Case Study: Preheat Oven for
Valves for Hydraulic Pumps on Navy Ships
KPH-30

This oven can be modified to suit your application,
just call us at 888-763-6836

Customer Background:

Project Background:

At Keen, we receive calls everyday from a wide variety of clients, each with their own unique preheating requirements.  The KPH-30 oven is another example of an application-specific, fully customized industrial oven.  As we do with all of our customers, we listen closely to individual project requirements and design industrial ovens that will get the job done.

Hydraulic engineers for this particular ship repair and conversion company were commissioned to repair hydraulic pump valves used on navy ships.  They needed two industrial ovens to preheat the repaired valves before welding to the hydraulic pumps.  The ovens were to be placed at different locations to enhance productivity and to meet repair deadlines set forth by the US Navy. 

For this particular requirement, we designed an industrial oven from scratch and called it the KPH-30.  This unit is one of our more basic industrial oven designs, but that is all that was needed for this particular project.  The heating elements were placed on the interior sides of the KPH-30 industrial oven in order to provide floor to ceiling space for the operators.  This is not a forced-air convection industrial oven, but has natural (gravity) convection because no heat up time was required, and therefore no blower fan was needed.  The operators intended to simply leave the preheat oven powered 24 hours per day.  This industrial oven is outfitted with our analog dial thermostat installed on the side control box.  Digital basic and digital programmable controls are available.

The KPH-30 industrial oven is useful for a variety of purposes, not just for steel couplings.  The temperature range can be modified for any application, as well as the voltage and other aspects.

Note: This oven has numerous customized applications, including an industrial bearing oven.

KPH-30 Industrial Oven Specifications:

Shelving Style:  None
Temperature Control: Analog Dial-Adjustable
Voltage: 120V
Cycle: 50 or 60
Wattage: 2000 Watts
Thermometer:  None
On/Off Light: Yes
Insulation: 2"
Thermostat Temp Range:  -999F
Interior Dims:  26"L x 30"W x 26"H
Exterior Dims: 39”L x 39”W x 36”H
Net Weight:  325 lbs.

Oven Construction

Exterior

This is a front-loading industrial oven that is floor-positioned vertically.  The dial thermostat is our standard analog unit with an 150-550F temperature adjustment range.  It's important to note that the door hinges on the KPH-30 industrial oven are fully welded to the oven frame and NOT screw mounted.  This allows for a long product life.  Always beware of any industrial ovens that do not have welded hinges.  This preheat oven is powder-coated in blue - as with all our industrial ovens -  at our in-house paint facility and is highly durable for a wide variety of industrial settings.  The KHF-30 is a rugged custom industrial oven and can be used in a variety of applications.

The control panel which houses the digital PID is mounted on the side of the KPH-30 industrial oven with heavy-duty rivets.  A standard "ON/OFF"  indicating light was also provided, which is bright enough to be seen from a distance.  A variety of temperature control methods are available.  
The KPH-30 preheating oven rests on fully welded forklift slots to enable free movement of the oven around the workplace and to different workstations.  

Interior

The KPH-30 custom oven is constructed of carbon steel and is insulated throughout.  It has 2 / 1000W heating elements installed at the sides of the oven behind perforated steel grates to prevent the valves from coming in direct contact with the element, but at the same time to allow the heat to radiate into the oven chamber.  The bottom of the unit is reinforced to handle weight and acts as a shelf for the parts.

All our preheating ovens are made in the USA and feature a 1-year limited manufacturer's warranty.  Parts are readily available.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q.  What is a preheat oven?

A.  We use the term preheat oven to describe an industrial oven that is used for preheating parts before they are used in some type of application.  Most of our industrial preheat ovens are custom-designed according to the specific application being performed by a client.  Many processes require the preheating of weldments before they are bonded to some other type of metal.  This preheating is required to change the property of the metal part and enable it to be installed onto another part.  Our ovens are used in many applications.  The KPH-30 preheat oven for hydraulic valves is just one example.  We have designed ovens for bowl shafts, cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, military tank transmissions and for many other types of parts.

Q.  Why is preheating steel before welding a necessary procedure?

A. It depends on the application requirements.  Many steel components for a variety of industries require preheating to prevent problems in the weld after the job is complete.  Keen's custom preheat ovens are an excellent preheating solution to many welding applications.  Rather than heat each part at a time, we often have customers that load an oven with many parts at once and leave the oven on all the time.  This way they have parts ready whenever they need them, at the right temperature.  Each welding application has its own thermal treatment requirements, so be sure to check what is need for your next procedure.

Q.  Can this hatchable oven be modified for other applications?

A. Yes, absolutely.  Many of our custom ovens have resulted from client requests to modify an existing oven they have seen on our website, or to one of our standard welding electrode ovens that a client may be using for welding electrode storage applications.  The process usually begins like this:  a client finds one of our ovens that has an interior size close to what can accommodate the parts that need to be preheated, and then inquires if modifications can be done.  Our engineers get to work to provide suggestions to the client as to what modifications can be done.  If the modifications are not suitable, we design a new oven from scratch to fit the users needs.

Q.  Do you provide CAD drawings for review?

A.  Yes.  Keen's custom oven design process typically begins with a discussion of the various solutions we are able to provide to the client.   If the client wants to proceed, we then do a CAD drawing for review that clearly outlines the custom oven design for the client to review.

Q.  Do you manufacture gas-fired ovens?

A. No.  We only manufacture electrical ovens with a maximum temperature range of 1000°F

Q.  Are your products made in USA?

A.  Yes.  We manufacture our ovens in Louisiana.

Q.  How long have you been in business?

A.  Henkel Enterprises, LLC, manufacturer of the Keen brand of welding ovens, flux ovens, and custom preheat ovens has been in business since 1923.

Note: These ovens has numerous customized applications, including an industrial bearing oven.

Oven Photos