Patent ID: 6854514

Claim:
A process for individually regulating the temperatures of a plurality of workstations each to an individual predetermined temperature, each workstation for performing an operation on work medium at said workstation, comprising the steps of: providing a temperature controlling fluid from a source to each of the plurality of workstations, monitoring the temperature at each individual workstation, and independently controlling heating of the fluid provided to each individual station in accordance with information comprising a differential between the predetermined temperature and a temperature at each of the respective workstations; wherein the temperature of at least one workstation is controlled by: determining a temperature differential between the temperature of the workstation and the individual predetermined temperature, and selecting an operating sequence based on the temperature differential, so that when the temperature differential is above a predetermined value, an increased rate of flow of the fluid relative to a normal flow rate is transported to the workstation through a rapid temperature response bypass conduit that bypasses a heater corresponding to the workstation to rapidly cool the workstation below the predetermined value, and when the temperature differential is below a predetermined value, the heater corresponding to the workstation is modulated in order to maintain the temperature of the workstation using said normal rate of flow of the fluid without bypassing the heater.