imsolidstate

Cascade process heater

One of the first big projects I completed was a machine that supplied a variable heated flow of gas to a process. The temperature and flow of the process gas was controlled to a setpoint with PID loops, and the machine could switch between one of two different gases required by the process both manually or automatically. The process required the flow of gas to be switched automatically at a certain temperature, and had to recognize the change in temperature at any one of twelve thermocouples.

An immersion heater placed inside of a tube was used to heat the flow of gas. A frame was constructed around the heater to support it, and an electrical enclosure was mounted to the frame. The frame was mounted on wheels so that it could be removed when not needed, and full-flow quick disconnects were used for the gas lines.

This project was also my introduction to AutoCAD. I designed the whole thing in AutoCAD, including assembly prints and prints for the machine shop. Since then I’ve been using Solidworks, and I’ve never looked back. Solidworks makes designing and maintaining a design so much easier.