Energy Efficient Infrared Oven
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsShih-Yuan Wu, Patrick Conall Regan, Guo Chang Wang, Geoff M. Nichols, Chih-Chi Chang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An oven may facilitate heating, curing, and/or drying processes for manufactured items, such as shoe parts, using multiple groups of infrared sources. Each group of infrared sources may comprise a plurality of sources having heating parameters, such as a peak wavelength, power, distance from items to be cured, number of infrared sources, etc. By staging different types of sources throughout an oven, different aspects of the curing process may be performed in an efficient fashion. Further, conditions within the oven such as temperature and relative humidity may be monitored and adjusted to optimize curing conditions.
Claims19
An energy efficient infrared oven comprising:
- a conveyor system that moves items through the oven at a predetermined rate of speed in a first direction, such that the items sequentially pass through zones of the oven from an entrance to the oven to an exit from the oven;
- a first heating zone within the oven comprising a first plurality of a infrared sources having a first set of heating parameters, the first set of heating parameters comprising at least a first peak wavelength, a first distance from the items moved by the conveyor system, and a first output power;
- and
- a second heating zone within the oven comprising a second plurality of infrared sources having a second set of heating parameters, the second set of heating parameters comprising at least a second peak wavelength, a second distance from the items moved by the conveyor system, and a second output power, with at least one of the second set of heating parameters varying from the first set of heating parameters.
An energy efficient oven comprising:
- a conveyance mechanism that transports items to be heated from an entrance to the oven to an exit from the oven, the conveyance mechanism transporting items in a linear fashion at a predetermined rate;
- a first plurality of infrared sources that emit infrared radiation with a first peak wavelength, the first plurality of infrared sources contained within the oven such that an item transported by conveyance mechanism encounters radiation emitted by the first plurality of infrared sources, the first peak wavelength selectively interacting with a first particular component of the item to be heated;
- and
- a second plurality of infrared sources that emit infrared radiation at a second peak wavelength, the second plurality of infrared sources contained within the oven such that an item transported by the conveyance mechanism encounters radiation emitted by the second plurality of infrared sources only after the item encounters radiation emitted by the first plurality of infrared sources, the second peak wavelength selectively interacting with a second particular component of the item to be heated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.