Heat Treatment, Furnaces & Thermal Processing worked example

Quench Tank Capacity at 99% quench tank uptime: a worked example

Push quench tank uptime up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it when oil, polymer, water, salt, or gas quench capacity limits hardening throughput.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Loads transferred per quench cycle: 1 loads / cycle (unchanged)
  • Usable quench cycles per shift: 32 cycles / shift (unchanged)
  • Quench tank uptime: 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 92)
  • Accepted yield after quench inspection: 96 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Gross quench tank capacity = loads per quench cycle × usable quench cycles) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 30.41 loads / shift for good quench tank capacity, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 32 loads / shift for gross quench capacity.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.32 loads / shift for quench downtime loss.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1.27 loads / shift for quench reject loss.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where quench tank uptime sits at 92% and the headline result is 28.26 loads / shift, this scenario comes in 7.61% above the baseline at 30.41 loads / shift.
  • It computes good quench tank capacity as loads per cycle times usable cycles per shift, then derated by tank uptime and accepted yield. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Good quench tank capacity: 30.41 loads / shift (headline result)
  • Gross quench capacity: 32 loads / shift
  • Quench downtime loss: 0.32 loads / shift
  • Quench reject loss: 1.27 loads / shift

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Quench Tank Capacity calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.