Patent ID: 7607240

Claim:
A system for drying wet items including wet roving packages, wet cakes and bobbins of wound wet fiber glass fibers or wet fiber strands comprising a microwave or dielectric oven for subjecting the wet roving packages, cakes and/or bobbins to dielectric waves or microwaves until the moisture content of the roving packages, cakes and bobbins is less than about 10 wt. percent, the improvement comprising; a preheating chamber for preheating the wet roving packages, cakes and/or bobbins to at least about 55 degrees C., but below the boiling point of water at the location of the preheating chamber, a duct for transporting waste hot gases exhausted from a source selected from a group consisting of a glass furnace, a dryer, and a heat engine operating to generate electrical power, into the preheating chamber and a fan for causing the waste hot gases to enter the preheating chamber and to exit the preheat chamber, the preheating chamber being located upstream of the microwave or dielectric oven.