Continuous furnace having traveling gas barrier

Abstract

A continuous pusher furnace includes a product carrier assembly incorporating a traveling gas barrier. The product carrier assembly comprises a plate disposed to receive product thereon and a gas barrier extending upwardly from the plate. The perimeter of the gas barrier is sized and configured to fit within a vestibule between heating chambers in the furnace with a clearance gap with the vestibule selected to increase a gas flow velocity through the vestibule sufficient to overcome a gas diffusion velocity through the vestibule in a direction opposite to the gas flow. In this manner, gas is unable to diffuse into an upstream heating chamber. In an alternative embodiment, an exhaust outlet may also be provided in the vestibule or chamber to exhaust gas from upstream and downstream heating chambers from the furnace.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.