Patent ID: 8186076

Claim:
A drying apparatus for a honeycomb formed body, that is capable of obtaining a dried honeycomb formed body by irradiating with microwaves and microwave-heating an undried honeycomb formed body as the undried honeycomb formed body which is composed of a raw material composition containing a ceramic material and water, and in which a plurality of cells is partitioned and formed by partition walls, and thereby evaporating water from an inside and an outside of said undried honeycomb formed body to dry said undried honeycomb formed body, the drying apparatus comprising: a drying chamber having a drying space to store said undried honeycomb formed body; a microwave generator generating said microwaves to be irradiated to the undried honeycomb formed body that is stored in said drying chamber is radiated; and a plurality of waveguides for introducing the microwaves generated by said microwave generator into said drying chamber, wherein on side surfaces of said drying chamber, provided is a plurality of microwave introduction ports for introducing the microwaves generated by said microwave generator into said drying space inside the drying chamber, said waveguides are disposed at said microwave introduction ports, and irradiation ports of said waveguides are provided directed to two or more different directions toward said drying space of said drying chamber.