A wood processor and processing method

摘要

A single-pass solid wood heating and/or drying kiln (1) for heating and/or drying a charge (6) of solid wood. The kiln (1) comprising: a chamber (2) comprising a pathway along which the charge can be moved through the chamber; the chamber further comprising a central drying area (4), a pre-heating area (3) at a first end of the chamber and a conditioning area (5) at a second end of the chamber, wherein the central drying area (4) is in fluid communication with the pre-heating (3) and conditioning (5) areas via a fluid flow path, the chamber (2) being arranged such that thermal energy is recovered from the central drying area and redistributed to the pre-heating and/or conditioning areas. Fans (7) may be provided to circulate the air in a direction transverse to the pathway along which the charge (6) travels. An electronic controller may be used to monitor the drying process and control the charge speed, and/or the proportion of air transferred from the central drying area to each of the pre-heating or conditioning areas.