RTO Cold Face Repair and Ceramic Media Replacement
Case Study: We repaired the cold face support & replaced the ceramic media in mothballed RTO to provide additional capacity for our client's plant expansion.
Problem
A rotogravure printer needed additional capacity for a plant expansion. Their existing 60,000 scfm RTO did not have enough capacity for the new press. A mothballed 40,000 scfm RTO on site could provide a solution if it could be brought back to life, including new ceramic media and a repair of the cold face, at a reasonable cost.
Photos: In Progess
Click on a picture to enlarge
Solution
An inspection by Kono Kogs determined that the cold face was well built, but had a weak link in the light gauge expanded metal chosen for the cold face material. The light duty cold face sagged under the weight of the ceramic media and broke the welds of the seams (2) in each bed.
This lead to some media loss through the broken seams, but most loss occurred on the ends of the bed where the cold face had pulled out from under a designed lip. The lip did not account for the sagging and resulting pull of the cold face from under the lip. Ceramic media broke down in the corner where the cold face opened up.
This had a cascading effect that eventually collapsed the media along the whole end of both beds. Kono Kogs fabricated a cold face repair that utilized the existing support channels, but utilized a heavier gauge expanded metal with larger sheets resulting in 50% less overall seam length. The heavier gauge expanded metal allowed deeper weld penetration and therefore greater strength.
Photos: After
Click on a picture to enlarge
Equipment & Services Provided
- Assessment and firm estimate of repair needed
- Disassemble RTO for media bed access
- Vacuum out existing ceramic media
- Supply all replacement ceramic media
- Provide all equipment and labor for repairs and ceramic media replacement
- Reassemble RTO
- Site clean up
Results
The cold face repair was made over a three-day period and included other weld repairs and cold spot repairs to the insulation. Since the RTO had been off-line and the press was not yet in place, the turnaround time was not critical.
For a closer look at RTO combustion chambers and cold face support, see our FAQ page.
