Patent ID: 8481900

Claim:
A method for drying a ceramic material, comprising: determining a power set-point for a first microwave applicator of a drying apparatus; determining a power set-point for at least two additional microwave applicators in the drying apparatus such that a power distribution among the microwave applicators provides an energy per unit of water profile for the additional microwave applicators that is substantially uniform; and operating the microwave applicators at the determined power set-points as the ceramic material is passed through the drying apparatus, wherein the power set-points of the additional microwave applicators are defined by: D j = 1 / DryT - ∑ k = 1 j - 1 ⁢ D k TP * TimeMA PEWL * IWL * LA * DryT + 1 / 2 , ⁢ j = 2 ⁢ ⁢ to ⁢ ⁢ n - 1 , and D n = 100 ⁢ % - ∑ i = 1 n - 1 ⁢ D i , where: D j is the power set-point of microwave applicator D j in percent of the total microwave power value, D n is the power set-point of microwave applicator D n in percent of the total microwave power value, DryT is a percent of dryness target of the ceramic material, TP is a total microwave power value in kW, TimeMA is the time of the ceramic material in microwave applicator D j in seconds, PEWL is a potential energy per water content limit value in kJ/lb of water, IWL is an initial ceramic material water content in lbs, and LA is a number of ceramic materials per microwave applicator.