A continuous annealing apparatus includes: a pre-treatment device to prepare a strip unwound from a coil; a heating device to heat the strip prepared by the pre-treatment device; a heat holding device to isothermally maintain the strip heated by the heating device; a first cooling device to cool the strip heat-maintained by the heat holding device; an annealing device including a first annealing device for annealing the strip, which, is cooled by the first cooling device, for a first time, and a second annealing device for winding the strip, which is cooled by the first cooling device, into a coil and then unwinding the coil into the strip again after annealing for a second time; a second cooling device to cool the strip annealed by the first annealing device or the second annealing device; and a post-treatment device to wind the strip cooled by the second cooling device into the coil.

A fuel tank producing apparatus that allows the thickness of a resin on the surface of a tank container to be uniform and that is capable of improving the curing quality of the tank container. The fuel tank producing apparatus includes a conveyor for conveying the tank container, a plurality of heating chambers for heating the tank container during the conveyance, a cooling furnace for cooling the tank container at a position downstream of the plurality of heating chambers in the conveying direction, a gas supplier for supplying gas to the plurality of heating chambers, a plurality of nozzles for blowing the gas supplied from the gas supplier onto the surface of the tank container in the plurality of heating chambers, and a plurality of plug heaters for heating the gas between the gas supplier and the plurality of nozzles.

Provided is a heat treatment apparatus capable of being configured to be more compact.

A heat treatment apparatus 1 includes a coolant passage defining body 42 to define a coolant passage 48 to supply a coolant to a workpiece 100. The coolant passage defining body 42 includes an upper member 50 and a lower member 40 as a plurality of coolant passage defining members, and is configured so that, by displacing these members 49 and 50 so as to approach each other along an up-down direction Z1 crossing a conveyance direction, the coolant passage 48 is defined in a state housing the workpiece 100. In addition, the coolant passage defining body is configured so that, by displacing the members 49 and 50 described above so as to separate from each other along the up-down direction Z1, the workpiece 100 is allowed to be let into and out of the coolant passage 48 along the conveyance direction A1.

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for impressing a temperature profile onto a sheet steel component, wherein in one or more first areas, a temperature below the AC3 temperature can be impressed on the sheet steel component, and in one or more second areas, a temperature above the AC3 temperature can be impressed on the sheet steel component, and is characterized in that the sheet steel component is firstly preheated in a production furnace, and is then transferred into the thermal re-treatment station, wherein a radiation heat source is moved over the component in the thermal re-treatment station, by means of which the one or more first areas of the sheet steel component can be kept at a temperature below the AC3 temperature or cooled down further, and the one or more second areas can be heated to or kept at a temperature above the AC3 temperature.

A furnace system includes a pre-heating zone disposed on a conveyer device, a furnace facility located behind the pre-heating zone and having a gas heating zone and an electrical heating zone for heating the work piece to the required or predetermined temperature, and a cooling zone for lowering the work piece to a room temperature, the furnace facility includes a heat recycling device connected to the cooling zone and the heating zone, and connected to the pre-heating zone, for collecting a heat energy in the cooling zone and in the heating zone and for supplying the collected heat energy to the pre-heating zone for pre-heating the work piece and for saving the energy.

Moving metal strips can be heat treated with any number or combination of dimensionally variable tempers across widths, lengths, or thicknesses of a metal strip. To provide dimensionally variable heat treatment, an apparatus can include one or more heating units suitable to increase the temperature of a metal strip moving proximate the apparatus to a heat treatment temperature. The apparatus can also include one or more cooling units positioned near the heating units to absorb heat and cool the metal strip to minimize the amount of heat transferred from a first region of the metal strip that is to be treated to a second region of the metal strip that is not to be treated.

A sintering furnace can have a housing, one or more heating elements, and a conveying assembly. Each heating element can be disposed within the housing and can subject a heating zone to a thermal shock temperature profile. A substrate with one or more precursors thereon can be moved by the conveying assembly through an inlet of the housing to the heating zone, where it is subjected to a first temperature of at least 500 C. for a first time period. The conveying assembly can then move the substrate with one or more sintered materials thereon from the heating zone and through an outlet of the housing.

A sintering furnace can have a housing, one or more heating elements, and a conveying assembly. Each heating element can be disposed within the housing and can subject a heating zone to a thermal shock temperature profile. A substrate with one or more precursors thereon can be moved by the conveying assembly through an inlet of the housing to the heating zone, where it is subjected to a first temperature of at least 500 C. for a first time period. The conveying assembly can then move the substrate with one or more sintered materials thereon from the heating zone and through an outlet of the housing.

A kiln system is provided, including a drying section, a preheating section, a firing section, a soaking section, a cooling section, and a decarburization section arranged between the drying section and the preheating section. The decarburization section includes an ignition zone, a hot air combustion/pyrolysis zone, and a waste heat recovery pipeline. A heat source is introduced into the ignition zone so that the temperature of the ceramsite of the raw materials with heating values in the zone is 400 C. to 900 C. The hot air combustion/pyrolysis zone is configured for combusting or pyrolyzing carbon-containing materials and organic components in the raw materials with heating values in the ceramsite. The waste heat recovery pipeline is configured for discharging decarburization exhaust gas and recovering heat released after the raw materials with heating values in the ceramsite are combusted or pyrolyzed in the decarburization exhaust gas.

A method and apparatus for treating a workpiece such as a mold grid includes moving the workpiece laterally along a conveyor assembly into a furnace for heating in a carbon-rich atmosphere to form a heated workpiece. The heated workpiece is then received from the furnace onto the conveyor assembly in an enclosed vestibule whereupon it is clamped under pressure between an overhead mechanical press and the conveyor assembly to form a clamped assembly. The clamped assembly, including a portion of the conveyor, is then lowered into a quenching bath via an elevator assembly until the heated workpiece is quenched, whereupon the clamped assembly is raised out of the bath and the clamping force released. This clamping during quenching acts to maintain the workpiece in a planar orientation while reducing warpage during the quenching process.