Reducing Furnace Charging Time
Every minute the furnace roof is open is heat leaving the bath. Hydraulic and mechanised charging shortens that window.
The problem
Manual charging — poking, pushing, and manoeuvring scrap into a furnace by hand — takes time the melt cycle cannot get back, and puts an operator close to an open furnace while doing it.
Engineering insight
Charging time is not just a labour question. Every minute the roof stays open, heat radiates out of the bath, and the furnace has to spend more energy re-reaching temperature before melting can resume.
The fix is mechanical, not procedural: replace hand tools with hydraulic pushers, pokers and chargers that move a full charge in a single controlled stroke.
VMPL's approach
VMPL’s hydraulic pusher/poker range covers central, twin and side configurations, matched to furnace layout rather than sold as one universal unit. The scrap charger range — vibro and tilting-trolley — handles the feed side of the same problem, delivering material to the furnace mouth at a controlled rate or directly into the bath.
Both ranges exist because the founder’s original research was specifically into processing uneven scrap, DRI and sponge iron for consistent furnace behaviour — charging speed and charge consistency are the same underlying problem addressed from two directions.