Mazzaroppi

Advice and information to make glass tempering energy-efficient

Advice and information to make glass tempering energy-efficient

 

Have you invested in a high-quality glass tempering furnace? From an economic point of view, you have certainly made a good choice: such a furnace guarantees you a long service life and high performance.

However, after a few decades of use, you may need to ask a little more of your furnace. And thinking about a refurbishment might be another good choice.

What is revamping and who can do it?

Revamping a glass tempering furnace is a process of renovation and modernisation to improve its efficiency, performance and lifetime.

It may involve the replacement of obsolete components with more modern solutions, with the aim of improving the energy efficiency, safety and productivity of the furnace. A thorough analysis of the furnace must be carried out prior to any refurbishment to identify any critical issues and to assess the performance that can be achieved with the work to be carried out.

Once the kiln has undergone this ‘repowering’, its life cycle can be significantly extended, bringing forward the need for a new installation by a few years.

Who should you turn to when you need to upgrade your oven? The best choice is always to speak to the manufacturer themselves, if they offer this type of service.

If your oven was bought from a manufacturer who designs and manufactures the machines, if it was built with high quality raw materials and robust technology, you may be surprised at how much a refurbishment can ‘rejuvenate’ it.

The most common refurbishment interventions

The refurbishment of glass furnaces can involve several elements of the machinery. Here are some of the most common interventions that can revolutionise the current performance of your furnace:

  • Modernisation of electrical components: is your furnace very old? Then it is possible that some components are no longer on the market. If they no longer work properly, it is better to replace them with compatible ones. This can improve the performance of the stove and reduce consumption.
  • Replacement of mechanical elements: it is possible that after decades of intensive use, some of the mechanical components of your hardening furnace are worn out. For example, you can replace the rollers of the various sections that make up the machine, some of the heating elements in the heating chamber, the motors that move the various zones, and other elements.
  • Upgrading the electronics: you can equip your oven with new software to give it new functions and also optimise its consumption. Integration with remote monitoring and data analysis systems is also possible.
  • Add convection: does your current oven lack convection technology? With an upgrade, you can add this capability and expand your production to include additional types of glass, such as all types of low-e glass.

Once your furnace has been refurbished, you will have a machine that is more reliable by reducing the risk of breakdowns, but above all it will be more efficient: more modern components and software will reduce energy consumption and optimise productivity, or even allow you to expand your range to include new products.

How do you assess the refurbishment of your furnace?

The refurbishment of a hardening furnace is a strategic investment, but the key to its success is an accurate assessment of the current state of the machine and a clear definition of the objectives of the intervention.

Before intervening, it is essential to analyse the condition of the furnace on the basis of parameters such as

  • Age of the equipment: how old is it? Are its components still on the market?
  • Energy efficiency: is there heat loss? Is the consumption too high compared to the expected consumption?
  • Accuracy of process parameters: does the furnace maintain the correct temperatures and cycles, or are there variations?
  • Reliability and maintenance: are breakdowns or stoppages frequent? Has routine maintenance always been carried out correctly?
  • Safety and regulatory compliance: does the furnace meet the latest regulations or is it in need of upgrading?

Once the assessment is complete, a report must be drawn up with critical points and possible actions to be taken, prioritised according to the objectives to be achieved, which may be to reduce consumption, increase productivity, improve tempering quality, etc. The report will also show the performance that can be achieved thanks to the interventions carried out.

At Mazzaroppi we design and build glass tempering furnaces that last for decades. In order to keep our equipment at the top of its game, we also carry out more or less extensive upgrades on our machines.

Would you like to know how you can take your tempering furnace to a higher level of performance?

Give us a call to find out more.

Cameo Glass is an important British company specialising in the production of customised glass solutions. For its site in Swindon, about an hour and a half from London, it chose a Mazzaroppi TP Compact furnace. A choice that makes us proud and that guarantees Cameo Glass UK several advantages.

Who is Cameo Glass?

Cameo Glass has two important things in common with Mazzaroppi: its specialisation in the glass sector and the fact that it is a family business. Since 1994 it has been producing tempered glass, lacquered glass and high-precision custom-made glass products.

For the sale and installation of the furnace, the Mazzaroppi team worked with the company’s official UK distributor, Stone and Glass Group.

Why did Cameo Glass choose the TP Compact?

The company chose a 1.9 m x 3.6 m TP Compact oven with convection.

This allowed Cameo Glass to:

  • Replace its old tempering furnace with a larger model: The TP Compact is more compact, so although it is larger than the previous machine, it can be installed in the same space without requiring any adaptations or brickwork.
  • Using the same electrical cabinets as the old furnace: TP Compact uses the same power as the previous machine, so there was no need to adapt the equipment. The new Mazzaroppi kiln was commissioned with a total installed power of only 315 KW.
  • Record energy savings: compared to its predecessor, TP Compact has drastically reduced the company’s consumption and therefore its operating costs.
  • Optimising production: TP Compact’s ease of use has made it easier for the company to set new quality standards.
  • Having a furnace up and running in just 10 days: the installation was carried out over the Christmas period, allowing Cameo Glass to resume operations at the beginning of January. Even before the installation was complete, the furnace could be used for tempering and it worked perfectly.

The Mazzaroppi solution

The TP Compact furnace chosen by Cameo Glass is equipped with a new patented Mazzaroppi technology.

Thanks to this patent, the furnace guarantees an exceptional reduction in consumption peaks, thus significantly reducing energy consumption and, like all Mazzaroppi solutions, guaranteeing perfect tempering results.

This new technology joins others that have made Mazzaroppi furnaces the ideal choice for glassworks and companies of all sizes, such as:

  • M Start&Stop function, which allows the furnace to be switched off every evening and restarted in just half an hour, reducing production consumption.
  • M OptiConvection, the latest generation convection system.
  • M Adapt, which ensures a responsive thickness change system with no waiting time.

Cameo Glass is delighted with their choice and we at Mazzaroppi are proud to have contributed to increasing their productivity while reducing their energy consumption.

What is the furnace that can revolutionise your work?

Give us a call to find out more.

Glasstec 2024, held in Düsseldorf in October, was an opportunity for even the most sceptical to see the efficiency of Mazzaroppi furnaces in action: we brought a fully functional TP Compact furnace to our stand and demonstrated that it is possible to temper glass to perfection with just 180 KW of power!

Glass tempering has always been considered an extremely energy-intensive process. And it is precisely this belief that often leads glassworks and smaller companies not to have their own furnace, relying on external suppliers for tempering and thus losing out in terms of operational autonomy.

Fortunately, there is no need to equip yourself with a large electrical cabinet and spend a fortune on bills to temper glass at home. That is, if you choose a highly energy-efficient Mazzaroppi furnace.

The secret of energy-efficient glass tempering lies in technology: here are the innovative features and tricks that can reduce consumption without compromising the quality of the result.

1. Breakdown of total consumption

There is productive and non-productive consumption: both contribute to the total balance of energy required by the furnace for quenching.

In addition to what the machine consumes during production, any ‘idle’ consumption must also be taken into account. For example, if the furnace is left on at night or when it is not in use, all the energy required to keep it ready for quenching is wasted.

What can be done to avoid this type of consumption, which only represents a cost to the company?

Equipping a furnace that can start up and reach curing temperature very quickly reduces idle time. This is because the furnace can be easily switched off when it is no longer needed, without slowing down the work when it is restarted: thanks to the M Start&Stop ignition technology, Mazzaroppi furnaces can reach a temperature of 680° in just 30 minutes. This means that even small/medium-sized glassworks and companies that do not work night shifts can safely switch off the furnace at the end of the day and start it up again the next morning at full speed, avoiding leaving it on all the time and increasing the energy bill for wasted energy.

In order to absorb large and continuous temperature fluctuations, just-in-time ovens are built with low-absorption materials and low internal thermal mass.

2. Containing the energy peak

In order to contain the peak energy consumption of the oven, it is necessary to have advanced systems that allow very low dissipation and focus on increasing efficiency.

An oven equipped with software that guarantees this type of functionality can consume up to 70% less energy than less innovative solutions.

The deviation of the peak power, i.e. the maximum power required by the kiln, from the average power is reduced, while at the same time ensuring optimal temperature control of the kiln. As a result, 180 KW of power is sufficient to temper glass to perfection.

3. Optimising the heating of individual areas of the furnace

When tempering glass, one of the main causes of wasted energy is that portions of the furnace are also heated that are not occupied by the glass at that precise moment.

In order to optimise heat distribution, advanced software is required, which is able to recognise the exact portion of the furnace in which the glass is located and use the hot air only in that area, also adapting it to the percentage of occupied space.

On the contrary, management software, such as Mazzaroppi’s M Opticonvection, is designed to achieve superior hardening quality while reducing consumption to levels unimaginable with other solutions on the market.

They are based on complex algorithms that take into account many variables, with the ultimate aim of guaranteeing an incredibly favourable ratio between consumption and hardening quality.

In short, to reduce energy consumption and therefore the environmental and economic impact of tempering, it is necessary to heat the glass, not the furnace.

Is your tempering furnace really energy efficient?

Or do you rely on a third party to do the tempering because you think it would cost you too much to keep a furnace running?

Ask for the free Mazzaroppi Energy Saving Check and we will tell you how much you could save with the most energy efficient solutions on the market! Mazzaroppi furnaces can guarantee you up to 70% less energy consumption than competing solutions.

What size companies choose TP Compact, the compact oven from Mazzaroppi? There is no single answer to this question: TP Compact is so versatile and high-performance that it adapts to the needs of glassworks and also to those of large companies.

An example of this is the European group Vandaglas, with offices throughout Europe, which chose TP Compact for its Austrian headquarters.

Who is Vandaglas?

The group produces high quality insulating glass and interior glass in all possible shapes and sizes and is active in its locations in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, England and, indeed, Austria, although its products are used worldwide for architectural façades and design projects. With more than 900 employees, it has to date realised more than 10,000 façade projects in over 50 countries worldwide.

‘We put all our efforts into our future,’ says Managing Director Nicolas Alexander Lahodny, ‘and that is why we are very pleased with the investment made in our Heidenreichstein site with the purchase of the new TP Compact. We are looking forward to delivering our first in-house tempered glass to our customers!’.

Why did Vandaglas choose TP Compact?

A globally established company needs an oven capable of ensuring a level of performance excellence. But it is not only this that determines the choice of the right tempering furnace for its needs.

In particular, Vandaglass needed:

  • reduced electrical installation: this was their fundamental problem, as they needed to avoid having to redo the entire electrical installation. This would not only have required a particularly large financial investment, but also a good three years to complete.
  • limited production consumption: to keep labour costs at an appropriate level.
  • limited floor space occupied: they wanted to make the best use of the available company space.
  • quality of tempering: they were not willing to compromise on the yield of their final product.
  • ease of use of the furnace: for every company today it is essential to have equipment that can be operated even by non-highly specialised personnel and always give excellent results.

Thanks to discussions with the Head of Group Process Engineering at Vandaglas, Guillaume Kaminski, we finalised the choice of the best oven to meet all these needs, after an analysis and testing phase that also took place in part at Mazzaroppi’s Aprilia site, near Rome.

The Mazzaroppi solution

TP Compact meets all the requirements expressed by the company. The model chosen for Vandaglas is 1.9×3.6 metres in size, with convection for low-e, i.e. low-emissivity glass.

In addition, installation and testing took place on schedule, thanks to the valuable collaboration of Site Manager Mario Müllauer and Head of Group Process Engineering Guillaume Kaminski.

The compact, high-performance furnace from Mazzaroppi meets all the quality requirements imposed by Vandaglas, to the full satisfaction of the company, which can now:

  • Temper glass in-house with up to 70% lower consumption than other tempering furnaces.
  • Have an oven that is always ready, because TP Compact goes from 0 to 680° C in one hour.
  • Eliminate unproductive costs, because TP Compact can be switched off every night and the day after the first start-up it can reach temperature in half an hour.

Would you also like to know if there is a tempering furnace that can revolutionise your work too?

We’ll tell you: ask for a free Mazzaroppi Energy Saving Check and discover the solution for you, perfectly adaptable to your space and in line with the consumption you do not want to exceed.

The best way to demonstrate the outstanding performance of the Mazzaroppi TP Compact furnace is to let the facts speak for themselves. This is why we have decided to bring our iconic compact glass tempering furnace to one of the most important events in the industry: a fully functional TP Compact will be on display at the Mazzaroppi stand at Glasstec 2024.

Date in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 22 to 25 October 2024, for all those who want to see with their own eyes the performance of the TP Compact.

TP Compact at the show: what you will see

The TP Compact that we will install on the Mazzaroppi stand at Glasstec 2024 will be switched on every morning and off every evening. In this way, it will be possible to see how the exclusive M Start&Stop JIT ignition technology: 0° to 680° in 1h brings the furnace up to temperature in a very short time, effectively eliminating the unproductive consumption that forces companies to keep their furnaces on all the time.

Thanks to features such as these, the TP Compact consumes up to 70% less energy than other solutions on the market, while guaranteeing an excellent curing result.

In addition, this furnace does not require a large electrical cabinet to operate: it will therefore be possible to see that the system at the exhibition is sufficient to operate the TP Compact perfectly, which is fully operational with a 200 kW electrical cabinet.

During Glasstec 2024, we will be giving live tempering demonstrations where you will be able to see how easy it is to use the furnace, thanks to its user-friendly interface, as easy to use as a smartphone.

Then, of course, you will be able to see the performance of Mazzaroppi hardening technologies, such as

  • M OptiConvection Optimised Convection Process: this allows the hot air to be used only in the part of the furnace where the glass is located, adapting it to the percentage of space occupied in order to obtain a higher tempering quality with incredibly low consumption.
  • M Adapt Thickness Change Responsive System: the responsive thickness change eliminates unproductive waiting times.
  • M HI-Responsive Fast Reactivity to Changes: gives the furnace high reactivity and enables it to adapt quickly to different job requirements.
  • M No Spot -97% Anisotropy: makes the risk of curing spots virtually negligible.
  • M SmartMove Adaptive Glass Movement: allows the furnace to automatically make adjustments and adjustments to optimise the curing result, making the machine as easy to use as possible for the operator.
  • M Stop Lift Edge Reducing Software: Optimum, uniform management of heat distribution, preventing deformation of the sides and corners of the sheet.
  • M Roller Wave Intelligent Setting: the infinitely variable automatic movement that adapts to the type and thickness of the slabs.

But that’s not all: TP Compact is also an excellent design, and at Glasstec 2024 you will be able to see how it can be conveniently installed in the middle of a room, without the need for supporting walls or brickwork.

Book your appointment now!

Seeing a fully functional glass tempering furnace live at the show is an opportunity not to be missed.

For this reason, we invite you to make an appointment to ask us all your questions about TP Compact and all other Mazzaroppi energy-efficient solutions for glass tempering.

Do you already have questions?

Give us a call and we will tell you how to temper at your best and save up to 70% on your energy bill!

Depending on the industry they serveglassworks and companies involved in the manufacture of toughened glass products have very different requirements. In some cases, these are even non-standard requirements for which not all tempering furnaces can provide the right answer.

So, is there a tempering furnace to suit all needs and all types of companies?

Glass tempering is a complex process requiring advanced technology, so the performance guaranteed by most furnaces is generally acceptable. The situation changes when certain specific qualities are required from the tempering process, such as minimising temper marks on the glass or being particularly energy efficient.

While it is true that there are furnaces that can best meet the needs of a large number of glassworks or companies, it is also true that it is unlikely that any ordinary glass tempering furnace will outperform the average in terms of results and fuel efficiency.

So how do you get a furnace that fully meets your company’s needs? Simple: choose a customised glass tempering furnace.

How to customise your glass furnace

A glass tempering furnace can last for decades if it is built with quality materials and robust, state-of-the-art technology.
So before you make an investment that will determine the quality of your work for a long time to come, you need to make sure that the partner who will build your furnace for you carries out a thorough analysis of your needs.

These include:

  • The production output you want to achiev;
  • Optimisation of your energy consumption;
  • Overcoming any limitations related to the structure of your premises.

Once these general parameters have been established, here are some aspects of your tempering furnace that can be customised:

  • Heating chamber dimensions: furnaces can be designed with different chamber sizes to accommodate glass sheets of specific sizes.
  • Heating systems: Various types of heating systems can be installed, including intelligent systems that ‘fragment’ the heating chambers into many independent areas of reduced size, each with a heating element and thermocouple. Thanks to sensors placed inside and outside the oven, the oven is able to detect the areas occupied by the glass, and the percentage of the glass that is occupied, so that only those areas are heated.
  • Cooling systems: These control the cooling rate of the hot glass to create the compressive stresses necessary for tempering. If the glass is not cooled properly, more iridescence is likely to occur. This also requires the furnace to have real-time monitoring systems to avoid tempering errors.
  • Automation and control: In addition to the above, tempering furnaces can be equipped with advanced software to monitor and precisely control temperature, air pressurecooling flows and glass handling to optimise the tempering process. There are also particularly intelligent and flexible software packages that allow thickness changes to be made sequentially in the trolley, eliminating waiting times – an essential feature for speeding up processes. This software also has the enormous advantage of making it much easier for non-specialist personnel to operate the furnace.
  • Energy saving software: you can equip your customised glass tempering furnace with systems that make it extremely energy efficient, reducing consumption by up to 70% compared to other solutions. But be careful: this kind of performance is only guaranteed by Mazzaroppi furnaces, which are the most energy efficient on the market.

Thanks to Mazzaroppi’s proprietary technologies, it is possible to equip a customised oven with systems such as just-in-time ignition, which allows the machine to be switched off during the hours when it is not in use, and specific software to limit energy absorption peaks and keep dissipation very low.

TP AdvancedMazzaroppi’s highly customisable oven capable of tempering any type of glass, is designed to meet the production needs of companies in a wide range of sectors, from household appliances to architecture, from bathroom furniture to the automotive industry. The system can have a minimum size of 1900mm x 4200mm and up to 3100mm x 6200mm. It can also process low-e glass up to e=0.01 and in thicknesses from 2.8mm to 19mm.

And if your requirements are exceptional?

Then you can opt for a machine designed specifically to meet your needs, for example, with the capacity to temper glass on two or three production lines, or with additional heating chambers, or even with an interchangeable heating chamber on two independent lines. With an ad hoc design, you can optimise your working time and diversify your production to the maximum.

Mazzaroppi is the only family dedicated to glass tempering for over 60 years, constantly striving to perfect and innovate its patented technologies.

This is why we are able to meet all your needs for customisation and design, creating the tempering furnace that perfectly suits your business. And guaranteeing you ultra-low consumption!

Would you like to know what you could produce, how you could produce it and how much you would consume with the hardening furnace designed especially for your work?