Drop bottom furnace developed utilizing a patented high convection heating method

摘要

This paper will illustrate the adaptation of a patented high convection furnace design (M. Hoetzl, U.S. Patent 4,963,091) to a drop bottom furnace for solution heat treatment and aging of aluminum. It will describe the initial temper furnace design and compare it to conventional temper furnaces. It will also illustrate how the advantages of the design make it ideal for a solution heat treatment application and an improvement over conventional drop bottom designs. Finally, it will describe how the original patent has generated a family of products and additional patents.