Industrial ovens are an excellent solution for factories that require heating in their manufacturing process. Usually, industrial ovens are specifically created for a certain function or set of functions, such as baking, cooking, drying, heating, and melting.
To narrow down your industrial oven selection, here are some categories to consider:
Applications
There are so many manufacturing industries that use industrial ovens. Some may even use this equipment for several applications, like the following:
Annealing
This is the process where a material is heated so it can be soft enough to be more workable. Materials that commonly undergo annealing are glass and low-carbon steels.
Baking
A usual application for food manufacturers, baking is where the products are heated just enough to expel the gases inside.
Brazing
This process is an alternative to welding when joining metal components together. In brazing, the parts are fused by a different material (usually brass) that has a lower melting point than that of the parts being joined.
Curing
Almost every manufacturing industry uses curing at some point. Usually, it is used to set liquid and powder coatings or to harden adhesives.
Drying
Drying may have different purposes depending on the industry, but it is mostly defined as the removal of moisture from an object by subjecting it to certain temperatures.
Sterilization
Also a process necessary for laboratories, sterilization is the process of heating certain objects enough to kill the germs and bacteria present on them.
Heating
To generate heat, industrial ovens can use different means. The following are some of these.
Combustion
One way for ovens and kilns to generate heat is by combusting different kinds of fuels, like gas, oil and biomass. The materials being processed may be heated by the combusted gas directly or indirectly.
Propane
Natural gas burners can typically operate on propane with little to no negative effects on performance. The specific class of propane typically used is liquefied petroleum (LP).
Electric
Some ovens use electricity from existing factory voltages to power their heating.
Infrared
Infrared heaters in ovens can generate radiant heat through electricity or gas. This kind of heating can be ideal for processing surfaces, web materials or flat products that can provide a clear line of sight.
Radio frequency
Radio frequency generators could create an alternating electric field between a pair of electrodes. This heating process might particularly be good for drying, and the materials that require processing would just have to be placed between the electrodes.
Configurations
Industrial oven suppliers can design custom and specialized models according to the needs of their clients. Still, there are common configurations available for industrial ovens. Some of these configurations are cabinet or bench ovens, conveyor ovens, front load ovens, top load ovens, and vertical ovens.
Before getting an industrial oven for your operations, make sure that you have already established the requirements necessary for your business. Note that the oven should be certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), particularly for the standard ISO 13577-1. It should also meet the standard NFPA 86 provided by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Both of these standards are specifically for ovens and furnaces.
