The setpoint is what you asked for. The profile is what happened.
A batch loaded into a furnace still recovering from the last door opening did not get the soak the recipe specifies — and the log sheet will say it did.
An annealing furnace is judged on whether each batch actually experienced the thermal profile it was supposed to, and for how long. That is a different question from utilisation, and it is the one a customer audit will ask about.
Monitoring one means recording the profile rather than the setpoint — because a furnace that spent the first hour of a soak climbing to temperature did not deliver the soak that the recipe specifies, and the log sheet will say it did.
Machine signals, an energy meter and sensors, on one timeline.
Every annealing furnace can carry all three. Each tonne is recorded with the energy it took and the condition of the machine that made it.
What the machine is doing
- State: melting, holding, pouring, idle
- Heats and batches with start and end
- Temperatures through the cycle
- Stops with reasons from the operator
What it costs to run
- kW, kWh, kVA and power factor, live
- Energy per tonne, per shift and per job
- Idle energy: power drawn while producing nothing
- Maximum demand and load profile
How healthy it is
- Condition sensors connected where they matter
- Per-machine baselines, not generic limits
- Alerts before a trend becomes a breakdown
- Readings stored against every tonne
Sensors typically connected on a annealing furnace
An energy meter connection is available on every machine type we monitor. Sensors are chosen per machine at the pilot, and connected by the MachineWise team. See energy monitoring and condition monitoring.
The gap between the second and third boxes is where annealing quality problems live. A batch loaded into a furnace still recovering from the previous door opening experiences a materially different cycle from one loaded an hour later, and only continuous recording distinguishes them.
| Measurement | Source | What it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Zone temperatures | Existing thermocouples via a PLC or controller, or wired to a gateway | Actual delivered profile, per zone, through the cycle |
| Time at temperature | Derived from continuous zone readings | Whether the soak was genuinely achieved, not merely instructed |
| Batch or lot identity | Operator selection or scan at load | Traceability from a coating or hardness result back to the cycle that produced it |
| Door and load events | Door contact | Recovery time after loading — the most common source of profile variance |
| Energy | Electrical measurement at supply | Energy per batch and per tonne, including idle holding between batches |
| Circulation fans and pumps | Current or vibration | The auxiliaries that actually stop an annealing line |
Idle holding between batches
A furnace held at temperature with an empty chamber is the largest avoidable energy cost on most heat-treatment floors, and it is a scheduling problem rather than a furnace problem.
Recovery after door opening
Rising recovery time is an early and measurable indicator of insulation loss and element ageing, well before a batch is affected.
Auxiliary failures
Circulation fans and quench pumps stop the line more often than the furnace itself. Vibration and current give the usual 48–96 hour warning.
Zone divergence within limits
Two zones drifting apart while both remain in tolerance is how rejection batches are made without any alarm firing.
What does one tonne cost in electricity?
With an energy meter on the annealing furnace, this is measured for every shift and job. Until then, estimate it here with your own numbers.
Values are pre-filled with a typical annealing furnace. Replace them with yours; nothing you type is stored or sent.
Idle energy is usually the fastest saving: it needs a switch-off rule, not capital. The meter shows it per machine, per shift.
Two annealing furnaces on a live dashboard this week.
One furnace for thirty days will show your idle-holding share and your recovery-time trend — the two numbers that decide both energy cost and batch consistency.
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