I-beam curing system

Abstract

An I-beam curing device having microwave waveguides with slots on the broad side thereof. The flanges of the I-beam pass through the slots in the waveguides to be subject to the microwave fields therein so as to allow the treating of any material passed through the slots.

1 . A microwave curing device for a product, said device comprising a material transport guide, said material transport guide having two ends and a guide longitudinal axis, 
 means to move the product along said longitudinal axis of said guide from one end to the other,    a waveguide, said waveguide having two ends, a longitudinal axis, and a broad side, said broad side of the other end of said waveguide being slotted along the length of said longitudinal axis of said waveguide,    said waveguide being connected to said guide with said waveguide longitudinal axis having an acute angle in respect to said longitudinal axis of said guide,    said slotted other end of said waveguide overlapping said guide,    a microwave generator, and said microwave generator being connected to one end of said waveguide.    
     
     
         2 . The microwave curing device of  claim 1  characterized by the addition of retention stops beside said waveguide along said waveguide.  
     
     
         3 . The microwave curing device of  claim 1  characterized in that there are multiple waveguides.  
     
     
         4 . The waveguide curing device of  claim 3  characterized in that two of said multiple waveguides are laterally located in respect to said guide.  
     
     
         5 . The microwave curing device of  claim 4  wherein the product may vary in a maximum width extent and characterized by said multiple waveguides being spaced by a maximum spaced distance in their slotted sections, and said maximum spaced distance being substantially equal to the maximum width extent of the product.  
     
     
         6 . The microwave curing device of  claim 3  characterized in that said multiple waveguides include two that are sequentially located in respect to said guide.  
     
     
         7 . The microwave curing device of  claim 6  characterized in that said two ends of said guide both include microwave field stops.  
     
     
         8 . A microwave curing device for a product, said device comprising a material transport guide, said material transport guide having two ends, two lateral sides, and a guide longitudinal axis, 
 means to move the product along said longitudinal axis of said guide from one end to the other,    two waveguides, each said waveguide having two ends, a longitudinal axis, and a broad side, said broad side of a first end of each of said waveguide being slotted along the length of said longitudinal axis of said waveguide,    said waveguide being connected to said guide with said waveguide longitudinal axis having an acute angle in respect to said longitudinal axis of said guide with one waveguide being on one lateral side of said guide with the second waveguide being on the second lateral side of said guide,    said slotted other end of each of said waveguides overlapping said guide,    a microwave generator means, and said microwave generator means being connected to a second end of each of said waveguides.    
     
     
         9 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  characterized by the addition of retention stops beside said waveguide along said waveguide.  
     
     
         10 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  characterized in that there are multiple waveguides on each lateral side of said guide.  
     
     
         11 . The waveguide curing device of  claim 8  wherein the product may vary in a maximum width extent and characterized by a first end of said two waveguides being laterally spaced by a maximum spaced distance for their slotted sections, and said maximum spaced distance being substantially equal to the maximum width extent of the product.  
     
     
         12 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  wherein the product may vary in a minimum width extent and characterized by a second end of said two waveguides being laterally spaced by a minimum spaced distance for their slotted section, and said minimum spaced distance being substantially equal to the minimum width extent of said product.  
     
     
         13 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  characterized in that said two ends of said guide both include microwave field stops.  
     
     
         14 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  characterized by the addition of field stops beside said waveguide along each of said two waveguides.  
     
     
         15 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  wherein the product may vary in length and height and characterized in that said minimum sizes of the two waveguides being greater than all of these dimensions.  
     
     
         16 . The microwave curing device of  claim 8  wherein a single unit is used to treat multiple devices during a particular production run and characterized in that said microwave waveguide is sized as a minimum size to be greater than the minimum size of the largest of all of the multiple dimensions.