A method for heating a furnace with a longitudinal direction and a cross plane which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, which furnace includes at least one heating zone heated using combustion of a fuel with an oxidant, and which furnace is further arranged with a dark zone downstream of said heated zone, to which dark zone no fuel is supplied directly. Wherein the fuel and oxidant supplied to the heating zone is substoichiometric, in that between 10% and 40% of the total oxidant for achieving stoichiometric or near stoichiometric combustion is supplied directly to the dark zone, a flue gas temperature is measured in and/or downstream of the dark zone, and the share of the total oxidant supplied to the dark zone is controlled so as not to exceed a predetermined maximum measured such temperature. The invention further relates to a method for retrofitting an existing furnace, and a furnace.

A rapid thermal processing method and a rapid thermal processing device are provided. The rapid thermal processing method includes the following operations. A wafer is provided. A first heating operation is performed on the wafer to heat the wafer to a first temperature. The wafer is controlled to start rotating. The first temperature is maintained for a first predetermined time. A second heating operation is performed on the wafer to heat the wafer from the first temperature to a second temperature, and the second temperature is maintained for a second predetermined time. A third heating operation is performed on the wafer to heat the wafer from the second temperature to a third temperature, and the third temperature is maintained for a third predetermined time.

A method for open-loop and/or closed-loop control of a heating of a cast or rolled metal product, includes the steps of determining the total enthalpy of the metal product from a sum of the free molar enthalpies (Gibbs energy) of all phases and/or phase fractions currently present in the metal product; determining a temperature distribution within the metal product by means of a dynamic temperature calculation model using the total enthalpy determined; and open-loop and/or closed-loop controlling of the heating of the metal product as a function of at least one output variable of the temperature calculation model.

To provide a method of forming a positive electrode active material with high productivity. To provide a manufacturing apparatus capable of forming a positive electrode active material with high productivity. Provided is a method of forming a positive electrode active material including lithium, a transition metal, oxygen, and fluorine. An adhesion preventing step is performed during heating of an object. Examples of the adhesion preventing step include stirring by rotating a furnace during the heating, stirring by vibrating a container containing an object during the heating, and crushing performed between the plurality of heating steps. By these manufacturing methods, a positive electrode active material having favorable distribution of an additive at the surface portion can be formed.

A method for the recrystallisation annealing of a non-grain-oriented electric strip (2) in a continuous annealing and coating line (1) is presented. Therein, the electric strip (2) is heated in an induction furnace (5) to a temperature of at least 680° C. at a heating rate of at least 80 K/s and then, in an optional second continuous furnace (8), to a temperature of at least 820° C. at a heating rate of at most 20 K/s. The electric strip (2) is initially heated before the induction furnace (5) via a first continuous furnace (3) to a temperature of at least 300° C. at a heating rate of at most 60 K/s.

A furnace working system includes a vacuumed pre-heating zone, a vacuumed gas heating zone disposed behind the pre-heating zone, a vacuumed electric heating zone, a high cooling zone disposed behind the electric heating zone, a low cooling zone disposed behind the high cooling zone, a conveyer disposed in the zones for transporting a work piece through the zones, a pipe couples the high cooling zone to the gas heating zone for supplying a heat from the high cooling zone to the gas heating zone, and a conduit couples the low cooling zone to the pre-heating zone for supplying a heat from the low cooling zone to the pre-heating zone. A transition zone is disposed between the gas heating zone and the electric heating zone.

A heat-treating furnace has: a rotary shaft; a rotary bottom surface pivotally supported by the rotary shaft and rotates; a plurality of workpiece storage chambers arranged on the rotary bottom surface in a multi-stage torus configuration around an axis of the rotary shaft as a center; a hollow bell-shaped hot-blast guide disposed in a center of the torus configuration on the rotary bottom surface around the axis of the rotary shaft as a center so as to decrease a volumetric capacity in the furnace and to adjust a quantity of a hot blast fed in from above itself into the workpiece storage chamber on each stage; a furnace body bottom surface spaced away from the rotary bottom surface; and a furnace body lateral surface disposed on the furnace body bottom surface.

Provided is a roller shaft insulation member for reducing the heat which is conducted to the bearings by passing through the space between the roller insertion hole of a continuous annealing furnace and the roller, wherein the roller shaft insulation member of the continuous annealing furnace comprises an inorganic fiber blanket, which contacts or is near the outer circumferential surface of the roller and in which the content of 45 μm or larger shot is 3% or less. A continuous annealing furnace provided with said roller shaft insulation member is also provided.

Provided is a roller shaft insulation member for reducing the heat which is conducted to the bearings by passing through the space between the roller insertion hole of a continuous annealing furnace and the roller, wherein the roller shaft insulation member of the continuous annealing furnace comprises an inorganic fiber blanket, which contacts or is near the outer circumferential surface of the roller and in which the content of 45 μm or larger shot is 3% or less. A continuous annealing furnace provided with said roller shaft insulation member is also provided.

A shuttle kiln (100) according to certain aspects includes at least one flue channel (124) and multiple flue risers (122) in fluid communication with the flue channel (124), and at least one shuttle (104) defining multiple exhaust shafts (140) arranged above the multiple flue risers (122), wherein an aggregate volume of a first exhaust shaft/riser pair (140-1, 122-1) differs from an aggregate volume of a second exhaust shaft/riser pair (140-2, 122-2). Such configuration at least partially compensates for different backpressures that would otherwise be experienced by flue gas exiting a shuttle kiln cavity (138) through different exhaust shafts (140), thereby improving uniformity of flue gas flow and reducing temperature variability within a kiln cavity (138).