Heat Treatment Roller Hearth Furnace Drive System

A roller hearth furnace for heating parts, comprising:

• a furnace having a housing defining a heating chamber;
• a plurality of rollers configured to convey the parts through the heating chamber;
• and
• a drive system for driving the plurality of rollers, the drive system including
• a motor,
• a driving loop driven by the motor and having a driving side and a return side,
• a first reducer configured to drive a rotation of the driving loop in a forward direction,
• a second reducer configured to drive the rotation of the driving loop in a reverse direction, and
• at least one sprocket driven by the driving side of the driving loop and configured to drive a rotation of at least one roller of the roller hearth furnace in the forward direction when the driving loop is rotating in the forward direction and in the reverse direction when the driving loop is rotating in the reverse direction.

A method for driving an oscillation of rollers of a roller conveyor back and forth between a forward direction and a reverse direction, comprising:

• providing a drive system including a motor, a driving loop driven by the motor and having a driving side and a return side, and a first reducer and a second reducer on opposite sides of the driving side;
• oscillating an input shaft back and forth between a first direction and a second direction using the motor;
• rotating the driving loop in the forward direction with the first reducer when the input shaft is rotating in the first direction;
• rotating the driving loop in the reverse direction with the second reducer when the input shaft is rotating in the second direction;
• and
• driving the oscillation of the rollers with the driving loop, the rollers rotating in the forward direction when the driving loop is rotating in the forward direction, the rollers rotating in the reverse direction when the driving loop is rotating in the reverse direction.