Claims
- 1. A furnace system comprising, in combination, a plurality of distinct heating environments integrated such that the distinct environments define a continuous heating chamber through which a moving workpiece transitions from one distinct heating environment to another.
- 2. The furnace system of claim 1 and wherein one of said distinct heating environments comprises a conduction furnace.
- 3. The furnace system of claim 2 and wherein said conduction furnace includes a fluidized medium in which the workpiece is received for heating.
- 4. The furnace system of claim 1 and wherein one of said distinct heating environments comprises a convection furnace.
- 5. The furnace system of claim 1 and wherein a transitional passage is defined between heating environments to enable movement of the workpiece and heat between heating environments with no meaningful change in temperature.
- 6. The furnace system of claim 1 and further including a transport system extending through said heating environments.
- 7. The furnace system of claim 6 and wherein said transport system includes an entry transport mechanism, a first chamber transport mechanism positioned within a first one of said heating environments, a transitional transport mechanism, and a second chamber transport mechanism extending through a second one of said heating environments.
- 8. A method of processing castings and reclaiming sand from sand cores and molds found in the casings, comprising:
moving the castings through a heating chamber having distinct heating environments; heating the castings within a first heating environment of the heating chamber at a temperature sufficient to dislodge at least a portion of the sand core from the castings; moving the castings from the first heating environment to a second heating environment of the heating chamber without a meaningful change in temperature; and at least partially heat treating the castings within the second heating environment of the heating chamber.
- 9. The method of claim 8 and further including initially exposing the castings to heat at an entry zone for the heating chamber.
- 10. The method of claim 8 and further including the step of heating the dislodged core portions within the first heating environment at a temperature and for a dwell time sufficient to reclaim sand from the dislodged core portions.
- 11. The method of claim 8 and further including preheating the second heating environment with heat from the first heating environment to effect a continuation of the heating of the castings with no meaningful change in temperature.
- 12. The method of claim 8 and wherein the step of moving the castings through a heating chamber comprises placing the castings in transport containers and conveying the transport conveyors through the first and second heating segments of the heating chamber.
- 13. A furnace system for heat treating workpieces, comprising: a substantially continuous heating chamber through which workpieces are moved, including at least a conduction heating chamber segment and a convection heating chamber segment positioned in series such that the moving workpieces transition between said conduction heating chamber segment and said convection heating chamber segment with no meaningful change in temperature.
- 14. The furnace system of claim 13 and wherein said conduction heating chamber segment comprises a fluidized bed segment containing a fluidizing medium in which the workpieces are immersed for heating.
- 15. The furnace system of claim 13 and further comprising an entry zone positioned within said heating chamber at said conduction heating chamber segment in a position to receive rising heat from said conduction heating chamber segment to initially expose the workpieces to heat from said heating chamber.
- 16. The furnace system of claim 13 and wherein a transitional passage is defined through said heating environments to enable movement of the workpiece and heat between said heating environments.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/313,111, filed May 17, 1999.
[0002] This application also claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/112,400, filed Dec. 15, 1998.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60112400 |
Dec 1998 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09464229 |
Dec 1999 |
US |
Child |
10036575 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09313111 |
May 1999 |
US |
Child |
09464229 |
Dec 1999 |
US |