This complements the range of electric infra-red systems at Neston, so that customers, and potential customers, will now, for the first time, have the opportunity of trialling their products using various infra-red technologies, to achieve the optimum process to meet their heating, curing or finishing requirements.

The new oven is particularly suitable for powder coating and the Neston installation also includes a powder-coating station and an overhead conveyor to simulate real process situations. Other applications include food drying, thermo forming, textiles drying, leather curing and curing coatings on heat-sensitive substrates, such as MDF.

The gas catalytic oven is 6.3 m long by 2.m high by 2.3m wide and the associated parts conveyor has a line speed of 3.6m/min. Ovens can also be built to suit customer requirements and heating panels can be arranged in PLC-controlled zones for precise process control.