Furnace Heating Element Support Arrangement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Silicon carbide heating elements are brittle and difficult to install in furnaces without risking fracture, especially when long lengths are required, and existing mounting solutions either increase manufacturing costs or lead to thermal losses due to multiple openings and terminals.
Innovation Solution
A support arrangement with insulating bodies and a detachable cover that allows heating elements to be mounted longitudinally within the furnace, reducing the need for bends and minimizing thermal losses by providing a thermally insulated cavity for terminal connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If heating elements are made long to extend between opposing furnace walls, then the heating element can span the furnace, but the risk of brittle fracture during installation increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The support arrangement divides the mounting system into separate insulating bodies positioned at different locations along the heating element, allowing the element to be supported in segments rather than requiring a single long continuous support structure. This reduces the span between support points and minimizes fracture risk during installation.
Solution Approach 2:
Insulating bodies serve as intermediary structures between the heating element and the furnace environment, providing localized support points that eliminate the need for the heating element to span the entire distance between opposing walls independently. These intermediaries reduce mechanical stress and fracture risk.
2Adaptability or versatility
If heating elements are arranged successively along a longitudinal axis, then multiple heating zones can be created, but the number of openings and terminals through the furnace wall increases, leading to thermal losses
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple heating elements arranged successively along a longitudinal axis are merged into a single continuous heating zone configuration. The insulating bodies and support structure combine the terminal regions of multiple elements into a unified arrangement, reducing the number of separate openings and terminals required in the furnace wall while maintaining multiple heating zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The support arrangement with insulating bodies serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical support for successively arranged heating elements, creates thermal insulation around terminal regions, and minimizes the number of wall openings required. This multi-functional design reduces thermal losses while maintaining heating zone versatility.
3Ease of operation
If bends are added to heating elements to allow cold ends to extend through furnace walls, then installation through walls is enabled, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of bending the heating element to achieve wall penetration, the invention inverts the approach by providing straight heating elements and using externally positioned insulating bodies to create the necessary clearance and support. This eliminates the need for costly bends while achieving the same installation objective.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from modifying the heating element geometry (adding bends in one dimension) to creating spatial separation through insulating bodies in another dimension. The insulating bodies positioned perpendicular to the heating element axis provide the necessary clearance for wall penetration without requiring the element itself to be bent.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates the installation of long heating elements without risk of fracture, reduces thermal losses, and maintains a low temperature inside the furnace, improving operational economy by minimizing the number of openings and terminals.
Implementation Method 1
The first insulating body and the second insulating body are arranged at a distance from each other in a longitudinal direction of the support arrangement so as to form a cavity between the first insulating body and the second insulating body
Implementation Method 2
Silicon carbide heating elements have many advantages. For example, they may be used in many different types of atmospheres and generally allow element temperatures up to about 1650° C.
Data Source
AI summary
A support arrangement (10) for mounting electric heating elements (5, 7) in a furnace (1). The support arrangement (10) comprises a first insulating body (11), a second insulating body (21), a detachably arranged cover body (30) or cover assembly (60), and a support structure (40). A cavity (15) is formed between the first insulating body (11) and a second insulating body (21) into which the heating elements (5, 7) extend to thereby allow electrical connection to a power source. Each of the first insulating body (11) and a second insulating body (21) comprises at least one longitudinal slot (13, 23) arranged in a first surface facing towards the interior of the furnace (1) to thereby allow insertion of a heating element into the support arrangement (10) from the interior of the furnace (1).