Brazing furnace parts feeding control

Abstract

A method of controlling the feeding of part trays into a roller-hearth brazing furnace includes feeding a part tray into the furnace after the expiration of a time period. The temperatures in each heating zone of the furnace are monitored. After the expiration of the time period and before a part tray is fed into the furnace, these temperatures are compared to a specified temperature range for each zone. If all temperatures within the heating zones are within specification, the time period is decremented by a small amount. This process continues automatically until a temperature in a heating zone is not within specification when the time period expires. When this occurs, the time period is incremented by a small amount, which can be different from or the same as the amount used to decrement the time period. This method allows the furnace to run at higher throughput, approaching maximum, by continuously modifying the time period at which trays are fed into the furnace in response to changing conditions, such as differences in the part assemblies to be brazed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.