Industrial Ovens

About Industrial Ovens and Industrial Oven Manufacturers Including: Commercial Ovens, Convection Ovens, Drying Ovens, Vacuum Ovens & Batch Ovens.

Industrial oven manufacturers design equipment that removes solvents from products through drying, curing, baking, dehydrating and aging. Industrial ovens are also used to reactivate adhesives, gel and fuse materials together, heat-set, heat-shrink, preheat, sinter, melt, heat-treat, laminate and thermal bond other materials. These processes require heat and mass transfer, which can be accomplished through conduction, convection or infrared/radiant heat from industrial ovens. Often, commercial ovens are designed with a combination of these types of heat transfers, as no single heating technology is perfect for every process. Industrial oven manufacturers offer two possible configurations: batch industrial ovens and continuous industrial ovens. Most commercial ovens fall under the category of batch ovens, which process an individual product in a single group. Continuous industrial ovens consist of automated conveyor systems that move large quantities of products through the industrial oven.
 
In conduction, heat is applied directly to one part of an object, exciting the electrons. Molecular collisions, which travel along the object, heat the object as they move. Conduction industrial ovens transfer heat from a hot plate to the bottom of the product or material. There is the possibility that non-uniform heating and mechanical stress may occur in this process. In convection ovens, excited molecules reach a state of fluid motion as gases or liquids are heated. The heated, less dense molecules move upward, while the cooler, more compact molecules move downward. In a convection oven, which may utilize forced air, the product is heated from the top down. Premature, non-uniform drying may occur.
 
Infrared ovens use radiant heat, which heats the object itself, rather than the air within the oven. Lamps emit medium and short wavelength radiation. Infrared heat is the heat transfer method of choice in the curing of metal, plastic and composite parts. It has since been used to provide the heat, the cure, the bond and the catalyst for a wide variety of industrial processes. Infrared heat is suitable for products like web, fabric and products that require powder curing. Infrared ovens require significantly less energy to heat up, and heat up much more quickly than either convection ovens or conduction ovens, making infrared ovens more cost efficient.
 
Industrial oven manufacturers cater to a wide variety of applications, including coated paper industrial ovens, vinyl industrial ovens, textile industrial ovens, industrial and coated fabric ovens, technical textile industrial ovens, safety fabric industrial ovens, woven material industrial ovens, knit material industrial ovens, carpet industrial ovens, building material industrial ovens, wall-covering industrial ovens, tubing industrial ovens, electronics industrial ovens, fuel cells industrial ovens, steel coil industrial ovens and automotive industrial ovens. Infrared ovens can be used for pre-drying, preheating, drying, post-heating, thermal bonding, heat-setting, curing and more. Industries such as chemicals/petrochemical, finishing, food processing, packaging/printing, pulp/paper/converting, pharmaceuticals, plastics/rubber and textiles benefit from infrared ovens. Commercial ovens are useful for heat treating, different types of curing, stress relieving, plastic heating, core baking, vacuum thermal forming, etc. To optimize drying and curing processes, choose the appropriate energy source (e.g. electricity, gas, etc.), and it is important to remember that precise processes can only be accomplished with precise temperature control.
 

Industrial Ovens and Industrial Oven Manufacturers Image Provided by Intek Corporation	Industrial Ovens and Industrial Oven Manufacturers Image Provided by The Grieve Corporation

Types of Industrial Ovens

• Baking ovens are used for baking materials or food, are made of inflammable materials and have smooth interior surfaces to allow cleaning.
  
• Batch ovens process a product at one time in a single group.
  
• Bench ovens are small, sometimes portable, ovens usually placed on tables or stands. Bench ovens are used during low volume process heating applications.
  
• Commercial ovens are used to dry, bake, heat, and cure various materials.
  
• Convection ovens provide consistent process heating through the fluid circulation of gases. The heated gas warms the internal air, which maintains the temperature inside the oven.
  
• Conveyor ovens contain a variety of accessories and are used in continuous high volume process heating applications.
  
• Drying ovens are used to remove excess moisture from a product.
  
• Infrared ovens utilize electromagnetic radiation to transmit heat to the product. Infrared radiation is transferred directly to the product without heating the air inside of the enclosure.
  
• Powder coating ovens are either infrared or convection ovens in which the powder coating on a product is melted and allowed to flow for 2-10 minutes. Within the oven, the product is then exposed to ultraviolet light for just a few seconds to cure and harden the finish.
  
• Storage ovens heat parts to make them easier to assemble and are utilized where pressure-sensitive adhesives perform more efficiently at higher temperatures and where pliability aids fit.
  
• Vacuum ovens are airtight enclosures in which the pressure level remains lower than that of atmospheric pressure. Vacuum ovens guard against undesirable effects of heat processes such as oxidation and contamination.
  
• Walk-in or truck-in ovens are large enclosures used for the process heating of large objects, such as trucks or cars, or large product quantities. Walk-in ovens often contain large doorways, cabinet, shelves and racks for convenience.

Common Terms Related To Industrial Ovens

Aging - The process of changing the properties of a metal or an alloy through temperature changes through the utilization of an industrial oven.
 
Annealing - The process of softening an object or changing other properties of the object through cycles of heating and cooling using an industrial oven.
 
Atmospheric Pressure - The amount of force the atmosphere exerts upon the earth's surface, measuring 14.7 psi at sea level.
 
Baking - Removing entrained gases by heating the object up to a low temperature in an industrial oven.
 
BTU (British Thermal Unit) - The amount of heat necessary to change the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.
 
Conduction - A form of heat transfer through the application of heat to a solid object followed by the subsequent spread of the heat through the object in an industrial oven.
 
Convection - Heat transfer between two objects, one of which is either a liquid or a gas. During convection, the pull of gravity initiates fluid circulation, causing heated molecules to rise and cool molecules to fall.
 
Curing - The process involving the solidification of a material through heating and drying, in industrial ovens. And in which the temperature of the cured object is maintained during the process.
 
Drying - The process of removing a solvent such as moisture from an object by utilizing industrial ovens.
 
Emittance - The capability of the surface to emanate radiant energy.
 
Heat Transfer - The exchange between matter, or parts of the same matter, which always occurs from warm to cool.
 
Heat Treatment - The process of changing properties in solid metals or alloys through heating and cooling applications.
 
Heatsetting - The process of setting the shape of yarn or carpet fibers through the application of heat in industrial ovens, and/or steam. For example, heatsetting creates a permanent twist in yarn.
 
Postheating - Applying heat to an object after the manufacturing process, such as brazing, welding or soldering.
 
Powder Coating - A dry finishing process that utilizes finely ground, electrostatically charged particles, which are sprayed onto a part to be coated. When placed in an industrial oven, the charged parts melt and fuse into a durable, even coating.
 
Preheating - The application of heat in industrial ovens before the manufacturing process.
 
Process Heating - The supplication of heat from industrial ovens to an object or material.
 
Quenching - The rapid cooling of an object heated in an industrial oven.
 
Radiation - The movement of energy in the form of particles, rays or waves.
 
Radio Frequency - The creation of heat by the transfer of energy.
 
Sintering - The formation of large particles from a heap of small, fine particles through the application of heat. In the sintering process, the temperature remains below the melting point.
 
Stress Relieving - Reducing stress in a metal object by raising the temperature of the object and maintaining the object's temperature for a specified amount of time by utilizing industrial ovens.
 
Tempering - Heating steel by different means to a given temperature in industrial ovens and then cooling it, in order to reduce the brittleness in the hardened steel.
 
Thermal Bonding - The application of heat from industrial ovens to produce interlocking among fibers and fabrics.