A History of Cannon Boiler Works, Inc.
Cannon Boiler Works, Inc. was founded on November 7, 1972 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to conduct business as a specialty manufacturer and service company. In 1976, Cannon expanded its capabilities to include an ASME Code program for specialty manufacturing of boilers and pressure vessels – skills that allowed Cannon to remain viable through several severe recessions.
In 1978, the worldwide energy crisis prompted Cannon to focus on developing energy recovery products. The experience gained in the field construction and service business provided us with the insight to the requirements for a long lasting serviceable equipment design. Our equipment could be retrofitted to existing boilers, or sold to a boiler manufacturer for use on new equipment. As Cannon’s marketing and engineering efforts were increasing, natural gas prices began to rise dramatically, opening a large market for our equipment on packaged firetube boilers.
In 1980, during the development of Cannon’s small heat recovery unit, they simultaneously developed the manufacturing facility for producing the heart of all energy recovery equipment – finned tubing. The capability to produce their own finned tubing enabled Cannon to become more self-reliant in manufacturing it’s heat recovery products with the added tremendous potential of producing custom finned tubing for others. Cannon’s unique and proven manufacturing process for producing brazed finned tubing has established them as a leader of brazed finned tube products in the United States.
In 1985, Cannon expanded its product base to include the design, manufacture and installation of our forced circulation waste heat boilers. Cannon built two (2) 35,000#/hr waste heat boiler operating at 450 psig with superheat at 580 º F for the municipal sanitary authority in Pittsburgh. Cannon also built ten (10) waste heat boilers for Duke Power at their Mobile Bay Co-Generation Plant in Alabama. Cannon has also designed and built waste heat boilers for other projects such as gas turbines, diesel engines and incinerators. These projects have typically ranged in cost from $100,000 to $2,500,000. Since the company was founded, Cannon has engaged in field construction projects that range from building and installing large pressure vessels & heat exchangers to the installation of complete boiler rooms.
In 1995, the Cannon LTO Environmental System was introduced. This technology was based upon our newly developed low temperature chemical process combined with our established waste heat recovery technology. Since then, Cannon’s patented system has been installed on numerous applications reducing flue gas emissions to zero. This will enable Cannon to offer custom engineered units that can provide pollutant free emissions from industrial boilers at an actual savings in costs of ownership and operation.
In 1998, Cannon purchased and expanded the facility it currently occupies. We have been an aggressive and progressive force in our marketplace. Cannon continues to look for more market opportunities and develop new products for those markets while continuing its tradition of excellence.
In 2000, Cannon became the exclusive U.S. supplier of the Spinheat internal circulating fluidized bed boilers and subsequently supplied two (2) 15,000 #/HR boilers for 250 PSIG design burning waste coal for a complete steam supply project. The following year we supplied a complete plant with one (1) 15,000 #/HR unit a 500 PSIG saturated also burning waste coal for a combined heat and power project.
In 2003, Cannon began development of fuel humidifier unit for the molten carbonate fuel cell technology using the basic shell and tube concept. Further, development introduced our extended surface design to preheat a blended combination of superheated natural gas and generated superheated steam for conditioning natural gas feed to the fuel cell.
In 2004, Cannon formed a cooperative agreement with another highly reputable heat exchanger company to provide a combined manufacturing and repair service at our facility.
In 2014, Cannon Boiler Works, Inc. played an integral part in the design, procurement and commissioning of a new steam plant for a Western Pennsylvania manufacturer.
As if the customer requirements of greater than 100,000 pph total steam flow with the ability to handle frequent swings in excess of 50% of the total steam flow with full recovery in five minutes or less using 100% cold water make-up with a completely brand new system were not already complicated, the less than eight months allowed from proposal to on-line put everyone’s back to the wall.
With time running low and options limited, Cannon Boiler responded to the challenge by proposing a system designed to meet the load demands with an in service efficiency of between 88% and 92%, requiring minimal operator attention and having a high degree of reliability.
Once chosen as the supplier, Cannon worked closely with the customer, their contracted engineering firm and installing contractors to procure, manufacture, coordinate and expedite delivery of all the required equipment in record time. Our scope of supply included (12) Miura LXH Boilers, (2) Industrial Steam Deaerators, (2) Cannon Boiler Works Condensing Heat Recovery Units, with complete boiler exhaust system, (1) Cannon Boiler Works Wet Steam Accumulator, (1) Penn Separator Blow Down Heat Recovery system as well as a complete make-up water treatment and handling system including Kinetico Softeners, Bulk Brinemaking system, storage tanks and transfer pumps, and automated chemical treatment system. We provided in house and factory service and support through all phases of startup and commissioning and all team members. Along with the other participants we were expected to and produced the desired results!
A similar 90,000#/hr system is completed and we are equally pleasing with the results for that customer. An even larger system, with co-generation is on the board for 2018.
Recently, there has been an increasing interest in condensing economizers, partly due to education of the general public in terms of energy efficiency. Cannon has been manufacturing in-stack condensing economizers for 25 years, and now expanded into stand alone On-Demand automated systems that recover available heat while being completely invisible to the existing boiler system. These systems are custom designed for each application.
In keeping with our plans to continue to invest in our energy efficiency efforts, Cannon will continue to look for new ways and opportunities to improve energy efficiencies in its current and future products.