Method for controlling vacuum pumps in an industrial furnace complex

1. A method for controlling the operation of a vacuum pump in an industrial heat treating furnace wherein the method is implemented by executing a program running on a programmable pump controller and the method comprises the steps of:

a) determining whether a heat treatment process is active in the industrial heat treating furnace;

b) performing one of the following steps:

i) determining whether the vacuum pump is required in a current phase of the heat treatment process when the heat treatment process is active, or

ii) taking no action when the heat treatment process is not active;

c) performing one of the following steps when the heat treatment process is active:

i) switching on the vacuum pump when the vacuum pump is required in the current phase of the heat treatment process, or

ii) determining whether the vacuum pump will be required in a future phase of the heat treatment process when the vacuum pump is not required in the current phase of the heat treatment process;

d) performing one of the following steps when the vacuum pump is not required in the current phase of the heat treatment process:

i) switching off the vacuum pump when the vacuum pump is not needed in a future phase of the heat treatment process, or

ii) performing the following steps when the vacuum pump is required in the future phase:

A) calculating a time T 1 until the vacuum pump will be needed in the future phase,

B) determining a lead time T 2 for warming up the vacuum pump, and

C) comparing the time T 1 to the lead time T 2 ; and then

e) performing one of the following steps when the vacuum pump is required in the future phase:

i) switching off the vacuum pump when the time T 1 is greater than the time T 2 , or

ii) switching on the vacuum pump when the time T 1 is not greater than the time T 2 .

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 comprising the step of repeating steps (a) and (b) after step (c)(i) is performed.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 comprising the step of repeating steps (a), (b), and (c) after step (d)(i) is performed.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3 comprising the step of repeating steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) after step (e) is performed.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein step (b)(i) comprises the step of checking the current phase of the heat treatment process.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein step (c)(ii) comprises the step of checking all future steps of the heat treating process.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the lead time T 2 is long enough to ensure that the vacuum pump is ready to operate in the future phase of the heat treating process.

8. A method for controlling a vacuum pump used in an industrial furnace complex, wherein the vacuum furnace system has a pump controller that is integrated in a control and regulation device that executes a program comprising the following queries:

a first query (S 1 ) as to whether a heat treatment process is active in the industrial furnace complex (1),

a second query (S 2 ) as to whether the vacuum pump ( 3 ) is needed in a current phase of the heat treatment process,

a third query (S 3 ) as to whether the vacuum pump ( 3 ) will be needed in a future phase of the heat treatment process, and

a fourth query (S 4 ) as to whether a time (T 1 ) until a next operation of vacuum pump ( 3 ) is greater than a required lead time (T 2 ) for warming up the vacuum pump ( 3 ) to ensure that the vacuum pump is fully ready to operate in the process;

wherein the method comprises:

in a first program step, performing the first query (S 1 ) and then

not starting the vacuum pump if the answer to the first query (S 1 ) is no (S 1 =0) or

performing the second query (S 2 ) if the answer to the first query is yes (S 1 =1),

in a second program step,

switching on the vacuum pump and then performing the first query (S 1 ) if the answer to the second query is yes (S 2 =1) or

performing the third query (S 3 ) if the answer to the second query (S 2 ) is no (S 2 =0),

in a third program step,

switching off the vacuum pump to save energy and then performing the first query (S 1 ) if the answer to the third query (S 3 ) is no (S 3 =0) and

calculating the time (T 1 ) and determining the time (T 2 ) if the answer to query (S 3 ) is yes (S 3 =1), and then

in a fourth program step, performing the fourth query (S 4 ) and then

switching off the vacuum pump to save energy if the answer to the fourth query (S 4 ) is yes (T 1 >T 2 ) or

switching on the vacuum pump and performing the first query (S 1 ) if the answer to the fourth query is no (T 1 ≦T 2 ).

9. The method as recited in claim 8 wherein the method is performed by computing the logical relationship Pa=S 1 S 2 ( S 3 (S 4 (T 1 >T 2 ))) in the pump controller ( 11 ).

10. An industrial furnace system comprising a heating chamber ( 2 ), at least one vacuum pump ( 3 ), and a pump controller ( 11 ) integrated in a control and regulation device, and the industrial furnace system further comprises a pressure sensor ( 7 ), a gas inlet ( 8 ), a gas outlet ( 9 ), and a pump valve ( 10 ) which are connected to the pump controller ( 11 ), wherein the pump controller has a logic circuit programmed to perform the process set forth in claim 1 .

11. The industrial furnace system set forth in claim 10 wherein the logic circuit is programmed to perform the step of repeating steps (a) and (b) after step (c)(i).

12. The industrial furnace system set forth in claim 11 wherein the logic circuit is programmed to perform the step of repeating steps (a), (b), and (c) after step (d)(i).

13. The industrial furnace system set forth in claim 12 wherein the logic circuit is programmed to perform the step of repeating steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) after step (e).