A conveyor type oven (10) for processing food products (32) and a method
of use that includes heating sections and/or zones, each of the heating
sections/and or zones being individually temperature controlled. The
conveyor type oven (10) comprises an oven housing (12) forming an oven
cavity (14), the oven housing (12) having an inlet opening (16) and an
exit opening (18) each in communication with the oven cavity (14), a
conveyor system (20) disposed through the inlet opening (16), the oven
cavity (14), and the exit opening (18) for transporting food products
(18) through the oven cavity (14) for processing the transported food
product (32), a first heating section (22) forming a first heating zone
(38) disposed within the oven housing (12) positioned on one side of the
conveyor (20), the first heating section (38) includes a first type of
radiant heat emitter (36) focusing radiant heat toward the conveyor (20);
a second heating section (24) disposed within the oven housing and
positioned on an opposing side of the conveyor (20) from the first
heating section (22), the second heating section (24) may include an
inlet heating zone (44) and an outlet heating zone (46), each of the
inlet and outlet heating zones having a second type heat emitter (40)
substantially focusing radiant heat toward the conveyor (20), and a
temperature control system (26) connected to the heat emitters (36, 40)
of the first heating zone (38), the inlet heating zone (44), and the
outlet heating zone (44) in a manner to monitor and selectively control
the temperature of each heating zone separately from the temperature
control of the other heating zones.