Steel strip heating furnace and method

A heating furnace for steel comprising:

• a furnace body defining an enclosed heating space therein, said furnace body including a longitudinally extending side wall;
• means for conveying the steel along a preset course through said furnace body and adjacent to said side wall;
• a movable wall extending along at least part of the length of said course and positioned adjacent the end portions of said steel nearest said side wall;
• a cooling system incorporated into said movable wall and including a plurality of passageways arranged in matrix and extending longitudinally through said movable wall for cooling the latter, each of said passageways being connected to a cooling fluid source;
• and
• an actuator associated with said movable wall for moving the latter toward and away from said end portions of said steel.

A process for heating steel strip comprising the steps of:

• providing a course along which said steel strip travels in a heating furnace;
• feeding a plurality of steel strips along said course;
• heating walls of a furnace surrounding said course so as to heat said steel strips by radiation from said walls;
• providing a movable wall adjacent to the transverse end sections of said steel strips on opposite sides of the axis of travel thereof, which movable wall extends essentially parallel to and overlapping at least a part of the entire length of said course;
• providing a cooling system in said movable wall, which cooling system comprises a plurality of cooling paths extending longitudinally and essentially in parallel to each other in matrix fashion;
• and
• positioning said movable wall relative to said transverse end sections of the steel strips so as to control heat transmission from said walls of the furnace to said transverse end sections of said steel strips.