In this study, the drying of wood by microwave energy using a continuous microwave belt drier was
compared to that by conventional method. By using a continuous microwave belt drier, the microwave
power was generated by means of 14 compressed air-cooled magnetrons of 800Weach that gives a maximum
of 11.2kW. The power setting could be adjusted individually in 800Wsteps. Most importantly, this
work focuses on the investigation of drying phenomena under microwave environment. In this analysis,
the effects of the irradiation time and microwave power level on overall drying kinetics and mechanical
properties were studied. The results showed that using the continuous microwave applicators technique
has several advantages over the conventional method such as shorter processing times, volumetric dissipation
of energy throughout a product, high energy efficiency aswell as improvements in product quality.
The results presented here provide a fundamental understanding of microwave-heating of various kinds
of dielectric materials.