A heat treatment system includes heating chambers configured to perform heat treatment on objects to be treated, and a conveyance device configured to load each of the objects to be treated into the heating chambers, unload the object to be treated from the heating chambers, and convey the object to be treated under an oxygen-free atmosphere, wherein the conveyance device includes a cooling device configured to perform cooling treatment on the object to be treated.

A heat treatment system includes heating chambers configured to perform heat treatment on objects to be treated, and a conveyance device configured to load each of the objects to be treated into the heating chambers, unload the object to be treated from the heating chambers, and convey the object to be treated under an oxygen-free atmosphere, wherein the conveyance device includes a cooling device configured to perform cooling treatment on the object to be treated.

A heat treatment system includes heating chambers configured to perform heat treatment on objects to be treated, and a conveyance device configured to load each of the objects to be treated into the heating chambers, unload the object to be treated from the heating chambers, and convey the object to be treated under an oxygen-free atmosphere, wherein the conveyance device includes a cooling device configured to perform cooling treatment on the object to be treated.

An apparatus for loading/unloading workpieces, including a furnace heating a workpiece, and a robot loading and/or unloading a workpiece into/from the furnace. The robot may include a manipulator linkage and a fork at an end of the manipulator linkage. The fork may have an upper side on which a workpiece is placed while being loaded into and/or unloaded from the furnace. The fork may include a parallel arrangement of fork elements, each fork element in the fork having a length and rectangular cross section perpendicular to the length. Each fork element may have a workpiece carrying surface on which a workpiece is placed and an opposite surface to the workpiece carrying surface. The fork element may include a heat insulator disposed on the workpiece carrying surface at least over an area where a workpiece is placed to equalize longitudinal thermal expansions in the workpiece carrying surface and the opposite surface.

An apparatus for loading/unloading workpieces, including a furnace heating a workpiece, and a robot loading and/or unloading a workpiece into/from the furnace. The robot may include a manipulator linkage and a fork at an end of the manipulator linkage. The fork may have an upper side on which a workpiece is placed while being loaded into and/or unloaded from the furnace. The fork may include a parallel arrangement of fork elements, each fork element in the fork having a length and rectangular cross section perpendicular to the length. Each fork element may have a workpiece carrying surface on which a workpiece is placed and an opposite surface to the workpiece carrying surface. The fork element may include a heat insulator disposed on the workpiece carrying surface at least over an area where a workpiece is placed to equalize longitudinal thermal expansions in the workpiece carrying surface and the opposite surface.

A system and methods are described herein for preheating a preform in a preheater furnace and then transferring the preheated preform to a consolidation furnace for chemical treatment and sintering the preform into a clear glass which can be drawn into optical fiber. In addition, the preheater furnace is described herein which is configured to heat the preform per a predetermined heat-profile until the preform is uniformly heated to a temperature above 1000° C.

A system and methods are described herein for preheating a preform in a preheater furnace and then transferring the preheated preform to a consolidation furnace for chemical treatment and sintering the preform into a clear glass which can be drawn into optical fiber. In addition, the preheater furnace is described herein which is configured to heat the preform per a predetermined heat-profile until the preform is uniformly heated to a temperature above 1000° C.

A system and methods are described herein for preheating a preform in a preheater furnace and then transferring the preheated preform to a consolidation furnace for chemical treatment and sintering the preform into a clear glass which can be drawn into optical fiber. In addition, the preheater furnace is described herein which is configured to heat the preform per a predetermined heat-profile until the preform is uniformly heated to a temperature above 1000° C.

A system and methods are described herein for preheating a preform in a preheater furnace and then transferring the preheated preform to a consolidation furnace for chemical treatment and sintering the preform into a clear glass which can be drawn into optical fiber. In addition, the preheater furnace is described herein which is configured to heat the preform per a predetermined heat-profile until the preform is uniformly heated to a temperature above 1000° C.

A dual-purpose sintering furnace including a furnace body having a furnace chamber, a first furnace mouth and a second furnace mouth which are communicated with the furnace chamber, a furnace door hinged to the furnace body and configured for closing the first furnace mouth, a blocking member lap-jointed inside the furnace chamber and configured for blocking the second furnace mouth, a sample stage, an ejection rod fixedly arranged on a sample placement face of the sample stage, a lifting device configured for driving the sample stage to raise or lower, so that the ejection rod pushes the blocking member until the second furnace mouth is opened, and so that the sample stage enters the furnace chamber through the second furnace mouth. The dual-purpose sintering furnace can complete a large amount of sintering as conventional sintering and also implement rapid sintering.