High heat transfer oven

Claim 2

An oven for drying objects passed therethrough comprising: (a) a housing having opposed side walls and a top wall forming a roof defining an interior within which said objects are disposed; (b) heating means for heating the air of said housing; and (c) a fan assembly for said housing, said fan assembly having a fan with an air discharge front side and an air intake back side disposed within the interior of said housing for delivering air directly from its air discharge side in a turbulent condition against said objects and for circulating the air in essentially unobstructed paths back to the air intake side, a relatively minor portion of the air passing in heat exchanging relationship to said heating means, a shaft being disposed adjacent to said one of the walls, the inner end of said shaft being connected to said fan, means for journalling said shaft for rotation about its axis, and motor means for rotating said shaft.

Claim 3

The oven defined in claim 1 wherein said fan assembly includes a sleeve projecting through one of said walls and surrounding said shaft, a pair of spaced inner and outer bearings carried by said sleeve and journalling said shaft, said outer bearing being disposed externally of said housing, said motor being disposed externally of said housing.

Claim 4

The oven defined in claim 2 wherein said sleeve is provided with a pair of openings, one externally of the housing and the other adjacent to the inner bearing, the opening adjacent to the inner bearing being within said housing and in communication with the air intake back side of said fan whereby air is drawn through said openings from the exterior of said housing for cooling said inner bearing.

Claim 5

The oven defined in claim 2 including a motor mounting bracket spaced above said top wall and mounted on the outer end portion of and extending sidewise from said sleeve, said motor being mounted on said motor mounting bracket.

Claim 6

The oven defined in claim 1 including additional fan assemblies substantially identical to said fan assembly, said fan assemblies being disposed in spaced relationship to each other and to said fan assembly for discharging into the common interior of said housing for successively directing air against said object as it is moved along a path of travel through said common interior, said path of travel being aligned with said axes, the axes of the shafts of the fan assemblies being parallel to each other.

Claim 7

The oven defined in claim 1 or claim 5 wherein said one of said walls is the roof of said housing.

Claim 8

The oven defined in claim 5 wherein said one of said walls include the opposed parallel side walls and the shafts of said fan assemblies protrude inwardly toward the interior of said housing so that the fans carried by said shafts direct air from opposite sides onto an object passed through the interior of said housing.

Claim 9

The oven defined in claim 7 wherein said fan assemblies are disposed in longitudinal rows.

Claim 10

The oven defined in claim 5 wherein said fan assemblies are in a longitudinal row and have fans in a common plane and wherein said heating means includes heat exchangers disposed on opposite side of said rows at about the plane of said fans of said fan assemblies.

Claim 11

The oven defined in claim 5 wherein said heating means includes heat exchangers in spaced relationship to each other and disposed between the fans of said fan assemblies and said one of said walls.

Claim 12

The oven defined in claim 1 wherein said heating means includes a fuel burner for introducing products of combustion to the back side of said fan.

Claim 13

The oven defined in claim 1 including an exhaust communicating with the interior of said housing.

Claim 14

A high turbulence heat transfer oven for drying objects passed along a prescribed path therethrough, comprising: (a) a housing having an entrance and exit and an interior through which successive objects to be dried are passed along said prescribed path; (b) a plurality of fans disposed adjacent to said prescribed path and spaced from each other, each of said fans having an air discharge front side and an air intake back side disposed so as to deliver air directly from its air discharge front side in a turbulent condition and in essentially an unobstructed path in a direction toward said prescribed path and against successive objects and then in essentially an unobstructed return path around to the back side of such fan; (c) heaing means for heating only a portion of the circulated returning air in said return path to the back side of each of said fans so that a portion of the air which is returned to the back side of such fan is progressively heated and then progressively mixed with the air in the essentially unobstructed path to the back side of said fan for being delivered in a mixed condition by such fan toward said path.

Claim 15

A high turbulence heat transfer oven for drying objects passed along a prescribed path therethrough, comprising: (a) a housing having an entrance and exit and an interior through which successive objects to be dried are passed along said prescribed path; (b) a plurality of fans disposed adjacent to said prescribed path and spaced from each other, each of said fans having an air discharge front side and an air intake back side disposed so as to deliver air directly from its air discharge front side in a turbulent condition and in essentially an unobstructed path in a direction toward said prescribed path and against successive objects and then in essentially an unobstructed return path around to the back side of such fan; (c) heaing means for heating only a portion of the circulated returning air in said return path to the back side of each of said fans so that a portion of the air which is returned to the back side of such fan is progressively heated and then progressively mixed with the air in the essentially unobstructed path to the back side of said fan for being delivered in a mixed condition by such fan toward said path.

Claim 16

The oven defined in claim 13 wherein said fans are disposed in a common plane on one side of and parallel to said path and are spaced longitudinally from each other along said path.

Claim 17

The oven defined in claim 14 including additional fans disposed in a common plane parallel to said path and on a side of said path opposite to the first mentioned common plane.

Claim 18

The oven defined in claim 13 wherein said heating means includes a duct pass adjacent to the back side of said fans, said duct having ports for discharging heated air to the back side of said fans, a fuel burner in communication with said duct, means for delivering fuel to said fuel burner, and an air blower for feeding air to said fuel burner for producing a combustible mixture which is burned and delivered to said duct.

Claim 19

The oven defined in claim 13 wherein said fans each include a hub and blades radiating from said hub, a shaft connected by one end to said hub and motor means for rotating said shaft.

Claim 20

The oven defined in claim 17 in which each of said fans is spaced from an adjacent wall of said housing by a distance of from about three feet to about six feet.

Claim 21

The oven defined in claim 13 wherein said fans are disposed on opposite sides of said path, and wherein said heating means includes an air blower for introducing air from the exterior of said housing into said housing and a fuel burner disposed to burn fuel in admixture with said air.

Claim 22

The oven defined in claim 13 including exhaust means for exhausting air from the interior of said housing, said exhaust means including an exhaust duct and having its mouth opening into the interior of said housing and a blower for withdrawing air from said exhaust duct and discharging the same to the exterior of said housing.

Claim 23

Process of drying objects comprising: (a) passing said object successively along a prescribed path of travel through an essentially open interior of a housing; (b) disposing a plurality of fans in said open interior and in succession adjacent to the path of travel; (c) directing successive turbulent blasts of air from the front side of said fans toward said path of travel at spaced locations along said path of travel so as to contact each of said objects successively with such turbulent blasts of air during its travel along said path; (d) directing said air from said turbulent blast as return air in essentially unobstructed open paths in said interior to the back sides of said fans for redirection as blasts of air by said fans; (e) heating only a portion of the return air after it has been directed toward said path of travel and before said air has reached the back side of each of said fans; (f) commingling the heated air and the returned air; and (g) redirecting the commingled air toward said path of travel.

Claim 24

Process of drying objects comprising: (a) passing said object successively along a prescribed path of travel through an essentially open interior of a housing; (b) disposing a plurality of fans in said open interior and in succession adjacent to the path of travel; (c) directing successive turbulent blasts of air from the front side of said fans toward said path of travel at spaced locations along said path of travel so as to contact each of said objects successively with such turbulent blasts of air during its travel along said path; (d) directing said air from said turbulent blast as return air in essentially unobstructed open paths in said interior to the back sides of said fans for redirection as blasts of air by said fans; (e) heating only a portion of the return air after it has been directed toward said path of travel and before said air has reached the back side of each of said fans; (f) commingling the heated air and the returned air; and (g) redirecting the commingled air toward said path of travel.

Claim 25

The process defined in claim 21 in which a portion of said air is progressively removed from said interior.

Claim 26

The process defined in claim 22 in which the step of heating said air includes introducing exterior air from the exterior of said housing into the interior of said housing and adjacent to the back sides of said fans for comingling with the return air, and heating the air from the exterior as it is fed toward the back sides of said fans.

Claim 27

The process defined in claim 22 in which the heating of said exterior air includes producing a combustible mixture of said exterior air and fuel and burning said mixture.

Claim 28

The process defined in claim 21 in which the step of heating said return air includes passing the same through heat exchangers disposed in the paths of the return air.

Claim 29

A high turbulence heat transfer oven for drying objects comprising: (a) a housing having a continuous common essentially open interior through which objects to be dried are passed along an open path of travel; (b) fan means disposed at spaced intervals along said path and in said common open interior of said housing for cooperating in producing a circulation of air in said interior from the front side of each of said fan means toward said objects and thence around to the back sides of said fan means, each fan means directing air against said objects; (c) spaced heating means along said path of travel for heating only a portion of the air as it is returned to the back sides of each of said fan means for intermixing with the air in said essentially open interior and (d) control means for individually, respectively controlling the amount of heat delivered by said heating means.

Claim 30

A high turbulence heat transfer oven for drying objects comprising: (a) a housing having a continuous common essentially open interior through which objects to be dried are passed along an open path of travel; (b) fan means disposed at spaced intervals along said path and in said common open interior of said housing for cooperating in producing a circulation of air in said interior from the front side of each of said fan means toward said objects and thence around to the back sides of said fan means, each fan means directing air against said objects; (c) spaced heating means along said path of travel for heating only a portion of the air as it is returned to the back sides of each of said fan means for intermixing with the air in said essentially open interior and (d) control means for individually, respectively controlling the amount of heat delivered by said heating means.

Claim 31

A high turbulence oven for drying objects comprising: (a) a housing having a common essentially open interior through which objects to be dried are passed along a path of travel; (b) fan means disposed in said open interior at spaced intervals along said path for cooperating in producing a circulation of air in said interior from the front side of each of said fans toward said objects and thence around to the back sides of said fan means, each for means directing air against said objects; (c) spaced heating means along said path of travel for heating only a portion of the air as it is returned to the back sides of each of said fan means for intermixing with the air in said essentially open interior; and (d) control mean for individually, respectively controlling the speed of the fan means.

Claim 32

A high turbulence oven for drying objects comprising: (a) a housing having a common essentially open interior through which objects to be dried are passed along a path of travel; (b) fan means disposed in said open interior at spaced intervals along said path for cooperating in producing a circulation of air in said interior from the front side of each of said fans toward said objects and thence around to the back sides of said fan means, each for means directing air against said objects; (c) spaced heating means along said path of travel for heating only a portion of the air as it is returned to the back sides of each of said fan means for intermixing with the air in said essentially open interior; and (d) control mean for individually, respectively controlling the speed of the fan means.

Claim 33

An oven for drying coatings on objects passed therethrough comprising: (a) a housing having walls including opposed side walls and a top wall defining a generally open interior having a longitudinal path of travel through which said objects are passed; (b) a plurality of fan assemblies arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship along said path of travel, each of said fan assemblies having a rotatable fan with a hub and radially extending blades protruding from said hub, a shaft carrying said hub for rotation about the axis of said shaft and motor means for rotating said shaft, said axis being essentially perpendicular to the blades of said fan and said path of travel for delivering air to said objects, the space between the blades of said fan and said object being essentially unobstructed so that there is substantially no back pressure and said blades deliver air in a turbulent condition directly toward said path to impinge on said objects for providing forced convection heat transfer thereto and for reducing substantially the boundary layer of their coatings, said blades being spaced from said side walls and said top wall sufficiently that a portion of said air in said interior freely passes unobstructed to the back sides of said fans for recirculation; and (c) heating means for heating another portion of said air for returning to the back sides of said fans.

Claim 34

An oven for drying coatings on objects passed therethrough comprising: (a) a housing having walls including opposed side walls and a top wall defining a generally open interior having a longitudinal path of travel through which said objects are passed; (b) a plurality of fan assemblies arranged in longitudinally spaced relationship along said path of travel, each of said fan assemblies having a rotatable fan with a hub and radially extending blades protruding from said hub, a shaft carrying said hub for rotation about the axis of said shaft and motor means for rotating said shaft, said axis being essentially perpendicular to the blades of said fan and said path of travel for delivering air to said objects, the space between the blades of said fan and said object being essentially unobstructed so that there is substantially no back pressure and said blades deliver air in a turbulent condition directly toward said path to impinge on said objects for providing forced convection heat transfer thereto and for reducing substantially the boundary layer of their coatings, said blades being spaced from said side walls and said top wall sufficiently that a portion of said air in said interior freely passes unobstructed to the back sides of said fans for recirculation; and (c) heating means for heating another portion of said air for returning to the back sides of said fans.

Claim 35

The apparatus defined in claim 28 wherein said fans are in a common plane parallel to one of said walls.

Claim 36

The apparatus defined in claim 28 wherein each blade is parallel to a wall and is spaced therefrom by from three feet to six feet.

Claim 37

The apparatus defined in claim 30 wherein said blade is parallel to and spaced from one wall by from about three feet to about six feet and the tips of the blade are spaced from the other walls.

Claim 38

The apparatus defined in claim 31 wherein said one wall is a top wall and said blade has a diameter of from about one-fourth to about three-fourths the width from one side wall to the other side wall.

Claim 39

The oven defined in claim 28 including heating means for heating a portion of the air as it circulates back to the back side of the fan.

Claim 40

Process of drying a coating on an object, comprising: (a) disposing an object in a housing having walls defining a chamber; (b) positioning a fan within said chamber with said object in front of said fan and with the space between said fan and said object being essentially unobstructed and also with said fan being spaced from said walls sufficiently that there is essentially a free passageway for the air to return to the back side of said fan without appreciable pressure drop; (c) operating said fan so as to direct a blast of air toward and onto said object the coating of said object at sufficiently high velocity that high turbulence is generated in the air and the thermal barrier of said coating is reduced essentially to a minimum; and (d) progressively heating said air by passing a minor portion thereof through a heated heat exchanger to impart heat thereto as the majority of the air is recirculated to the back side of said fan; (e) progressively combining said minor portion of said air and said majority of said air, whereby the blast of air delivered by said fan toward said coating produces forced convection of the heat to the coating and reduced to essentially a minimum the boundary layer of said coating.

Claim 41

Process of drying a coating on an object, comprising: (a) disposing an object in a housing having walls defining a chamber; (b) positioning a fan within said chamber with said object in front of said fan and with the space between said fan and said object being essentially unobstructed and also with said fan being spaced from said walls sufficiently that there is essentially a free passageway for the air to return to the back side of said fan without appreciable pressure drop; (c) operating said fan so as to direct a blast of air toward and onto said object the coating of said object at sufficiently high velocity that high turbulence is generated in the air and the thermal barrier of said coating is reduced essentially to a minimum; and (d) progressively heating said air by passing a minor portion thereof through a heated heat exchanger to impart heat thereto as the majority of the air is recirculated to the back side of said fan; (e) progressively combining said minor portion of said air and said majority of said air, whereby the blast of air delivered by said fan toward said coating produces forced convection of the heat to the coating and reduced to essentially a minimum the boundary layer of said coating.

Claim 42

The process defined in claim 34 wherein said fan is a fan having an axis of rotation and blades protruding in a radial direction from said axis of rotation.

Claim 43

The process defined in claim 35 wherein said coating is aligned generally with said axis.

Claim 44

The process defined in claim 34 wherein said minor portion of said air is circulated through a passageway disposed adjacent to said chamber, the intake of said passageway communicating with said chamber to receive the air discharged from said front side of said fan and the discharge side of said passgeway communicating with the back side of said fan.

Claim 45

The process defined in claim 37 wherein said minor portion of said air is heated by said heat exchanger in said passageway.