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PATTERSON Industries Canada "The Process Equipment People" designs, engineers and manufactures Autoclaves for many of the process industries including pressure treating of wood, vulcanizing of rubber on to steel rolls, vulcanizing of rubber treads to original tire casings, curing of various composites and heat treatment of metals. Our custom built Autoclaves can be Direct Steam Heated, Indirect Steam Heated, Electrically Heated or Jacketed for heating using either hot water, steam or thermal fluid. Heat circulation for Indirect Steam Heated and Electrically Heated Units is provided by a Bell Housing Mounted Fan.

PATTERSON Autoclaves can be fabricated from Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel and other Alloy Steels, of either solid or clad construction depending on design conditions and cost considerations. PATTERSON Autoclaves can be built from 36" diameter up to 144" diameter, in lengths from 72" to 80'0" and up to 100 tons.

Applications:

PATTERSON Autoclaves are primarily in the Wood, Concrete, Tire Retreading, Composites Curing, Heat Treatment of Metals and Plastics & Rubber Industries. More specifically they are used in retreading of truck, bus and trailer tires, rubber coating of rollers for the printing ink industries, pressure treating of wood, curing of concrete precast products and heat treatment of metals i.e. nitriding.

Design Features:

  • Designed, engineered and manufactured to individual customer's specifications for Pressure and/or Vacuum Condition and for ambient, or elevated temperatures.
  • Fabricated from Low and Standard temperature Carbon Steels, 300 & 400 series Stainless Steels, Monels, Inconels, Incoloys, Nickels and Hastelloys.
  • Construction can be of either solid or clad type.
  • Direct Steam, Indirect Steam, Electrically Heated or Jacketed.
  • Supplied typically with saddle supports for floor mounting.
  • Unique patented Hinge Door Assembly for quick opening and closure designed in accordance with ASME Code Section VIII Division 1, complete with power-operated Hydraulic Lock Ring Assembly that closes securely. The Door Flanges are sealed with a Pressurised "0" Ring for maximum temperature and pressure retention.
  • Autoclave door has an integral hinge and bearing assembly for easy alignment and closing.
  • System incorporates an interlock design "Zero pressure indicator" that promotes operator safety by ensuring that the door cannot be opened when the autoclave is pressurised.
  • Designed, manufactured, tested & inspected in accordance with the ASME Code Section VIII Division I and with the stamp of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors.
Control Systems

Please note:  PATTERSON has in-house expertise to design and supply operating control systems for all of our process equipment, whether it is a simple start/stop with cycle time or complex multi-stage systems executing recipes or formulas and communicating with existing plant control systems.

 

Close up of Control Box with stop/start, jog/run and 0-12 hr timer.

 

Control Panel Overview including HMI Touch Screen.

 

Close-up of Inside of Control Panel with PLC and Variable Frequency Motor Controllers.

 
PATTERSON Electrically Heated Autoclave, 23-1/2" I.D. x 48" long, designed for 125 psi and full vacuum @ 250°F for research.  This turnkey unit was supplied with Vacuum Pump and PLC based Control System with Touch Screen and sophisticated programming for "ramping up" of temperature and executing/storing various process cycles.

 

 Inside view showing four thermocouple connections for product monitoring.

 

 Drive End Front View.

 

 Control Panel View.

 

 Rear View showing Piping and Connections.
Close-up of Vacuum System.

The control system includes:

  • Main input disconnect switch.

  • Panel-mounted HMI Touch screen PLC 8" Standard colour panel, 820 x 640 pixel resolution with appropriate graphics showing control of all devices such as Fan, Vacuum System and Heater.

  • Digital Temperature Indicator.

  • Vacuum Pump Controls.

  • Digital Vacuum Indicator.

  • Motor Controls.

  • Resistive Analog Touchscreen as HMI interface.

  • RS232 communications Port and RS485 for connection to PC for data acquisition etc. included.

  • Transducer for Pressure and Vacuum.

  • 1 RTD 4 wire thermocouple for 4 Connections measuring product inside chamber.

 

Features of System:

  • 8.2" Diagonal colour standard LCD, 64,000 colours, 820 x 640 pixel resolution.

  • Low profile slim design.

  • Configured using C-More Control Software.

  • 2 RS-232/422/485 Communications Ports.

  • 2 USB Ports.

  • Memory Stick Port.

  • 1 Audio In, 1 Audio Out.

  • 1 Microphone In.

  • 10 base T/100 Base-TX Ethernet Port to network units and host web pages.

  • RS232 port to download the unit’s configuration from a PC or for data transfer to a PC.

  • Unit’s configuration is stored in non-volatile memory.

  • COMPACTFLASH® Socket to increase memory capacity.

  • Power unit from 24 VDC +/-20% supply.

  • Resistive Analog Touchscreen.

  • Downloaded Temperature & Vacuum Recordings will provide permanent record of production cycles for quality control.  System capable of saving multiple operating cycle programs.

 

Explanations of the Various Screens of the Control Panel Touch Screen.

Main Screen

This screen shows the current information during the process cycle such as Vessel Pressure in PSI, Vessel Temperature and for product temperatures, all in °F.

When the Heating Fan is running, you will see the fan turning.  When the Element is heating, the display will flash in red.

 

Heating System

This screen is used to input the Set-Points manually.  The Temperature is set by sliding the bar to the proper value or touching the Manual Set Point square.  A keyboard will show up and you then can enter the Set Value.   

The Process Value (P.V.), i.e. the Current Temperature will show on this bar.  The Set Point Value (S.P.) is shown in the bar to the right.  

The Percentage Box indicates the percentage temperature which has been reached towards the set point.  

The Heater and Fan On/Off Buttons can be used to manually turn the heater and fan on/off.

 

Air Nitrogen System

This screen shows the Vessel Pressure in PSI.  By pressing Air System on/off, the Air System can be manually turned on/off.  

 

Process Cycle Data

This screen is used to start the two pre-set cycles (casting and annealing).  The 2 sets of squares display the actual running time for each cycle.

The Cycle Start Buttons are touched when the cycle is to be started i.e. after the product has been loaded and the Autoclave door closed.   

The Stop/Reset Button is touched only after the process data has been downloaded on to a memory stick which occurs automatically approximately 10 seconds after the process cycle is completed.  

 

Monitoring Screen

This screen displays in graph form the process data as the cycle progresses.   

One column displays five minutes Process Time in a horizontal direction whereas the Current Temperature is shown on the vertical graph in 20°F increments.  

The Autoclave Pressure is indicated in the graph below.  Also on the vertical scale in 20 PSI increments.  

Pushing the Clear Button on both graphs will clear the screen.  The screen will then continue recording from the moment the screen has been cleared.  

 

System Information Screen

This screen displays the current time and date.  It also displays alarm history such as thermal motor overloads and possible element overheating.  

Adjust Display is used to increase or decrease the display brightness of the screen.  

Incdec Hour is used to adjust the time to daylight savings time etc.  

Clean Screen button is activated if the screen has become dirty with finger marks etc. and needs to be cleaned. The screen will turn black and can be cleaned.  On the top left corner, you will find a square.  When touched the screen display will come back.

 

Standard Recipe Screen 

This screen is used to select pre-programmed cycles/recipes stored.

Vacuum System

This screen displays vacuum values in inHg-.

When fan is turning, vacuum pump is on.