Abstract: An infra-red heater for a hybrid oven drying a web with an elongate foil having transverse corrugations heating element within a quartz tube. A thermocouple sensor is used to provide a control signal to a controller to regulate the infra-red output.

Abstract: A hybrid oven for drying a coating on a continuous web is disclosed, including a chamber, a plenum for collecting and delivering heated air at high velocity adjacent said chamber, a plurality of air impingement nozzles interconnecting said plenum and said chamber and directing heating air from the plenum to the web being dried, and one or more controllable infra-red heaters disposed between said air nozzles including at least one infra-red element, a sensor for providing a control signal relative to temperature and controller means for controlling power to the infra-red element. The sensor senses that the infra-red element is operating at less than a predetermined temperature and is providing less than a required infra-red output, whereby the controller provides a higher voltage until the predetermined infra-red output is reached.