Power reduction of Ovens

Reduce oven temperature testing the moisture content of the product as it comes out. Keep reducing and testing until you get to the level of moisture acceptable for your final product. I would then increase the temperature a bit to cover any fluxuation of the moisture content of the raw material.

Ditto on #1's comments. If your process is validated you will have to re-validate the process to the new lower temperature range, most ovens run way to high due to "a little extra heat to be sure" attitude. Using the minimum drying temperature to get your results is best; this usually results in fewer problems with heat damage to your base product too. Also factor in ambient drying time to truly conserve energy (which is cost!). If your product can be "near dry" out of the ovens, and the rest of your process and shelf-life prior to shipping will have it totally dry, this is a way to pinch every penny of energy savings out of your process.

There is a company that has developed thermal monitoring with power consumption in mind. Check with www.kicthermal.com I know they do reflow and other ovens, and their products may work on your application....

If, by "continuous", you mean a belt oven, your best bet may be to keep the thermal load constant by spacing the product uniformly on the belt. The oven controls should automatically reduce the heater power to maintain the preset product temperature and profile. If this doesn't happen, make sure your controls are working properly. You might benefit from a better temperature control system. Check the product temperature profile by instrumenting a part with a temperature sensor and sending it through the oven. You might also check to make sure the oven is adequately insulated. If the oven capacity is seriously under-utilized, consider using a batch oven for small orders.

The type of heating elements with respect to the need can be important. Radiation heating (red heating elements) versus convection heating (lots of hot air flowing) can have very different results on the products and overall heat losses. If you use radiation heating, you are usually advantaged to use half of the heaters running at 100% than all of them at 50%. Once again, it depends on the results needed. In convection heating, re-cycling of the air using a condenser to remove most of the humidity can be very effective in the first section (very wet). This is more efficient than continually heating up 100% fresh air. As pointed out in an earlier response, insulation can also add to the saving and to the comfort of the workers.

Thank you sir,

In the continuous oven can we use partial radiation heating and partial convection heating. How to know how much of moisture is reduced in the product. Pls. expain method for knowing the moisture content in the product after and before heating, so that we can make any trials.

With regards

D.Sampath Kumar