For an industrial oven manufacturer, the toughest challenge is obviously making sure that the heat is evenly distributed. It would be wrong to think that this is better achieved by batch ovens than by conveyor belt ovens. The laws of physics being infallible, many technical aspects must be considered for each heat treatment, regardless of the oven used. Remember, the goal is to bring each part – and not the inside of the oven, as many believe – to the desired temperature and as fast as possible to enable its center to reach the same temperature as that of its surface. Rapid execution and uniformity are the prime directives of oven builders and manufacturers who must use a lot of ingenuity in designing the technical functionalities of each oven so as to address these challenges.
‘’ Since 1981, Pyromaitre has created innovatively designed industrial ovens that drastically reduce cooking time; the heat transfer in these ovens is so efficient that customers can increase their output in an oven that is up to 70% smaller.’’ AN OVERVIEW OF CLEANTECH IN QUÉBEC, 2016
A good oven is characterized by computerized burners (or heating elements) and innovative strategies to install the right fans to evenly distribute the heat to the various zones of the oven. The space inside the oven is also another important factor to consider. With advances in stringent industry standards, such as AMS 27591 which allows for a maximum variation of 6°C for average-temp treatments, before purchasing an oven, make sure that load testing has been conducted, supported by a certified temperature curve profile. No-load testing (no simulations of the total number of parts normally processed in the oven) is not really representative; the oven must be loaded to simulate actual processing conditions.
1 : web reference = https://www.an-answer.com/TT/HeatTreatSpec-AMS2759_3D.pdf