A method and system to dry crack-free and high strength skin including an inorganic binder of an average particle size (D.sub.50) in a range between 10 nm and 700 nm on a porous ceramic body. The method includes supporting the honeycomb body on an end face such that axial channels and outer periphery are substantially vertical. A gas is flowed past the honeycomb body substantially parallel to the axial channel direction, substantially equally around the outer periphery of the skin, to uniformly dry the skin to form a partially dried skin under mild conditions. Then the partially dried skin may be dried more severely resulting in rapidly dried crack-free and high strength skin.

A dryer for ceramic products, such as for example slabs or tiles, comprising: a drying chamber (1); at least one drying channel (10), comprising a shelf (11) for one or more ceramic products; at least two manifolds (20), positioned respectively above and below the shelf (11), each of which is connected to a source of conditioned air. The manifold (20) located above the shelf (11) has an extended shape and is provided with a flat lower surface (21a), which in the plan view covers at least a portion of the shelf (11) and is provided with a plurality of lower openings (22a) for emitting the conditioned air into the drying channel (10). The manifold (20) located below the shelf (11) has an extended shape and is provided with a flat upper surface (21b), which in the plan view covers at least a portion of the shelf (11) and is provided with a plurality of upper openings (22b) for emitting the conditioned air into the drying channel (10).

A method for manufacturing a honeycomb structure, includes: a step of manufacturing a honeycomb formed body to manufacture a non-fired honeycomb formed body having volume of 7 L or more; a drying step of drying the manufactured non-fired honeycomb formed body to obtain a honeycomb dried body; and a firing step of firing the obtained honeycomb dried body to obtain a honeycomb structure. The drying step includes: an induction drying step to obtain a first dried honeycomb formed body by removing 20 to 80% of the entire water that the non-fired honeycomb formed body contained before drying, and a microwave drying step to obtain a honeycomb dried body by removing the residual water. The honeycomb dried body subjected to this microwave drying step is obtained by removing 90% or more of the entire water that the non-fired honeycomb formed body contained before drying.

Systems and methods for drying skinned ceramic wares (10) using recycled microwave radiation are disclosed. The method includes irradiating wet skinned ceramic wares (10W) in a first applicator section (124W) with microwave radiation (212), wherein said irradiating (212) gives rise to reflected microwave radiation (212R). The method also includes capturing a portion of the reflected microwave radiation (212R) and irradiating a plurality of semi-dry skinned ceramic wares (105) in a second applicator section (124S) with the reflected microwave radiation (212R). Systems for carrying out the method are also disclosed.

A method and system to dry crack-free and high strength skin including an inorganic binder of an average particle size (D.sub.50) in a range between 10 nm and 700 nm on a porous ceramic body. The method includes supporting the honeycomb body on an end face such that axial channels and outer periphery are substantially vertical. A gas is flowed past the honeycomb body substantially parallel to the axial channel direction, substantially equally around the outer periphery of the skin, to uniformly dry the skin to form a partially dried skin under mild conditions. Then the partially dried skin may be dried more severely resulting in rapidly dried crack-free and high strength skin.

A microwave drying method includes: an introduction step of disposing a honeycomb formed body while keeping an axis direction X of cells of the honeycomb formed body vertically and introducing the honeycomb formed body into a drying furnace capable of irradiating with microwaves; a reflector placing step of placing a microwave reflector having a function to reflect the microwaves above and/or below around the honeycomb formed body; and a microwave drying step of irradiating with the microwaves while controlling temperature of an inside of the honeycomb formed body by the microwave reflector so that any one of the end faces (e.g., end face) of the honeycomb formed body reaches 100° C. to dry the honeycomb formed body after the other part of the honeycomb formed body reaches 100° C.

A dielectric drying method for ceramic formed bodies includes drying a plurality of ceramic formed bodies placed side by side in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction on upper surfaces of drying tables by conveying the ceramic formed bodies between electrodes of an upper electrode and a lower electrode, and applying a high frequency between the electrodes. In the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the ceramic formed body, a distance between the electrodes in two end regions between which a central region is interposed is shorter than a distance between the electrodes in the central region.

A method of drying a green ceramic honeycomb body (20) comprising: moving the body (20) through a drying system (50) comprising interconnected microwave devices (60), wherein each microwave device (D1, D2, D3) comprises an entrance (62a, 62b, 62c) located at an upstream end and an exit (64a, 64b, 64c) located at a downstream end of the microwave device (D1, D2, D3), the ends defining a downstream direction (72) and an upstream direction (74) in each of the devices (D1, D2, D3); removing moisture from the body (20) by irradiating the body (20) with microwave radiation within each of the devices (D1, D2, D3); and flowing air against the outer peripheral wall (22) of the body (20) while the body (20) is located in each of the microwave devices (D1, D2, D3). The flowing is conducted such that one or more of a supply flow and an exhaust flow of air is adjusted in at least one of the devices (D1, D2, D3) such that the air flow in the system is at a predetermined magnitude substantially in the upstream (74) or downstream direction (72).

A method for drying building material slabs, in particular slabs containing gypsum, which are guided in floors (15) through an device divided into a drying pre-zone (2) and drying chambers and in which the slabs are brought into contact with drying air, characterized in that drying air is applied from the drying pre-zone (2) to the slabs in an area (1) arranged upstream of the pre-zone (2) and enclosed at least, with respect to the conveying direction of the boards, on both longitudinal sides and on the upper side.

A method for drying at least one unfired columnar honeycomb formed body comprising a raw material composition containing at least one raw material of ceramics, water and at least one heat-gelling binder, and cells defined by partition walls comprising flow paths from a first end surface to a second end surface. The method comprising drying the honeycomb formed body by passing hot gas satisfying 0.8≤T2/T1≤3.3, where T1 represents a gelation temperature of the binder (° C.) and T2 represents a wet-bulb temperature of the hot gas (° C.) through the flow paths from the first end surface and out the second end surface, while surrounding the honeycomb formed body with a correction mold to correct the shape of the honeycomb formed body during drying.