Patent ID: 7549566

Claim:
A method of thermal analysis for determining an appropriate heating condition for heating an object introduced into and heated in a heating furnace in accordance with a required temperature profile, wherein said method comprises: measuring a temperature at a measuring point of the object heated at each of a plurality of measuring locations of the heating furnace during a heating procedure for increasing the temperature of the object after introduction of the object into the heating furnace; determining a heating characteristic at each of the measuring locations by using a heating temperature at the measuring location and the temperature measured at the measuring point of the object, the measuring location being a location through which the object passes along a transferring direction in the heating furnace; and simulating a temperature profile of the object when a heating condition is changed by using the heating characteristic that is determined at each of the measuring locations, wherein the heating characteristic at each of the measuring locations is an m-value defined by: m = 1 t ⁢ ln ⁡ [ Ta - Tint Ta - Ts ] wherein ln is natural logarithm, Ta is heating temperature at the measuring location of the heating furnace, Tint is initial temperature at the measuring point of the object at the measuring location, Ts is achieved temperature when the object is heated at the measuring location, and t is heating time at the measuring location.