A device and a method are described by which the process control, in particular temperature control, of a metal product passed through along a single running-through line is flexibly influenced by means of at least two adjacent segments. By exchanging segments, the process control can be adapted quickly and flexibly to a wide variety of metal products.

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.

A furnace has a melting chamber with a periphery defined by a surrounding wall structure. The furnace is provided with a purge system configured to direct inert gas to flow downward in the melting chamber in the configuration of a curtain that adjoins the wall structure and reaches only partially around the periphery of the melting chamber.

A multi-opening oven assembly for simultaneously heating a plurality of blanks, for example aluminum blanks, before forming the heated blanks in a production line is provided. The oven assembly includes vertically aligned shelves to present a plurality of chambers for heating the blanks. A table including an entry side platform and an exit side platform moves vertically along the oven assembly. A rail system extends along the platforms and the shelves to convey the blanks in and out of the chambers. Once one set of heated blanks is removed from a first chamber, the table moves vertically to a second chamber and is ready to receive the next set of heated blanks. A continuous supply of heated blanks is provided for high throughput. The oven assembly is preferably disposed in a press adjacent a forming station of an existing production line and thus, no additional floor space is required.

The present invention relates to a furnace device for heating a plate, in particular a metal plate, by convection. The furnace device has a housing, in which a temperature control region for temperature-controlling a component part and an adjustment region are formed, wherein the adjustment region has a temperature control device for adjusting a temperature of a temperature control fluid. Further, the furnace device has a positioning device for positioning the plate in the temperature control region in a predetermined orientation, and a ventilator, which is arranged in the housing and which is adapted to circulate the temperature control fluid in the housing between the temperature control region and the adjustment region such that the temperature control fluid is flowable in a flow direction along a surface of the plate.

A metal material supply device which is annexed to a metal melting furnace has a vibration trough for transporting metal material to be supplied to a crucible; the transported metal material is discharged from a material discharge port that is provided at the front end of the vibration trough; the metal material supply device is movable between a material supply position where the material discharge port is disposed above the crucible and a retracted position from the material supply position, and supplies the metal material to the crucible at the material supply position; the upper end of the metal material supplied to the crucible and piled up is detected by a microwave level meter, and the material supply operation by driving the vibration trough is controlled on the basis of the detected value.

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 workpiece transfer system including a robot that transfers a workpiece taken out of a furnace to a press forging device, a temperature measuring device that measures a temperature distribution of the workpiece being transferred by the robot, and a heating device that is capable of locally heating the workpiece in a low temperature region of the temperature distribution measured by the temperature measuring device.

Casting of iron or steel is performed by assembling a charge (1) of plate-like charge elements (1a, 1b, 1c . . . ) with known compositions and dimensions by placing them on top of each other, and of an alloying component entity (2) with known composition, such as alloying component pieces or an alloying component cartridge, by means of which the composition of the charge is balanced to the desired precise composition. The charge is melted in a furnace (5) and cast to form a casting with an exactly known composition.

A system and method for transferring molten metal from a vessel and into one or more of a ladle, ingot mold, launder, feed die cast machine or other structure is disclosed. The system includes at least a vessel for containing molten metal, an overflow (or dividing) wall, and a device or structure, such as a molten metal pump, for generating a stream of molten metal. The dividing wall divides the vessel into a first chamber and a second chamber, wherein part of the second chamber has a height H2. The device for generating a stream of molten metal, which is preferably a molten metal pump, is preferably positioned in the first chamber. When the device operates, it generates a stream of molten metal from the first chamber and into the second chamber. When the level of molten metal in the second chamber exceeds H2, molten metal flows out of the vessel and into another structure, such as into one or more ladles and/or one or more launders.