Claims
- 1. A method of profiling a conveyor oven comprising:moving a plurality of masses having known weights through the conveyor oven; storing temperature information associated with the temperature of the masses as the masses pass through the conveyor oven; and displaying the temperature information as a function of position of the masses within the conveyor oven.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further including moving a plurality of temperature sensors through the conveyor oven for sensing the ambient temperature of the air within the conveyor oven.
- 3. The method of claim 1, further including providing a pallet for supporting the masses, wherein the masses are spaced apart from each other and thermally isolated from the pallet.
- 4. The method of claim 1, further including sensing the position of the masses within the conveyor oven using position sensors that are activated in response to passing predetermined points in the conveyor oven.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further including providing an electronic data logger for storing temperature information associated with the masses.
- 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the masses are sized with respect to the conveyor oven such that the temperatures of the masses do not exceed the ambient temperature of the oven through which they pass.
- 7. The method of claim 1, further including providing a pallet on which the masses are supported and thermally isolating the masses from the pallet by suspending the masses within holes in the pallet.
- 8. A method for profiling a conveyor oven, comprising:providing a support member sized to pass through the conveyor oven; providing at least two metal masses, each metal mass having a known weight; mounting the at least two metal masses to the support member such that the metal masses are thermally isolated from the support member; monitoring temperature information of the metal masses at multiple positions as the masses pass through the conveyor oven; storing the temperature information; and calculating position information of the metal masses within the conveyor oven as a function the temperature information.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least three metal masses are positioned on the left, right, and center of the support member, respectively.
- 10. The method of claim 8, further including moving a plurality of temperature sensors through the conveyor oven for sensing an ambient temperature of air within the conveyor oven.
- 11. The method of claim 8, further including sensing position of the metal masses within the conveyor oven using position sensors that are activated in response to the support member passing a predetermined point in the conveyor oven.
- 12. The method of claim 11, further including activating the position sensors in response to passing a magnet mounted within the conveyor oven.
- 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the storing step includes providing an electronic data logger for storing the temperature information.
- 14. The method of claim 8, wherein monitoring the temperature information includes placing a thermocouple within or adjacent to each of the metal masses.
- 15. The method of claim 8, further including displaying the temperature information as a function of position of the metal masses within the conveyor oven.
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/524,197 now abandoned, filed Mar. 13, 2000, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/032,890, filed on Feb. 27, 1998, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,728, issued May 16, 2000.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Foreign Referenced Citations (6)
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Date |
Country |
2359010 |
Oct 1994 |
DE |
1525233 |
Sep 1978 |
GB |
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JP |
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JP |
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
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Continuations (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/524197 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
09/798795 |
|
US |
Parent |
09/032890 |
Feb 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/524197 |
|
US |