Process for the thermal treatment of more particularly substantially flat bodies of a ceramic material and continuous furnace for the performance of the process

Abstract

The invention relates to a process and a continuous furnace for the thermal treatment of substantially flat bodies of a ceramic material. Disposed in a continuous furnace having a roller table 5, between a heating zone 1 and a cooling zone 2, is a firing zone 3 which can be divided off by partitions 6, 7 from the heating zone 1 and the cooling zone 2, and in which the bodies to be fired are very rapidly heated to firing temperature, being horizontally reciprocated to prevent deformations. During firing, the conveying of the bodies in the cooling zone 2 continues, while conveying in the heating zone 1 is interrupted, the movement of the bodies being completely stopped or the bodies being horizontally reciprocated. During the dividing-off of the firing zone 3 the gases heated in the cooling zone 2 are conducted via a bypass 12 to the heating zone 1, to participate in the heating of the bodies. While the firing zone is being emptied and is receiving bodies to be fired, the roller table 5 is driven at an increased conveying speed over a portion F2F2, F5-F6 substantially corresponding to the length of the firing zone 3 immediately upstream and downstream of the firing zone 3, while the portion F3-F4 of the firing zone itself is driven at increased conveying speed, to keep the time lost in firing as short as possible.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.