Understanding Common Thermal Processing Vocabulary
ITS offers a chance to build a better thermal processing vocabulary by providing
a partial list of thermal prococessing terminology with definitions.
Industrial Oven Types in General
Baking Oven
The function of baking ovens combines the functions of curing and drying ovens;
baking ovens both bring a substance up to a chemically-reactive temperature and
drive off moisture in the process. Typical applications are found in the food
service industries.
Batch Oven
Also called cabinet or truck-in ovens, batch ovens are essentially heated boxes
with insulated doors. Batch ovens process a product at one time in a single
group. The parts or products to be cured, dried or baked are brought into the
oven in batches on wheeled racks, carts or trucks. Typical applications include
powder coating operations and food service.
Bench Oven
Are small, sometimes portable, ovens usually placed on tables or stands. Bench
ovens are used during low volume process heating applications.
Convection Oven
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/Continuous Oven-Belt
Also called tunnel ovens, parts and products move through the oven on a conveyor
belt. Conveyor belt ovens are typically part of a Conveyorized processing line,
with the oven's conveyor belt set to the line's pass height. Typical
applications are found in many industries, especially food service.
Conveyor/Continuous Oven-Overhead
Also called slit ovens, parts and products move through the oven suspended on
racks from an overhead monorail. Typical applications are powder coating,
painting, and pretreatment lines.
Curing Oven
The function of a curing oven is to bring a substance up to a certain
temperature at which a chemical reaction takes place. A typical application is
powder coating. Powder coatings are essentially colorized plastic resins; they
are sprayed on dry at room temperature, and then must be heated until they flow
and set. Once the powder coated parts cool, a thin, uniform film forms a
durable and decorative finish. Including composite curing ovens, paint curing
ovens and UV curing ovens, alter and prepare certain products, materials and
substances by chemical or physical processing, such as hardening rubber or
paint, and can be used in powder coating and food preservation as well.
Drying Oven
The function of a drying oven is to remove moisture from a product. Typical
applications are pre-treating and painting. Unlike powder coating, where the
pigments and binders are applied dry, paints and pretreatments go on wet; the
active ingredients are suspended in a liquid base. Once the parts are coated,
they must spend time in a drying oven to drive off the liquid base, leaving
behind the active ingredients as a dry, hard film.
Foundry Oven
Used for metal melting applications for jewelry manufacturing, mining,
die-casting operations, production aluminum foundries, and fine arts studios.
They typically have a tilting mechanism, which can be manually operated (e.g.,
a hand wheel) or powered (e.g., hydraulic tilt).
Infrared Oven
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 Oven
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 Oven
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 Oven
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 Oven
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.
