the hot zone once the Pyrometer is in control.
CE Certification
For export to European or other Countries, our products can be CE certified to applicable standards. A CE declaration of conformity and CE label will accompany our product. In most instances, CE compliancy requires only minimal adaptions to our standard design practices, and any additional cost is to cover additional documentation and required conformity testing.
By default, all our products conform with the following NFPA standards:
- Bulletin #70 “National Electrical Code”
- Bulletin #79 “Electrical Standard for Industrial Machinery”
- Bulletin #86 “Standard for Industrial Furnaces using a special processing atmosphere”
Quick Quench
For extremely fast cooling, a quick quench kit provides the means to drop heated parts into a cooling medium below the hot chamber. A fusible link suspends the part(s) in the hot zone, and when the part is ready to be quenched, the bottom shield is rotated away, a gate valve at the bottom of the chamber is opened, and the fusible link energized so the parts are dropped into the quench cup media. The quench cup can then be removed from the furnace for unloading. This kit includes all hardware, electrical and control components.
Roughing / Evacuation pumping system
Basic vacuum furnaces come with a mechanical vacuum pump that can reach ultimate pressures in the 10-3 torr range. It includes all the vacuum lines, vacuum valves, vacuum sensors and instruments needed for monitoring and operating the vacuum system. In systems where vacuum pump oil vapors can contaminate your work, (oil vapors always manage to “back-stream” into the vacuum chamber at lower pressures) we can supply a dry-pump where no pumping parts will ever see contact with the pumping oil and thus eliminate pumping oil vapors from back-streaming to the chamber.
In processes where high outgassing loads are expected, we can also add a blower to increase pumping speeds and handle large gas loads.
