Pit furnaces for reheating and homogenizing slabs prior to hot rolling

Many customers set great store by the flexibility to handle different alloys and slabs of widely varying dimensions. It is these criteria which prompt them to opt for a pit-type furnace.

As a rule, each pit furnace chamber can accommodate about 10 - 20 rolling slabs and is charged with a separate crane. An installation will typically comprise multiple furnace chambers equipped with a common visualization system.

Pit furnaces are designed to provide direct reheating or homogenizing of their slab charge. For this purpose they are equipped with a suitable cooling system capable of producing a defined cooling ramp.

Optimum uniformity of the metal temperature is achieved by optimized flow management techniques reflecting many years of experience, simulation and measurement know-how.

Each furnace chamber is divided up into individual furnace zones and can be separately controlled.

Charging / discharging:

• This can be performed by means of a manual or automatic crane.

Furnace chamber:

• The recirculating atmosphere can be separately controlled for each zone.