Patent ID: 7425692

Claim:
A system for thermally processing materials comprising: a furnace housing comprising a bottom, a roof and one or more walls, and a furnace chamber within the furnace housing; a support assembly disposable in the furnace chamber for supporting the materials to be thermally processed; a heating source operative to heat the materials in the furnace chamber; and at least one slot eductor disposed in a wall or roof surface of the furnace chamber to provide circulation of gas within the furnace chamber, the slot eductor in communication with a gas supply, the slot eductor comprising: a slot disposed in the wall or roof surface of the furnace chamber, the slot elongated from an inlet end to an outlet end in a direction parallel to the wall or roof surface, and a gas inlet disposed at the inlet end of the slot in communication with the gas supply and arranged to direct inlet gas along the slot parallel to the wall or roof surface to provide a high velocity gas flow along the slot, the inlet end of the slot open to the furnace chamber to entrain gas in the furnace chamber into the gas flow along the slot, and the outlet end of the slot open to the furnace chamber to exhaust gas into the furnace chamber, to provide high volume circulation of gas within the furnace chamber.