Intermittent Kilns

Intermittent kilns work by firing cool wares using a heat source, where the
temperature is slowly increased throughout the firing process . Traditionally,
intermittent kilns were nothing more than a trench drug in the ground filled with a
fuel source and unfired pots. Intermittent kiln may be either rectangular circular or
oval shaped.
Types of intermittent kilns:
There are two types of intermittent kilns:
1- Up draught intermittent kiln
2- Downdraught intermittent kiln
3- Clamp
4- Scove

1)

Up draught intermittent kiln:

Updraft kilns are those in which

the flame is introduced into the bottom of the kiln, at or
below floor level, and exhausted out the top. Updraft
kilns consist of three basic components: the firebox, the
damper, and the stack area.
The firebox is where the flame enters. The damper is at
the top of the kiln and controls the exhaust (and by
association, the kiln's atmosphere). The stack area is
where the pots are set and is between the firebox and
damper.
Although an updraft kiln tends to be less fuel efficient
than a downdraft kiln, most commercially built fuelburning kilns are updrafts. This is mainly due to their
internal structure of up draught
Simplicity to build, packs, and ship.
kiln
Disadvantages of up draught kiln:
Up draught kiln have following disadvantages:1- Burning of bricks is not uniform.
2- The supply is not continuous.
3- There is a loss of heat from top most layers of bricks.
4- There is waste of fuel heat as the kiln is to be cooled down.
5- The cost of manufacture is more.

2)

Downdraught intermittent kiln:

Downdraft kilns are designed

to force the flame and heated air to circulate through
the kiln. Flame is introduced at the bottom of the kiln
and naturally flows upward. The construction forces
the flame back downward, to exhaust at the bottom of
the kiln.
Downdraft kilns consist of four main components: the
firebox, the stack area, the damper, and the chimney.
The addition of the chimney helps create draw, or air
flow. Sprung arch downdraft kilns are probably the
commonly potter-built kiln type in the United States.

Internal structure of down

draught kiln

Advantages of down draught intermittent kiln:

The following are the advantages of down draught kiln over the up
draught intermittent kiln:
1- The burning of bricks is less or more uniform.
2- The thermal performance is much better and heat loss is much less.
3- Heat can be controlled in a better way and hence such kilns are most useful
for burning of structural clay tiles, terra - cotta etc.

3)

Clamp:

Clamp kiln

One of the oldest methods of firing bricks is by clamp. It is 4000 BC

old. A clamp is a temporary
construction of unfired or green
bricks which is dismantled after
firing and could be erected near the
clay source.
Clamps varied from yard to yard but
there were general rules which most
followed. The floor had to be level
and was made of burnt brick.
Channels were often made in the
floor and filled with fuel, usually
breeze but any fuel would suffice
and wood, furze, charcoal was also
used.

Next came three or four layers of green bricks which were placed on edge and then
another layer of fuel was added. After this, green bricks were packed closely
together to a height of 14 or 15 feet. The bricks were 'dished' or tilted inward to
prevent injury to workmen during firing.
Sometimes the outside was sealed with wet pug. Most clamp bricks had a small
percentage of breeze added to the clay during manufacture. This helped to 'self fire'
them and ensured that a good temperature was reached.
Clamps contained 30,000 to 150,000 bricks. An average size would take two or
three weeks to burn out, although larger ones could take as much as ten or twelve
weeks.

4) The scove kiln:

A widely used adaptation of the clamp is the scove kiln, also
mistakenly called a clamp. If the fuel available is of a type which cannot be spread
as a thin bed at the base of the kiln and/or is not in sufficient quantity to burn all
the bricks without the need for replenishment, tunnels can be built through the base
of the pile in order to feed additional fuel. This is a suitable method of burning
wood, the latter being one of the most frequently used fuels for small-scale brick
making in developing countries. Usually, the outer surface of the piled-up bricks is
scoved, that is to say plastered all over its sides, with mud. Thus, the name of the
scove kiln.
The construction of a scove
requires a level, dry area of
land. Previously fired bricks, if
available, lay bed face down to
form a good, flat surface.
Three or four layers of bricks
are used to form the bottom of
the tunnels. The width of each
tunnel is approximately equal
to that of two brick lengths.
Three lengths of bricks
separate the tunnels. Alternate
courses are laid at right angles
to each other (i.e. a course of
headers, followed by a course
. Two short tunnels
A coal fired scove clamp
(e.g. approxima tely 2 m long) may be sufficient for a small number of bricks. For
large numbers of bricks, tunnels cannot be longer than approximately 6 m.

otherwise, fuel inserted from both ends will not reach the centre of the tunnel.
Large numbers of bricks are dealt with by extending the number of tunnels to cope
with the requirement.
The fourth and successive courses of bricks are laid in such a way that rows of
brickwork finally meet, and tunnels are thus completed. The progression of the
early stages of construction of a scove is shown in figure VII.6. In the foreground,
a few courses of fired bricks are set, marking out the tunnel positions. In the
middle of the picture, the first corbelled-out course of green bricks is partly set,
while further back several courses are laid.
Green bricks are set above tunnel level, in alternate courses of headers and
stretchers up to a height of at least 3 m above the ground. At the edge of the scove,
each course is stepped in a centimeter or so, to give a sloping side. Small spaces
are left between the bricks to allow the hot gases from the fires to rise. The
required maximum spacing between bricks is a finger width. This is easy to
achieve although a narrower spacing may be satisfactory. As the scove is built up,
an outer layer of previously burnt bricks is laid, to provide insulation. This will
also allow the proper firing of the outer layers of green bricks.
On the top of the green bricks, two or three courses of previously fired bricks
should be laid, bed face down and closely packed. The whole structure should then
be scoved with wet mud to seal air gaps. Turves are sometimes laid on top to
reduce heat losses. The wet mud should not contain a high fraction of clay if cracks
are to be avoided during firing.
Some of the top bricks half-way between the tunnels must not be scoved so that
they may be lifted out to increase air flow through the kiln as required. The
provision of this adjustable ventilation can be most useful in controlling the rate of
burning.
Firewood is set into the tunnels for firing. It should preferably be at least 10 cm
across, in pieces about 1 m in length. Kindling should be set in the mouth and
bottom of the tunnel. Since the heat of the fire is to rise up into the bricks, it is
essential that strong winds do not blow through the tunnels, cooling bricks down,
and wasting heat. Such winds may increase fuel consumption by 25 per cent. A
number of measures may be taken to avoid this waste of heat, including the
blocking of the centre of the tunnel during construction, or the temporary blocking
of tunnel mouths with bricks. In the latter case, one end may be bricked up and fire
set at the other end. Once the fire is well alight, that end may be bricked up while
the previous one is opened and lighted.