Furnace Roller Assembly

A method of fabricating a furnace roller assembly, the method comprising the steps of:

• fabricating a linearly oriented shaft-offset and metal contact surface assembly comprising:
• a wear element;
• a cooling element connected to the wear element, the cooling element having an internal coolant passage terminating at opposing cooling element supply and return ends;
• and
• a support element connected to the cooling element;
• forming an offset assembly supply and return coolant openings along the length of a furnace roller shaft;
• providing an offset assembly supply transition fitting and an offset assembly return transition fitting, each of the offset assembly supply and return transition fittings having a first end and a second end opposing the first end;
• connecting the first end of the offset assembly supply transition fitting to the offset assembly supply coolant opening, and the first end of the offset assembly return transition fitting to the offset assembly return coolant opening;
• helically bending the linearly oriented shaft-offset and metal contact surface assembly around the outer surface of the furnace roller shaft and connecting the support element to the outer surface of the furnace roll shaft;
• and
• connecting the second end of the offset assembly supply transition fitting to the cooling element supply end, and the second end of the offset assembly return transition fitting to the cooling element return end.

A method of moving a metal product through a furnace, the method comprising the steps of:

• arranging the axial length of at least two furnace roller assemblies in a furnace perpendicular to the direction of moving the metal product through the furnace, at least one of the at least two furnace roller assemblies comprising:
• a furnace roller shaft;
• at least one shaft-offset and metal product contact surface assembly helically wound around the outer surface of the furnace roller shaft along the axial length of the furnace roller shaft, the at least one shaft-offset and metal product contact surface assembly comprising:
• a wear element;
• a cooling element connected to the wear element, the cooling element having an internal coolant passage terminating at opposing cooling element supply and return ends at an offset assembly supply and return coolant openings, respectively, located along the length of the furnace roller shaft;
• and
• a support element connected between the outer surface of the furnace roller shaft and the cooling element to radially offset the cooling element and the wear element from the outer surface of the furnace roller shaft;
• and
• rotating both of the at least two furnace roller assemblies to move the metal product over the at least two furnace roller assemblies in the furnace.