When choosing temperature control equipment for your specific application, look no further. LR Technologies provides more than 50 high quality ovens and incubators at affordable prices. You will be happy with our reliable, worry-free ovens and incubators for years to come. Possible uses of ovens and incubators are virtually endless, from drying food samples to curing microchips. Here are some of the key questions you can ask yourself before selecting your equipment.

1. What is your application?

Ovens and incubators are commonly used in laboratories as well as in manufacturing sites in a wide variety of industry segments. Some applications include:

2. Chamber size?

Chamber size is based on the size of the product or parts, the number of products in each batch, and the number of batches required per day to meet production requirements. If the interior chamber is too small, insufficient space between parts results in poor performance and risk of not being able to obtain the results listed in the specifications.
If it is too large, time and energy are wasted.

When using gravity or forced air, please allow 2-3 inches around each part and away from the oven walls.

When using forced circulating airflow, samples still benefit from spacing, but can be loaded more densely vertically because airflow is distributed along the entire sidewalls. Samples should be placed 2-3 inches from the oven walls.

3. Temperature Requirements

When selecting your application's temperature requirements, the first thing to consider is the maximum and minimum temperature. Take a look at our selection chart to determine which oven/incubator fits your specifications. Besides maximum and minimum temperature, the following characteristics play an important role:

• The required ramp time (sometimes called rise and fall time) to reach a maximum temperature, and the overall cycle time needed.
• The type and amount of product load. Be sure that ovens and incubators have sufficient heating capacity to bring the product to the desired temperature within the specified time.
• Any specific cool-down requirements
• Whether the heat-up rate needs to be controlled or if the product can reach the required temperature as quickly as possible.

Please note that our and incubators have many options in programming to adjust the uniformity such as ramp cycles, calibration offsets and zero-span calibration.

4. Airflow Type

A. Gravity convection heating
The simplest and most economical approach. Heated air rises, and then returns to the heat source as it cools. A gravity system is ideal when you want to process powders and other products that may be disturbed by forced air. Use a gravity oven when temperature uniformity is not critical.

B. Forced circulation heating
Incorporates a fan to create vertical or horizontal airflow. Best for samples where air may pass vertically through or around. Forced airflow pattern significantly speeds ramp time inside the chamber. It still requires proper spacing of parts to ensure optimal vertical or horizontal airflow. In conjunction with exhaust port size modification, you can also adjust the airflow and temperature of the ovens and incubators.

C. Radiant heating
Radiant heating technique is employed when the chamber is in a vacuum environment and cannot transfer heat efficiently. By surrounding the chamber with heating elements, the vacuum oven can achieve optimum temperature.

Horizontal Heating	Vertical Heating LN Series Ovens	Radiant Heating	Gravity Heating

5. Construction Quality

Solid construction with proper material selection for ovens and incubators are important factors to:

-Improve temperature uniformity and performance
-Reduce heat loss and energy expense
-Simplify cleaning up and minimize decontamination

All these ovens and incubators are built to last with high purity stainless steel (Type 304, 18-8) for inner chambers, shelves, and shelf brackets for maximum protection against corrosion, rust and contamination. The exterior housing of the equipment is constructed with cold rolled carbon steel finished with baked melamine for durability and appearance. 2” Rock wool is employed to minimize heat loss outside the equipment.

Do you need a special oven or incubator? We are experts in customization. In our 30 year history of manufacturing ovens and incubators, we encountered requests for various modifications on our ovens/incubators to meet specific requirements and applications. A few examples of “retrofits” performed at our facility are:

-Computer Interface Adapter (RS232C)
-Temperature output terminal
-Cable/exhaust ports (up to 3")
-Temperature recorder (24hs/d days)
-Additional observation window
-Fan Controller
-Flow Gauge

These Ovens have been manufactured for our customers for over 30 years. We provide more varieties than any other manufacturer in the industry.

A. Inert gas ovens

Inert atmosphere ovens provide a port for nitrogen or argon gas, which some processes require to prevent oxidation at elevated temperatures. Inert gas is injected into the chamber, pressurizing the oven and replacing the oxygen. The chamber of inert gas ovens employs high integrity welds and special motor seals to maintain the inert atmosphere and ensure process consistency.

B. Clean room ovens

Clean process ovens prevent particulate contamination of sensitive products through special construction and filtration by using High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. The rounded corners and continuous back welding prevents migration of particles into the oven.

C. Energy saving ovens

Our R & D has re-designed energy saving ovens which use state of the art insulation, and a reengineered heater to reduce energy consumption by up to 30%.

D. Vacuum Oven

Vacuum ovens are often used when the user needs to process samples in a vacuum environment, preventing prevents oxidization. A purge port is standard on all vacuum ovens.

E. Customization of ovens

Our expertise is to customize conventional ovens tailor to the needs of our customers. The possibilities are endless. Here are some examples:
Fan Controller
Programmable controller with RS 232C
Cable/Exhaust port (up to 3")
Temperature recorders (24h/7days)
220 volt conversion
Temperature output terminal

F. Smart ovens and incubators – for advance applications

Controllers play a key role in overall oven performance. We introduced the first microprocessor-based oven in the US market in 1980's. Since then, we have led the “smart oven & incubator” technology with our innovative programming capability. Precise temperature control is achieved with a thermocouple sensor and solid-state heater controls.
Single set point PID controllers are the simplest type to use and are appropriate when the process requires only one set point temperature.
Programmable ramp/soak controllers are appropriate when multiple set point temperatures are required, or when the rate of heating must be controlled., An optional serial communications port (RS232) allows data communication between the oven controller and a PC.