CAB Furnaces (SYSTEMS)

Our continuous CAB furnaces, as described below, use a variable speed drive and a stainless-steel mesh belt to move products.  The controlled atmosphere brazing (CAB) process heats a product to brazing temperatures while maintaining uniform temperatures within the product in an oxygen-free nitrogen atmosphere. During furnace brazing, a brazing sheet of aluminum/silicon alloy plate (cladding) is heated to a liquid state and flows to form aluminum joints or fillets. Al-Si phase diagram giving reference to the different alloys used for CAB brazing with temperatures of the liquid phase for each.

Controlled Atmosphere Brazing Process

A fully configured CAB furnace system includes thermal degreaser with afterburner, a fluxer unit, a dry off oven, and the CAB furnace. Or, in the case of the precoated or flux fewer cores systems limited to degreasing/debinding oven and the CAB furnace only.

These systems can be configured in an in-line, a continuous rectangular line, a U-shaped line or Batch systems to meet your plant’s installation space requirements.

/ Requires no post braze cleaning
Since flux is noncorrosive

/ Less capital intensive
Compared to vacuum brazing

/ High Brazing Quality 
Due to clean nitrogen atmosphere, process uniformity, sharp heating and cooling profiles

/ Brazing R&D on your own aluminum heat exchangers:
Reduce your investment risk by taking advantage of the SECO/WARWICK Brazing Center.

Although heat exchangers such as radiators, condensers, oil coolers, evaporators, heaters, charge air coolers and battery coolers for the automotive industry dominate current demand, other applications continue to lend themselves to aluminum brazing. Consumer applications for air conditioners and various appliances will benefit from this process. Other emerging innovations with unclad braze sheet, microextrusion technology, and combination heat exchangers ensure the continuation of the CAB process into futures decades. The future is bright for smart investment in technology that is positioned for strong growth.

/ Automotive and Off-Road
/ HVAC
/ Power Generators and Electric Power Plants
/ Aerospace
/ Railways
/ Electronics
/ Household equipment

/ Thermal afterburner to reduce VOC emissions for degreasers, 

/ Scrubber with active aluminum oxide deposit to reduce the emission of hydrogen fluoride generated during brazing process, 

/ For gas-heated solutions, energy recovery systems reducing gas consumption and thus CO2 emissions: 

•  energy exchange system between the thermal afterburner and degreasers, 
•  energy recovery from the preheat chambers and brazing furnace by transferring exhaust gases under the inlet tunnel and further as support for the Dryer heating system. 

/ Electric heating systems instead of gas heating systems (including modification of current equipment) to reduce CO2 emissions. 

/ Optional applications of high-performance microporous insulation to reduce heat losses and thus reduce energy consumption (in case of gas heating systems – reduction of CO2 emissions). 

/ Heated curtains inlet tunnel to limit the conveyor belt and load temperature drop during the transfer, and thus shortening the reheating time – in the overall balance, lowering energy consumption (in case of gas heating systems – reduction of CO2 emissions). 

/ A common conveyor belt for the dryer (or TTBB) and the furnace to reduce the energy consumption associated with double heating in case of separate systems (in case of gas heating systems – reduction of CO2 emissions). 

/ The customer uses energy emitted by the cooling chambers’ and the dryer’s extraction systems to support the plant installations’ heating. 

/ Non-emission cooling systems based on air jacket instead of a closed water circuit. 

/ Control – IDLE and WEEKEND furnaces operating modes lowering the operating temperature and turning the furnace off when it is not needed during production breaks – lowering energy consumption (in case of gas heating systems – reducing CO2 emissions).