Largest Horizontal Vacuum Furnace Coming to Solar Atmospheres of Western Pennsylvania

Pictured is a view of a 36’ furnace currently at the Western PA facility

Hermitage, PA. June 9, 2015 – Solar Atmospheres of Western Pennsylvania announces that it will be installing the largest horizontal high vacuum furnace ever constructed at their Hermitage facility.  The furnace will be engineered and manufactured by its sister company, Solar Manufacturing, Inc.

The entire investment for Solar Atmospheres will be in the order of $8,000,000 including the cost of this large furnace, a new 20,000 square foot building addition, and utilities to operate this large system.

Robert Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres Western Pennsylvania, states “We will all be very busy over the next year, not only preparing a site to expand our current facility by another 20,000 square feet to house this newest piece of equipment, but also assembling and building the new equipment on-site. All of our employees are eagerly anticipating the day that we commission one of the most unique vacuum furnaces in the world.”

This car-bottom type furnace Model HCB-84576-2EQ will have a work-zone that measures seven feet in diameter x forty-eight feet long and will be capable of handling loads up to 150,000 pounds at 2400°F.  Dual US patented loading cars are provided for loading/unloading from both ends of this furnace with its 48 foot long hot zone.

The vacuum chamber is being manufactured by Youngberg Industries, Inc. of Rockford, IL and will incorporate three 48” diameter vacuum ports as well as six 24” diameter ports for gas cooling inlet and outlet. Autoclave type locking doors are included at both ends of the furnace.  Tom Larson, CEO of Youngberg Industries indicates “this is the largest horizontal high vacuum chamber we have ever manufactured.”

The programs for the engineering and construction phases have been initiated with key orders placed for major system components. The ultimate goal is to have installation and testing completed by the first quarter of 2016.

Solar Atmospheres and Solar Manufacturing are part of the Solar Group of companies.  Solar Atmospheres provides commercial heat treating and brazing services to a wide array of industries with four facilities located in Eastern and Western Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and California.  Solar Manufacturing specializes in the manufacture of new vacuum furnaces as well as providing hot zone replacements and aftermarket spare parts and service.

For additional information about Solar Atmospheres, contact Mike Johnson at 866.982.0660, ext. 2223, or mikej@solarwpa.com and visit www.solaratm.com.  For Solar Manufacturing, contact Pete Reh at 267.384.5040, ext. 1509, or pete@solarmfg.com, and visit www.solarmfg.com.