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.
Claims15
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 infrared sources configured to emit mid-infrared radiation (“MIR”) within a range of 2 to 4 micrometers;
- a second heating zone within the oven comprising a second plurality of infrared sources configured to emit near-infrared radiation (“NIR”) within a range of 0.5 to 1.5 micrometers, the second heating zone contained within the oven such that an item transported by the conveyance mechanism encounters NIR only after the item encounters MIR;
- and
- an air circulation system comprising a side channel along a side of the oven between the entrance and the exit that moves air inside the oven from the first plurality of infrared sources toward the conveyor system.
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 peak wavelength within the range of 2 to 4 micrometers (“MIR”), the first plurality of infrared sources contained within the oven such that an item transported by the 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;
- a second plurality of infrared sources that emit infrared radiation at a peak wavelength within the range of 0.5 to 1.5 micrometers (“NIR”), the second plurality of infrared sources contained within the oven such that an item transported by the conveyance mechanism encounters NIR only after the item encounters MIR, the second peak wavelength selectively interacting with a second particular component of the item to be heated;
- and
- an air circulation system comprising a side channel along a side of the oven between the entrance and the exit that moves air inside the oven from the first plurality of infrared sources toward the conveyor system.
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 infrared sources spaced a first distance from a surface of the items moved by the conveyor system, the first plurality of infrared sources emitting MIR;
- and
- a second heating zone within the oven comprising a second plurality of infrared sources spaced a second distance from a surface of the items moved by the conveyor system, the second plurality of infrared sources emitting NIR, wherein the first distance is less than the second distance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.