Industrial Ovens
History of Ovens
Basic ovens have been used since ancient times for heating, baking or drying usually in a mud-brick house. These were usually heated by wood or coal. Today ovens are used for cooking, pottery and for industrial processes. Ovens used in pottery are used called kilns for making a huge variety of objects both practical and decorative. Kilns are a brick-lined oven that operate at enormously high temperatures to harden, burn or dry usually clay materials, or to bake or fire ceramics. Modern cooking uses ovens to roast, heat, bake food (such as casseroles) and baked goods (such as bread). These are fueled usually by gas or electricity, and often have stove burners on top for other cooking processes. These processes are performed through heating from below, while when heat comes from above it is used for broiling or grilling, and when air is pushed around the oven it is called a convection oven. Some ovens also have in-built rotisseries to cook things evenly all the way around (particularly with meat). A more unusual type of oven is the steam oven which pushes steam into the oven to prevent drying out of the food, and the level of humidity can be adjusted according to particular needs.
Types of Industrial Ovens
Industrial ovens are used in factories or other industrial industries to heat large quantities but not at temperatures as high as found in kilns or furnaces (used to melt materials such as glass or metal, or smelting metals). Industrial ovens can be classified according to how the heat is produced (as mentioned above), but also according to how the objects are processed in the oven. Two main types are conveyor ovens and batch ovens. Conveyor ovens pull the product through the oven for a predetermined time at varied paces. Batch ovens bake products on wheeled racks often used in large bakeries.