An infrared heating unit with a furnace includes a housing that accommodates a process space, and a heating facility, whereby the process space is bordered, at least in part, by a furnace lining made of quartz glass. In order to provide, on this basis, an infrared heating unit that enables energy-efficient and uniform (homogeneous) heating of the heating goods by infrared radiation to temperatures of even above 600 C., the heating facility is formed by at least one heating substrate that includes a contact surface in contact with a printed conductor made of a resistor material that is electrically conductive and generates heat when current flows through it, whereby the heating substrate includes doped quartz glass, into which an additional component that absorbs in the infrared spectral range is embedded and forms at least a part of the furnace lining.

An infrared heating unit with a furnace includes a housing that accommodates a process space, and a heating facility, whereby the process space is bordered, at least in part, by a furnace lining made of quartz glass. In order to provide, on this basis, an infrared heating unit that enables energy-efficient and uniform (homogeneous) heating of the heating goods by infrared radiation to temperatures of even above 600 C., the heating facility is formed by at least one heating substrate that includes a contact surface in contact with a printed conductor made of a resistor material that is electrically conductive and generates heat when current flows through it, whereby the heating substrate includes doped quartz glass, into which an additional component that absorbs in the infrared spectral range is embedded and forms at least a part of the furnace lining.

The invention relates to a conveyor device (1), designed: to receive an item to be conveyed (F2), more particularly a meat item, at a receiving region (A1) from an upstream feed device (110); to transfer the item to be conveyed (F2) at a transfer region (A3); to hand over the item to be conveyed (F2) in a handover region (A2) from the receiving region (A1) to the transfer region (A3), wherein the conveyor device (1) comprises a plurality of discrete transport units (21), wherein the transport units (21) are more particularly arranged in circulation, characterized in that the transport units (21) are designed: to receive the item to be conveyed (F2) at the receiving region (A1), to be handed over between the receiving region (A1) and the transfer region (A3), and to hand over the item to be conveyed (F2) at the transfer region (A3).

An infrared emitter is provided. The infrared emitter includes a substrate made of an electrically insulating material. The substrate includes a surface that contacts a printed conductor made of a resistor material that is electrically conducting and generates heat when current flows through it. The electrically insulating material includes an amorphous matrix component into which an additional component is embedded that absorbs in the spectral range of infrared radiation. At least a part of the surface is configured with a cover layer made of porous glass, whereby the printed conductor is embedded, at least in part, in the cover layer.

An assembly for conveying sports equipment includes a first pulley, a second pulley, and a belt extending between and movable around the pulleys. A plurality of engagement members are coupled to the belt such that they travel along a path extending from the first pulley to the second pulley and back. The second pulley is spaced apart from the first pulley along a first axis, and along a second axis that is perpendicular to the first axis such that the belt is inclined toward the second pulley, and such that sports equipment engaged with an engagement member beneath the first pulley will advance toward the second pulley. A stop member is offset from the path of the engagement members such that empty engagement members can proceed beyond the stop member, and the stop member is configured to stop motion of the belt upon contacting sports equipment conveyed by engagement members.

A jump shuttle conveyor system is configured to receive formed food patties from a molding assembly of a patty forming machine. The system includes a lifting plate and belt assembly coupled to a frame which are configured to be indexed to different vertical positions relative to the frame. Formed food patties are received on a belt of the belt assembly thereon, and can be moved off of the belt onto a transfer shuttle conveyor system. An output conveyor system can be provided to receive the formed food patties.

A lifting device 1 includes an upper station 2, a lower station 3, and lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11. The upper station 2 and the lower station 3 have horizontal placing tables 5 and 6, respectively. The horizontal placing tables 5 and 6 move only in the horizontal direction. The lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 move only in the vertical direction. When any of the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 is in the upper station 2, the upper side horizontal placing table 5 is at a position adjacent to the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 to form a series of conveying passages. When the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 move away from the upper station 2, the upper side horizontal placing table 5 moves to a position where the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 used to exist. When the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 move away from the lower station 3, the lower side horizontal placing table 6 moves to a position where the lifting and lowering placing tables 10 and 11 used to exist.

Embodiments of product handling systems facilitate transfer of individual product items from incoming bulk form into dedicated trays for inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging. Inspection may comprise interrogation of product items within a tray by electromagnetic (e.g., optical, hyperspectral) or other (e.g., physical, acoustic, gas sensing, etc.) techniques. Prior to packaging, product items disposed within the tray may be stored in a moveable carousel responsible for controlling environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, illumination, ambient gases, product-to-product interactions, and/or others. Movement of product items from a carousel's transfer station to an outside staging position may be accomplished using robots and/or conveyor belts. Embodiments may allow rapid, low-cost consumer selection of specific individual product items based upon their accompanying metadata (e.g., source, identifier), in combination with the results of inspection (e.g., visual appearance). Embodiments may receive product items pre-packaged in tray format to expedite inspection, sorting, selection, and packaging.

This invention relates to an apparatus (1) for carrying out a non-destructive inspection on a wooden board (9) or a similar object. The apparatus (1) comprises a movement system (3) comprising at least two chains or belts (32) that are at a distance from one another and substantially parallel to each other. The chains or belts (32) are slidable parallel to a movement path (30) and are and intended to support the wooden board (9). The apparatus (1) also comprises a non-destructive inspection station (2) that is positioned on the movement path (30), for carrying out a non-destructive inspection on the wooden board (9) that is supported by the chains or belts (32). The non-destructive inspection station (2) comprises at least one operating component (22) that is positioned on the same side as the chains or belts (32) and emits or receives a signal or an image, with an emission or reception field (220) that faces towards a region between two chains or belts (32). Each chain or belt (32) comprises an elongate flexible body (320) and at least one rest element (36) that is positioned on the elongate flexible body (320). The at least one rest element (36) projects upwards from the elongate flexible body (320) and has a top face (361) with a width (L36) that is less than the width (L32) of the elongate flexible body (320). The top faces (361) are intended to provide a surface on which the wooden board (9) can rest, so that the wooden board is kept at a distance from the elongate flexible body (320) of each chain or belt (32).

A system for bringing producing oil and gas from a subsea gathering manifold or wellhead, including a loop having an upper end at the surface and a lower end below the surface, the loop rotatable around a closed path, and production vessels attached to the cable loop, each production vessel having a hollow interior, the weight of the plurality of production vessels sufficient, when filled with seawater, to cause the production vessels to sink, the plurality of production vessels each having an inlet pipe. The system also includes a plurality of receivers attached to the production gathering manifold or wellhead that receive production fluid, the receivers engaging production vessels and filling them with well fluid while seawater is discharged from the production vessels, the production fluid having a lower density than ambient seawater so that the production vessels become buoyant when filled with the production fluid.