Enclosures provide protection and good looks to heat-treating systems

Anoka, MN--When Radyne Corp. (Milwaukee, WI) needed operator interface enclosures for its induction heat-treating systems, it turned to Hoffman Engineering Corp. (Anoka, MN).

Two of Radyne's induction heat-treating systems use CONCEPT(TM) operator interface enclosures. The Power Integrated Pop-up(TM) (PIP) heat-treating system is used to harden the surface of automotive, motorcycle, and truck and farm vehicle components in a lift/rotate, submerged quenched method, according to John H. Hooper, president of Radyne.

"We chose the Hoffman enclosures (for use in the heat-treating system) because of appearance, size, and price," Hooper adds.

CONCEPT operator interface enclosures from Hoffman are suspended on a COMPACT pendant arm system, and were designed to be used in the design operator interface industry, according to Trent Jones, senior design engineer for Hoffman.

The interface enclosure houses the operator interface screen, or man-machine interface, in the heat-treating systems and protects it from the industrial environment, particularly dust and water.

The COMPACT suspension pendant arm carries cables from the heat-treating system's touch screen back to the system controls, Hooper says. The arm is a lighter-duty, more aesthetic version of Hoffman's usual pendant arm because the electronic equipment does not weigh as much, Jones says.

He adds that Hoffman identified customer needs, researched what customers were saying, and worked very closely with the makers of the equipment.

Hoffman designed the enclosure hand-in-hand with major interface device manufacturers. "We worked with them from the perspective of not only what do you have out right now, but what is your future?" Jones says. "We came out with an enclosure that matched up, size-wise, with equipment they were going to be coming out with."