SECO/WARWICK has secured an order from a U.S.-based cooling systems manufacturer for a Universal CAB Batch Furnace designed for aluminium brazing of heat exchangers. The equipment will be installed at the customer’s plant in Pennsylvania and will enable the company to establish in-house production of brazed heat exchangers.
The complete solution will include a Universal CAB Batch Furnace, a continuous thermal degreasing furnace, a dryer, a final cooling chamber and an external transport system. The line is primarily intended for brazing large plate-and-bar heat exchangers used in heavy-duty applications and the aftermarket. It will also support the processing of standard fin-and-tube and plate heat exchangers.
The system will operate in a controlled nitrogen atmosphere to provide high atmosphere purity, temperature uniformity and repeatable brazing parameters. Convection heating and cooling are designed to support shorter process cycles and improve production efficiency.
According to SECO/WARWICK, the investment will allow the customer to reduce its dependence on external suppliers of brazed heat exchangers while gaining greater control over production, flexibility and response times. The Universal CAB Batch Furnace was selected partly for its ability to accommodate different heat exchanger geometries without requiring multiple dedicated production lines.
“The Universal CAB Batch Furnace is particularly well suited for such tasks because it combines high brazing quality with a compact design, short cycle times and exceptional application versatility,” said Piotr Skarbiński, Vice President of the Aluminium and CAB Products Segment at the SECO/WARWICK Group.
The furnace’s compact footprint is also intended to provide a lower-cost entry point into in-house CAB production compared with larger continuous systems. The design can subsequently be upgraded to a semi-continuous configuration, allowing the customer to increase capacity as production requirements grow.
The supporting equipment will cover key stages of the process. The continuous thermal degreasing furnace will prepare components before fluxing, while the dryer will prepare the loads for brazing. The final cooling chamber will support controlled cooling, and the external transport system will facilitate material movement between process stages.
Maciej Stempniewicz, Deputy Director of CAB Technology Sales at SECO/WARWICK, said the customer selected the technology for features including convection heating and cooling, short setup and process times, high nitrogen atmosphere purity, temperature uniformity and an advanced control system.
The order represents the first collaboration between the U.S. customer and the SECO/WARWICK Group. The project is being delivered through cooperation between the Group’s U.S. operation, Retech, and SECO/WARWICK engineers in Poland, combining sales, engineering and technological expertise for the North American market.
