A reflow soldering oven for soldering and/or bonding component leads both electrically and mechanically to pads on a PCB in an SMT manufacturing system. The soldering oven includes at least one thermal infrared camera that generates thermal images of the PCB to provide thermal imaging processing to monitor and correct temperature deviations in real time. The oven generates a heat map using the thermal images and compares the heat map to a thermal gradient to provide real time profiling and to initiate changes like temperature control or the oven belt-speed monitoring to offer self-correcting capabilities.

A reflow soldering oven for soldering and/or bonding component leads both electrically and mechanically to pads on a PCB in an SMT manufacturing system. The soldering oven includes at least one thermal infrared camera that generates thermal images of the PCB to provide thermal imaging processing to monitor and correct temperature deviations in real time. The oven generates a heat map using the thermal images and compares the heat map to a thermal gradient to provide real time profiling and to initiate changes like temperature control or the oven belt-speed monitoring to offer self-correcting capabilities.

A thermal processing furnace for workpieces has a blowing hood in which a nozzle is installed, the nozzle blowing a gas flow to thermally process a workpiece, including a driving mechanism that adjusts a distance between the nozzle and a portion of the workpiece facing the nozzle so that the gas flow blown from the nozzle impinges on workpieces of various dimensions at a desired flow velocity, wherein a plurality of nozzles are arranged as the nozzle along a conveying direction of the workpiece in a zone where the thermal processing is performed, and the driving mechanism adjusts a distance between each of the nozzles and a portion of the workpiece facing the nozzle individually in each of the plurality of nozzles.

A thermal processing furnace for workpieces has a blowing hood in which a nozzle is installed, the nozzle blowing a gas flow to thermally process a workpiece, including a driving mechanism that adjusts a distance between the nozzle and a portion of the workpiece facing the nozzle so that the gas flow blown from the nozzle impinges on workpieces of various dimensions at a desired flow velocity, wherein a plurality of nozzles are arranged as the nozzle along a conveying direction of the workpiece in a zone where the thermal processing is performed, and the driving mechanism adjusts a distance between each of the nozzles and a portion of the workpiece facing the nozzle individually in each of the plurality of nozzles.

A method for heat treatment, a heat treatment apparatus, and a heat treatment system that is capable of performing highly precise and efficient control of heat treatment. A heat treatment furnace has in-furnace structures made of graphite and has a heat-treatment chamber in which heat treatment of materials to be treated is performed. A value of G.sup.0 (standard formation Gibbs energy) is computed with reference to the sensor information from respective sensors, and an Ellingham diagram, a control range, and a status of the heat treatment furnace in operation expressed by G.sup.0 are displayed on a display device. A control unit controls a flow rate of neutral gas or inactive gas as atmosphere gas or a flow velocity of the gas so that G.sup.0 is within the control range.

A method for heat treatment, a heat treatment apparatus, and a heat treatment system that is capable of performing highly precise and efficient control of heat treatment. A heat treatment furnace has in-furnace structures made of graphite and has a heat-treatment chamber in which heat treatment of materials to be treated is performed. A value of G.sup.0 (standard formation Gibbs energy) is computed with reference to the sensor information from respective sensors, and an Ellingham diagram, a control range, and a status of the heat treatment furnace in operation expressed by G.sup.0 are displayed on a display device. A control unit controls a flow rate of neutral gas or inactive gas as atmosphere gas or a flow velocity of the gas so that G.sup.0 is within the control range.

A method for controlling a furnace for reheating iron and steel products, comprising forming an infrared image, using an infrared camera, of an upper face of a product over the width and at least partially over the length thereof when said product is arranged on a predetermined discharging surface; digital processing comprising binarization of the infrared image into two classes of pixels, one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is bonded on the face of the product and one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is not bonded on the face of the product; determining the amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale on the upper face of the product on the basis of the binarized image; modifying furnace control parameters on the basis of the determined amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale.

A method for controlling a furnace for reheating iron and steel products, comprising forming an infrared image, using an infrared camera, of an upper face of a product over the width and at least partially over the length thereof when said product is arranged on a predetermined discharging surface; digital processing comprising binarization of the infrared image into two classes of pixels, one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is bonded on the face of the product and one class that corresponds to the pixels associated with the presence of scale that is not bonded on the face of the product; determining the amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale on the upper face of the product on the basis of the binarized image; modifying furnace control parameters on the basis of the determined amounts of non-bonded scale and of bonded scale.

A curing oven for curing a mineral wool web includes an air permeable conveyor for advancing the mineral wool web through a substantially closed cabinet from a mineral wool web inlet provided at one end of the cabinet to a mineral wool web outlet provided at another end of the cabinet. The curing oven also includes a heated air inlet arranged for directing a flow of heated air through the conveyor. The curing oven includes at least one wool deformation detector.

A curing oven for curing a mineral wool web includes an air permeable conveyor for advancing the mineral wool web through a substantially closed cabinet from a mineral wool web inlet provided at one end of the cabinet to a mineral wool web outlet provided at another end of the cabinet. The curing oven also includes a heated air inlet arranged for directing a flow of heated air through the conveyor. The curing oven includes at least one wool deformation detector.