During the operation of a vacuum furnace, emergencies may occur. Operators should remain calm and take proper emergency measures to prevent serious accidents.
How to respond to vacuum furnace emergencies:
1. Sudden power outage in the heating chamber
- Immediately turn off the main power of the equipment.
- Close all vacuum valves in the piping to prevent air from entering the furnace.
- Introduce high-purity nitrogen into the heating chamber to 6.6×10⁻⁴ Pa to cool the chamber quickly. Simultaneously, ventilate the cooling chamber to stabilize the thermal gate valve.
- If circulating water is used for cooling and water supply stops, switch to backup water (tap water or elevated water tank).
2. Sudden water supply failure during heating
- Immediately cut off the heating power.
- Use backup water.
- Transfer workpieces from the heating chamber to the cooling chamber and fill nitrogen to cool them rapidly.
- Fill the heating chamber with high-purity nitrogen to cool it quickly below 150°C.
3. Sudden leakage in some parts during heating
- Immediately seal the leak with vacuum sealing clay.
- Cut off the heating power immediately.
- Fill the chamber with high-purity nitrogen so that the internal pressure approaches atmospheric pressure, reducing air infiltration.
4. Short-term water interruption
- If water is cut off briefly or water pressure is low, the system will issue audible and visual alarms but can continue operation normally.
- If water is cut off or water pressure is insufficient for more than 20 minutes, stop heating immediately. Resume heating only after water pressure is restored, adjusting the process curve according to the current chamber temperature.
5. Power outage during operation
- Immediately close all pneumatic valves.
- During a “feeding” or “material taking” process:
- Feeding process: Switch from “automatic” to “manual” mode. After power restoration, complete the feeding manually, then return to automatic mode and continue normally.
- Material taking process: Manually remove the workpiece and close the gate valve. After power restoration, resume normal operation. Manual operation involves using hands or tools to operate the lower end of the DC motor to move the mechanism.