Patent ID: 9534844
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: C22B,F27B,F27D

Claim:
1. A method for the continuous sintering of mineral material in a sintering furnace, comprising forming a material bed on a conveyor base; conveying the material bed by the conveyor base through process zones of the sintering furnace that have different temperatures, the zones including at least one drying zone, at least one cooling zone, and at least one other process zone between the said drying zone and cooling zone; and conducting gas through the conveyor base and the material bed when the material bed travels through the process zones; circulating gas in a circulation gas duct from the last cooling zone to the drying zone, at least a portion of the circulation gas duct comprising an upper section above the material bed, where part of the gas flow that is conducted toward the drying zone in the upper section of the circulation gas duct is removed as an exhaust gas flow through an exhaust gas duct, and part of the gas flow that is conducted toward the drying zone in the upper section of the circulation gas duct is removed through a bypass channel that bypasses the drying zone, the bypass channel different than the exhaust gas duct; and selectively controlling the temperature and volume of the gas flow traveling through the circulation gas duct and through the material bed in the drying zone whereby said temperature is selectively controlled by varying the rotation speed of an exhaust gas blower in the exhaust gas duct while the volume of the gas flow in the circulation gas duct that is passed to the drying zone is selectively controlled by a regulating device of the bypass channel.