The water cooled and air purged camera housing is stainless steel, with an overall diameter of less than 50mm; depending on application, the length can be in excess of 4 metres. The housing is normally fitted to an insertion port in the furnace roof, and lowered to a suitable position where it can be locked in place.

Separate locking is provided for vertical and rotational movement, so the unit can be 'panned' round whist held at a fixed insertion level.

Shorter versions can be inserted horizontally, in this configuration the bending forces on the housing limit the overall length.

One concept of this design is that it is easily moved to different insertion points on the furnace, if this is large as in the case, for example, of a plate-annealing furnace. To facilitate this, all connections to the camera housing are by quick-release fittings which may me made and disconnected whilst the system is on-line without escape of coolant. The insertion point hardware is relatively inexpensive and it is intended that a unit remains permanently fixed at each insertion point, as accurate alignment with the internal mechanism of the furnace is essential.

Pictures are displayed on an industrial video monitor at the operator's position, but may also be viewed locally to the camera for alignment purposes. A portable monitor is used for this purpose.

As the OFT-9 systems are built to specific requirements, Industrial Television Ltd should be contacted at an early stage to ensure users obtain the optimum performance for their application.