Hood-type annealing furnace and method for cooling an annealing material in a hood-type annealing furnace

Abstract

A hood-type annealing furnace has a base, which has a site on which a batch of a annealing material can be arranged. The annealing material arranged on the site can be covered by a protective hood, which forms an annealing space enclosed by the protective hood and the site. The protective hood can be covered by a heating hood, thereby forming an intermediate space arranged between the heating hood and the protective hood and bounded at the bottom by the base. A cooling gas system is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space. The cooling gas system is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space, to a cooling gas outlet formed on the base and communicably connected to the intermediate space, and at least one cooling gas inlet formed on the base and communicably connected to the intermediate space.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A hood-type annealing furnace (1) for annealing an annealing material, comprising: a base (2), having a site (3, 4, 5, 6) on which a batch of the annealing material is able to be arranged; a protective hood, with which the annealing material arranged on the site (3, 4, 5, 6) is able to be covered, forming an annealing space enclosed by the protective hood and the site (3, 4, 5, 6); a heating hood, with which the protective hood is able to be covered, forming an intermediate space arranged between the heating hood and the protective hood and bounded at a bottom by the base (2); and a cooling gas system (7) that is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space by a cooling gas outlet (8) formed on the base (2) and by a cooling gas inlet (9) formed on the base (2).

11. The hood-type annealing furnace (1) according to claim 10, wherein the cooling gas system (7) comprises a cooling gas feed (10) communicably connected to the cooling gas outlet (8) and the cooling gas inlet (9), a cooling unit (11) arranged on the cooling gas feed (10) and a fan (12) arranged on the cooling gas feed (10).

12. The hood-type annealing furnace (1) according to claim 11, wherein one or more of the cooling gas feed (10), the cooling unit (11), and the fan (12) are arranged below the base (2).

13. A hood-type annealing furnace (1), comprising: a base (2), having at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6) arranged at a distance from one another (3, 4, 5, 6), each of the at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6) being configured to receive a batch of an annealing material; at least two protective hoods with which the respective batches of the annealing material arranged on the at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6) are able to be covered, each protective hood being dedicated to forming an annealing space enclosed by the respective protective hood and a corresponding one of the at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6); a single heating hood, with which the at least two protective hoods are able to be covered, forming an intermediate space between the heating hood and the at least two protective hoods that is bounded at a bottom by the base (2); and a cooling gas system (7) that is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space by a cooling gas outlet (8) formed on the base (2) and by a cooling gas inlet (9) formed on the base (2) for each of the at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6), wherein each cooling gas inlet (9) is connected to the cooling gas outlet (8) via a cooling gas feed (10), and wherein the cooling gas system (7) has a single cooling unit (11) arranged on the cooling gas feed (10) and a single fan (12) arranged on the cooling gas feed (10).

14. The hood-type annealing furnace (1) according to claim 13, wherein the cooling gas system (7) has an electrically controllable actuating device (17) by which a cooling gas volume flow rate to the respective cooling gas inlet (9) can be adjusted.

15. The hood-type annealing furnace (1) according to claim 14, wherein the cooling gas outlet (8) is arranged in a central region of the base (2) located between the at least two sites (3, 4, 5, 6).

16. The hood-type annealing furnace (1) according to claim 13, wherein one or more of the cooling gas feed (10), the cooling unit (11), and the fan (12) are arranged below the base (2).

17. A method for cooling an annealing material located in a hood-type annealing furnace (1), comprising: arranging a protective hood to cover the annealing material arranged on a site (3, 4, 5, 6) of a base (2) of the hood-type annealing furnace (1) and thereby forming an annealing space enclosed by the protective hood and the site (3, 4, 5, 6); arranging a heating hood to cover the protective hood, thereby forming an intermediate space between the protective hood and the heating hood that is bounded at a bottom by the base (2); passing a cooling gas, for cooling the annealing material, through the intermediate space; extracting used cooling gas from the intermediate space via at least one cooling gas outlet (8) formed on the base (2); and introducing fresh cooling gas into the intermediate space via at least one cooling gas inlet (9) formed on the base (2).

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising cooling the used cooling gas by a cooling unit (11) to produce the fresh cooling gas.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising individually adjusting a cooling gas volume flow rate to the respective cooling gas inlet (9).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of a hood-type annealing furnace.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of a hood-type annealing furnace 1 for annealing annealing material (not shown).

[0030] The hood-type annealing furnace 1 has a base 2 that has four sites 3 to 6 arranged in a row at a distance from one another, on each of which a batch of the annealing material (not shown) is able to be arranged.

[0031] In addition, the hood-type annealing furnace 1 has a dedicated protective hood (not shown) for each site 3, 4, 5 or 6, as the case may be, with which the annealing material arranged on the respective site 3, 4, 5 or 6, as the case may be, is able to be covered, forming in each case an annealing space (not shown) enclosed by the respective protective hood and the respective site 3, 4, 5 or 6, as the case may be.

[0032] In addition, the hood-type annealing furnace 1 has a single heating hood (not shown), with which the protective hoods are able to be covered, forming an intermediate space (not shown) arranged between the heating hood and the protective hoods and bounded at the bottom side by the base 2.

[0033] Further, the hood-type annealing furnace 1 has a cooling gas system 7 that is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space. The cooling gas system 7 is communicably connected or connectable to the intermediate space via two cooling gas outlets 8 formed on the base 2 and communicably connected to the intermediate space, and eight cooling gas inlets 9 formed on the base 2 and communicably connected to the intermediate space. The cooling gas outlets 8 are arranged in a central region of the base 2 located between the sites 3 and 4, on the one hand, and 5 and 6, on the other hand. The cooling gas inlets 9 are provided in pairs for each site 3, 4, 5 or 6, as the case may be, such that two cooling gas inlets 9 are formed on the base 2 for each site 3, 4, 5 or 6, as the case may be.

[0034] The cooling gas system 7 has a cooling gas feed 10 communicably connected to the cooling gas outlets 8 and the cooling gas inlets 9, a single cooling unit 11 arranged on the cooling gas feed 10 and a single fan 12 arranged on the cooling gas feed 10. Each cooling gas inlet 9 is connected to the cooling gas outlets 8 via the cooling gas feed 10.

[0035] The cooling gas feed 10 has a cooling gas main line 13 on which the cooling unit 11 and the fan 12 are arranged. The cooling gas main line 13 is connected at one end to the cooling gas outlets 8 via cooling gas branch lines 14. The other end of the cooling gas main line 13 is connected to cooling gas branch lines 15, the other ends of which are in turn connected to the cooling gas inlets 9 via two cooling gas branch lines 16.

[0036] The cooling gas system 7 has four electrically controllable actuating devices 17, each of which is arranged on one of the cooling gas branch lines 15 and by means of which a cooling gas volume flow rate to the respective pair of cooling gas inlets 9 can be individually adjusted.

[0037] At least a major part of the cooling gas feed 10, the cooling unit 11 and the fan 12 are arranged at the bottom below the base 2, which is not shown in FIG. 1 for reasons of clarity.

[0038] The articles “a” and “an” as used in this application should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

TABLE-US-00001 LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS 1 Hood-type annealing furnace 2 Base 3 Site 4 Site 5 Site 6 Site 7 Cooling gas system 8 Cooling gas outlet 9 Cooling gas inlet 10 Cooling gas feed 11 Cooling unit 12 Fan 13 Cooling gas main line 14 Cooling gas branch line 15 Cooling gas branch line 16 Cooling gas branch line 17 Actuating device