Cata-Dyne™ Infrared Oven

Operation and Instructional Manual - Start-up Procedures

Cold Start

Ensure that the manual fuel gas valve is tuned on. Turn the circuit breaker on and set the Power On/Off switch to the ON position.  This will turn on the Power LED and power up the internal electronics.  If the oven has more than one zone, turn the zone power switches (located under the display card) to the Auto position.  The Preheat LEDs (labeled Preht) for all powered zones will light indicating that the system is in the preheat mode.  The preheat cycle time depends upon ambient temperature but should be 20 - 30 minutes.

When the last heater  has reached critical temperature as indicated by the Low Temperature LEDs on the display card, the exhaust fan is turned on to purge the oven. The oven will continue to heat for an additional three minutes. The main gas valve and the zone  solenoid valves are then energized. This stage is known as Post-heat. The Gas On and Preheat indicator LEDs will show that gas is flowing and the electric elements are energized.  Fuel gas flows at the full rate for six minutes while the preheat elements are on.  If a heater does not "catch" and a the temperature in a heater drops below the critical temperature, the Low Temperature LED is turned on, fuel flow is interrupted and the sequence goes to a two minute warm‑up delay to allow the electric elements to bring the catalyst back up to temperature.  Note that the system is in post-heat mode and it will ignore the position of the Full Heat/Standby switch.  Fuel flow during preheat is at the maximum rate to ensure that the entire surface of the catalyst pads reach operating temperature.  After six minutes of operation without a heater dropping out, the electric preheat elements are turned off and the Preheat indicator LED for each zone is turned off.

If there is a brief temperature fault in a heater after preheat cycle is complete, the corresponding Low Temperature LED will turn on.  If the fault is cleared within 10 seconds, the LED will turn off and the system will remain functioning.  If the fault is not cleared within this time or if there are any other faults, the system will shut down.  The Gas On LED will go out, the Alarm LEDs will illuminate indicating the specific problem, and the alarm relay will close.  The system is locked out until the Power On/Off switch(es) for the affected zones are turned off and then back on. 

The power switch will turn the oven off – no other action is required.  This closes all valves and removes power from the heating elements.  Operational parameters and settings will be retained in non-volatile memory (EEPROM).

If the oven encounters a fault condition and enters alarm mode, the all valves and preheat power for the affected zone are turned off.  The power switch for affected zones must be turned off to reset an alarm condition.  If the fault is noticed and reset quickly, the heaters will still be above the critical temperature and a Hot Start will begin. If even one heater drops below critical, a full cold start cycle is initiated.

The system will recover from a momentary power failure in the same way that it would if the power switch was turned off and then off again. The gas valves will turn off and a preheat cycle will begin. If all the heaters are above critical temperature when power is restored a short “Hot Start” cycle will begin (see below for a description of the Hot Start cycle). If one or more heaters drops below the critical temperature, the longer “Cold Start” cycle will begin.

If the oven is turned off and then on again (to clear a fault) or the power momentarily interrupted, all the gas valves will close and the oven will re-start.. If all the heaters are above the critical temperature, a short “Hot Start” preheat cycle is initiated. The electric elements are turned on for three minutes.  Next, the gas valves are opened and gas flows at the maximum rate (even if standby mode is selected) for six minutes with the preheat elements on to ensure that the heaters solidly reach operating temperature.  After this Post Heat cycle is complete, the preheat elements are switched off and the system will follow the setting of the Full Heat/Standby switch.

If there are one or more defective heaters or thermocouples in a zone, the zone will be disabled (the zone gas valve will close) but the remaining zones will continue to operate. In the case of a single zone oven system, defective heaters or thermocouples will prevent the oven system from operating.  One or more alarm LEDs will indicate the source of the fault.  If this should occur repeatedly, contact CCI Thermal Technologies Inc. for assistance.

If you have any further questions, or for further assistance, please contact: