Patent ID: 7950921
Filing Date: 2011-05-31
Classification: F27B,F27D

Abstract:
1. A cooling system for cooling the underside of kiln cars located in a tunnel kiln wherein said tunnel kiln includes a floor, opposed side walls and a roof defining an elongated tunnel; a plurality of kiln cars connected together to form a train, each of said kiln cars including a deck on which uncured articles may be stacked for curing in said tunnel kiln, and an undercarriage supporting said deck in spaced relation to said tunnel kiln floor and facilitating passage of said train of kiln cars through said elongated tunnel; said deck sized to pass in close proximity to said side walls of said tunnel so as to define an upper kiln tunnel channel above said deck and a lower kiln tunnel channel below said deck; said tunnel having a pre-heat zone, a firing zone and a cooling zone; said cooling system comprises: at least one cooling air supply duct and at least one cooling air exhaust duct opening into said lower kiln tunnel channel in an undercarriage cooling zone; a cooling air supply blower connected to and blowing cooling air through said cooling air supply duct and into said undercarriage cooling zone; a cooling air exhaust blower connected to said cooling air exhaust duct and drawing cooling air from said undercarriage cooling zone, through said cooling air exhaust duct; a damper mounted in each of said cooling air supply duct and said cooling air exhaust duct; a mass flow meter mounted relative to each of said cooling air supply duct and said cooling air exhaust duct for measuring the mass flow rate of air through each of said supply duct and said exhaust duct; a temperature sensor mounted relative to said cooling air exhaust duct for measuring the temperature of air in said exhaust duct; a controller receiving temperature measurements from said temperature sensor and adjusting the degree of openness of said cooling air supply duct damper to adjust the flow of cooling air into said lower kiln tunnel channel to drive the temperature therein toward a set point; said controller further comparing readings from said mass flow meters in said cooling air supply duct and said cooling air exhaust duct and adjusting the degree of openness of said damper in said cooling air exhaust duct to attempt to equalize the mass flow of cooling air through said cooling air exhaust duct with the mass flow of cooling air through said cooling air supply duct.