CARBELL® KILNS

Carbell kilns are also referred to Top Hat kilns, but they were developed initially by Bickley who trade marked the "Carbell" name. The Kiln is lifted vertically clear while kiln cars are loaded and unloaded. Once loaded, the kiln lowered down onto the cars and started; the temperature is increased to top temperature and down again following a set cycle automatically.

The Carbell kiln is designed for a stable and repeatable seal between the kiln and kiln car, while providing a strong and robust structure for the refractory insulation. This is essential for firing at high temperatures but is also beneficial at lower temperatures since the kiln seal is more reliable than a shuttle style of door seal.

One of our most innovative designs was the Carbell kiln. The success of this design made it a standard kiln within the ceramic industry with worldwide popularity and it is still used today in industries right across the world.

The basic concept of this Top Hat kiln is an enclosed box-like structure without any doors, referred to as a bell. The bell kiln structure is raised and lowered by hydraulic cylinders. Once the bell is raised, a kiln car loaded with product – with wheels traveling on rails – is moved into position under the bell, which is then lowered over the top of the car. When the bell is fully lowered, a seal blade on the bell structure engages the sand seal trough around the perimeter of the car. The blade is made of alloy steel and is water cooled, providing a robust and durable seal mechanism.

The combination of improved sealing, burner arrangement and downdraft design results in the best possible temperature uniformity for a batch type kiln of this size.

Downdraft ventilation

The exhaust of the Carbell kiln is a downdraft design through one or more flues in the car(s). The underfloor flue aligns with the car flues when positioned under the bell. This underfloor flue is connected to an exhaust fan that controls the pressure inside the kiln. Automatic pressure control is achieved by varying the speed of the fan and is crucial for achieving fully optimized kiln temperature control.

Uniformity guaranteed

As the combusted gases exit the burner ports and lose their velocity, they are pulled through the load towards the car flue(s). This creates excellent temperature uniformity throughout the firing load. Furthermore, once the burner gas is turned off during the cooling stage of the cycle, the burner air continues to exhaust through the load, thereby promoting more uniform and controllable cooling by ‘scrubbing’ heat out of the load.