A furnace over-cycling, seen on the air and gas traces together

Background

A heat-treating operation uses natural gas and compressed air at the same furnace. Each utility has its own record, while the furnace has a single operating cycle. Our review brings those records together around the asset so the team can examine what happens during the same period of operation.

The problem

The furnace fires more often than the process requires. On the monthly gas bill, the added consumption looks like ordinary seasonal variation. The separate air-system view also leaves the cycling unexplained. Neither total gives the team enough timing detail to connect the repeated firing with what the same furnace is doing.

How we found it

We use gas flow metering at the furnace and follow compressed-air demand at that asset. Firing-rate trends share a time axis with the air readings. The overlaid traces make the repeated pattern visible, allowing the team to compare the start and duration of each change within the same operating window.

What changed

The team can see the over-cycling in a shared view. Gas firing and air demand can be examined together instead of being discussed from separate bills. That gives operations a specific pattern to investigate at the furnace and a record to refer to when reviewing how often the asset fires.

The lesson

We start the comparison at the equipment and keep the timestamps together. In this case, the connection between the utility readings explains more than either total could on its own. The shared trace also gives the team a way to review a later adjustment against the same operating pattern, watching whether the repeated cycling changes and whether another investigation is needed.