A tunnel oven and associated method for the heat treatment of friction elements, and in particular of braking elements such as brake pads is provided. The friction elements are arranged on a resting surface of a conveyor device, are moved between an inlet opening and an outlet opening of the tunnel oven, and are heated by irradiation by at least one heating device. The heating device includes a radiating plate made from stainless steel arranged facing the conveyor device and heated by electromagnetic induction by means of at least one inductor arranged facing the radiating plate and spaced apart therefrom on the side opposite to the conveyor device. A cooling air flow for the braking elements between the resting surface and the radiating plate is directed in counterflow to a feeding direction of the conveyor device.

A continuous furnace for the heat treatment of steel sheets, such as hot forming and press hardening, wherein two zones with mutually different temperatures are formed in the furnace, and a separating wall is present between the two zones. A gap is present in the closed state between the steel sheet and the separating wall and a surface cooling nozzle is in the form of a tube, wherein the surface cooling nozzle has outlet openings pointing downwards in the vertical direction and the surface cooling nozzle is arranged in the direction towards a relatively cooler zone.

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a system including: an enclosure having an interior sized to enclose and the workpiece and form a vacuum and pressurized atmosphere within the interior. A plurality of thermal applicators may be in thermal communication with first and second portions of the interior. First and second thermal applicators may independently heat and cool the first and second portions of the interior. The first thermal applicator may apply a first thermal treatment to a first portion of the workpiece in the first portion of the interior. A second thermal applicator may apply a second thermal treatment to a second portion of the workpiece in the second portion of the interior independently of the first thermal treatment.

Processes and apparatuses for relocating a reforming process heater service into the convection section rely on combining a flue gas recycle quench stream with the radiant section off gases entering the convection section. The uniformity of mixing influences the effectiveness of that quench stream. The more effective the quench stream is, the lower the equipment size required to manage the recycle design.

Cooling equipment comprising: a plurality of injection units in a continuous annealing furnace including heating zone, soaking zone, and cooling zone through which strip-shaped steel sheet is sequentially fed, the injection units arranged in cooling zone in row along feed direction of steel sheet and injecting, from injection nozzles, cooling gas containing hydrogen, onto steel sheet; and hydrogen concentration adjustment unit adjusts hydrogen concentration of cooling gas such that hydrogen concentration distribution is formed in which, in a space of the cooling zone where plurality of injection units are disposed, hydrogen concentration at upstream region is higher than hydrogen concentration at downstream region; plurality of injection nozzles arranged along feed direction of steel sheet, and each of injection nozzles extending toward steel sheet; and injection nozzles positioned at both sides in array direction inclined to slope toward a center of the array direction on progression toward tips of injection nozzles.

A heating furnace includes a plurality of heat storage coolers capable of introducing a cooling gas into an inside of the furnace and sucking an in-furnace gas; wherein each of the plurality of heat storage coolers includes a gas nozzle in communication with the inside of the furnace; a gas port in communication with an outside of the furnace and connected to a gas piping system that is capable of switching between supplying gas to the heat storage cooler and exhausting gas from the heat storage cooler; a gas passage communicating the gas nozzle with the gas port and having a space for filling a heat storage element; and a heat storage element filled in the space for filling the heat storage element.

A wafer boat handling device, configured to be positioned under a process chamber of a vertical batch furnace. The wafer boat handling device comprises a main housing having a wall defining and bounding a wafer boat handling space, and a boat transporter comprising a wafer boat support for supporting a wafer boat and configured to transport the wafer boat to a cooldown position within the wafer boat handling space. A part of the wall adjacent the cooldown position is a wall part with a heat radiation surface absorptance of at least 0.60 so as to withdraw heat from the wafer boat which is in the cooldown position by means of heat radiation absorption.

A heat treatment device includes: a heat treatment chamber which accommodates an object to be treated; a cooling gas supply unit which supplies a cooling gas into the heat treatment chamber; a cooling gas circulation unit which circulates the cooling gas in the heat treatment chamber; and a gas purge unit which gas-purges, with an inert gas, a portion in which there is a possibility of mixing of the cooling gas supplied into the heat treatment chamber and an oxygen gas, in which the cooling gas supply unit supplies a hydrogen gas into the heat treatment chamber as the cooling gas.

A cooling device for a metal plate includes a plurality of first nozzles and a plurality of second nozzles disposed on both sides of the metal plate, respectively, in a thickness direction of the metal plate across a pass line of the metal plate. The plurality of first nozzles form a staggered array in which a pitch in a width direction of the metal plate is Xn, a pitch in a longitudinal direction of the metal plate is Yn, and an offset amount in the width direction of a pair of first nozzles disposed adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction is Xn. The plurality of second nozzles form a staggered array in which a pitch in the width direction is Xn, a pitch in the longitudinal direction is Yn, and an offset amount in the width direction of a pair of second nozzles disposed adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction is Xn. The staggered array of the first nozzles and the staggered array of the second nozzles are disposed offset from each other such that, a center of the second nozzle is at a position offset by a shift amount S from a center of the first nozzle in the width direction, and the center of the second nozzle is positioned in a region defined by an oval having a semi-axis of Xn/4 in the width direction and a semi-axis of Yn/3 in the longitudinal direction. The shift amount S is expressed by S=mXn/2, where m is an odd number such that S is closest to Xn/2.

A high temperature vacuum furnace including a prefabricated tongue-and-groove, low-mass insulation ring assembly hot zone, resulting in decreased energy costs and increased energy efficiency, faster heating and cooling cycles, and expedited maintenance capability resulting in lower maintenance costs. Decreased time of a workpiece in the furnace improves production turnaround and lowers energy costs for each heat treating cycle. Furnace manufacturing is also easier and less expensive compared to prior art vacuum furnaces. A bottom support structure replaces the prior art metal support ring resulting in an approximately 80-85% weight saving in the furnace hot zone. This reduces the time and energy required to heat and cool the furnace components and workpiece.