Oven Design

Question:

I am interested in expanding my understanding of industrial oven design. I'm an engineer in the manufacturing engineering department and we are considering installing new painting equipment in our plant. Can you recommend some reading material for not only oven design but for an entire paint shop? Since I used to work in the automotive industry, I have an old handbook but would like something up-to-date. Can you suggest an up-to-date source for this information? D. M.

Answer:

Although my good friend, Dr. Norman R. Roobol, devotes several pages to ovens in his book, Industrial Painting Principles and Practices, published by Hanser Gardner Publications (www.hansergardner.com), he does not go into the detail needed for designing them. I am not aware of any up-to-date publications on industrial oven design. Furthermore with the rapid changes in environmental regulations, there is a chance that such a book may be out-of date between the time it is written and finally published.

I suggest you leave oven and paint shop design to the pros who do that for a living. That's what I did, when I had a real job. My company had 100 manufacturing plants. When we needed equipment for a new paint line, we called in the finishing system suppliers. The oven and paint shop designs were not only part of the total cost, they were up-to-date. Oven suppliers are listed under Ovens, baking and drying in the Products Finishing 2005 Directory & Technology Guide (www.pfonline.com/suppliers.html).