Innovation comes standard at Harper. With every first-of-a-kind system we provide to our customers, we apply our years of experience, breadth of expertise, and expansive toolset in thermal processing, as demonstrated with our numerous thermal processing technology patents.

Learn below about just a few of the inventive solutions we have patented to bring the most precisely engineered designs to the market.

Oven for Fiber Heat Treatment – Oven design patented for the process of maintaining consistent airflow within and outside of the tube while processing gasses.

Vertical Conveyor – Harper’s patented Vertical Conveyor furnace is our latest thermal processing innovation for a wide range of product feedstocks, particularly for materials requiring high temperature solid-solid and solid-gas reactions, such as carbides, nitrides, borides and refractory metal powders. Read more…

Rotary Furnace Tube TechnologyIdeal Back-Mixed Flow – Riffle-Flights for Rotary Tube Furnaces enable increased throughput by providing axial mixing for processing at a fixed average composition (continuous or batch), moderating exothermic reactions or, simply, continuous in-line mixing.

Superior Sealing for Rotary Tubes – Provides lowest achievable atmosphere consumption. Seal purge rates reduced by 10-100X, ensuring purity of atmospheres and substantially improving product purity.

Multi-flow Oxidation OvensAdvanced Ovens with unique airflow distribution system with parallel, cross, and down airflow directions in a single oven.  Uniformity specifications meet or exceed best-in-class for each flow regime.

Multi-Axis Rotary Seal – Facilitates a gas-tight seal for atmospheric purity and separation, preventing interruption in production due to downtime and maintenance and helping ensure product quality.

Innovative Furnace Designs for Carbon Fiber ProcessingSpecialized Purge Chamber – Devised for Slot Furnaces where ends are open, this design keeps atmospheric conditions inside the furnace pure, helping maintain product quality.

Non-traditional Carbon Fiber System – Thermal solution for processing of non-traditional carbon fiber such as mats and weaves, using a unique heating method and material conveyor system.

Multi-zone Graphite Rotary – System with multiple patented features, several temperatures zones up to 2400°C. Simple, scalable, reliable. Ideal for high purity applications.

Enhanced Plug Flow for Rotary Furnaces – Helical flights convey the material without back-mixing, critical for processes that require narrow residence time distributions.