LYDON OVEN UNIVERSITY
Senior Curriculum

Oven Styles And Planning:

BATCH: The quantity processed within one elapsed period of time.

BATCH OVEN is the term used for the style of oven that is to contain one discrete quantity of material per processing operation. The processing operation in a batch oven usually contains at least three sequential phases: Warming to temperature, Soak at temperature, Cool to ambient temperature. Each phase is conducted in sequence in the same physical space. A batch oven may be of any reasonable size to contain and process what the user determines to be a single batch. This style of oven generally requires the smallest physical space and is most often the least capital expenditure.

CONTINUOUS OVEN: A single oven designed to process continuously, or an oven designed to process multiple batches sequentially and without interruption. Depending upon the materials to be processed, a continuous oven may provide for uninterrupted materials flow through several phases; such as, warming to temperature, soaking at one or more different temperatures and cooling to ambient temperature. Each temperature phase may have a dedicated place, or zone, in which the intended phase is conducted. Most continuous ovens have a conveyance that physically moves the contents through each physical zone (through each dedicated phase location) for such a period of time as is required to complete the intent of each phase. This style of oven generally requires the largest physical space due to the fixed rate of progress of the conveyance through zones whose size is determined by the residence time per processing phase. It is often the most expensive capital expenditure.

SEMI-CONTINUOUS OVEN: A single oven designed to process multiple batches sequentially in a single “zone” or work space. This style of oven combines processing phases (warming and soaking) into a single zone or chamber and often provides for external product cooling. The conveyance moves the content through one chamber only and may or may not include content entry and exit. Often, the conveyance consists of a series of holders, each of which contains small “batches” that follow a path through the chamber. As a blend of batch and continuous processing, this style of oven requires more space than a batch oven and less space than a continuous oven and has a capital investment cost between the two styles.

OVEN STYLE and PRODUCTION PLANNING: The choice of an oven style (batch, semi-continuous, or continuous) will vary with production through-put, capital equipment budget and equipment maintenance capacity. Any heated process requires a nearly fixed amount of time to take place. When multiple processing temperatures are required, the choice narrows to batch or continuous. Of the two, continuous ovens require the greatest capital investment and the greatest amount of maintenance (owing to the multiple zones and conveyance). One might choose batch for an economic beginning with greater reliability. As through-put requirements increase, one might add additional batch ovens to increase total capacity – again at the lowest capital and maintenance cost. Or, one might add a semi-continuous oven. As growth produces augmented capacity before and after the oven(s), one might add continuous ovens– one for each production line. Most end users will avoid “putting all one’s eggs in one basket” by keeping more than one oven as production increases. For instance, if a company acquires only one continuous oven for its needs, instead of a group of batch and semi-continuous ovens, the risk of costly down-time increases. If all production is routed through one large continuous oven, then production completely stops when the oven requires maintenance. Alternatively, when one batch oven requires maintenance, it is unlikely that all others will be out of service at the same time.

ERGONOMICS: Ergonomics is the application of scientific information about the human species to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use.

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