3D Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of a Convective Drying Chamber

Abstract

The drying industry has grown considerably due to the tremendous demand for non-perishable food. Convective drying is one of the most popular equipment in the drying industry (food, chemical, pharmaceutical, etc.). One of the drawbacks of this equipment, when used for convective drying, is the non-uniformity in the final product quality. This study presents the development of a numerical model through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The drying chamber of a heat pump dryer is assessed from the perspective of drying air velocity and temperature profiles. The model was developed by solving different transport phenomena-related equations. The established methodology was set up to evaluate how the drying air velocity and temperature distribution affect the drying chamber. These results will define if there is a need to redesign it. The air velocity and temperature profile results show a need to redesign the chamber. Only trays 2, 3, and 4 are the ones that would achieve the drying of the products. The proposed solution is to implement air distributors or modify the tray positioning to make the drying air and temperature distribution homogeneous.

Design and Experiment of Combined Infrared and Hot-Air Dryer Based on Temperature and Humidity Control with Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.)

“…To address the uneven drying of materials due to the distribution of airflow in a conveying dryer, Sabyasachi et al [ 17 ] conducted a CFD simulation to examine and validate the distribution of airflow in the drying chamber; drying uniformity was enhanced by the addition of a spoiler. To analyze the impact of the drying wind speed and temperature distribution in the drying chamber, Daza-Gomez et al [ 18 ] simulated the uniformity of the drying chamber of a heat-pump dryer by considering the drying wind speed and temperature distribution. The drying chamber was altered to ensure uniformity based on the simulation results.…”

Geothermal food dehydrator system, operation and sensory analysis, and dehydrated pineapple quality

“…Geothermal food dehydration is a process that allows food preservation without greenhouse gas emissions. Different prototypes have been developed since the last century, but very few have been scaled up to industrial production, which has been associated with the lack of spatial homogeneity of hot air, and to solve this, dehydrators have been designed with numerical simulation in Computational Fluid Dynamics, (Daza‐Gómez et al, 2022 ) and finally microbiologically and sensorially validate this product (Takougnadi et al, 2020 ). This work focuses on the evaluation of the product obtained with this dehydrator, reserving its numerical validation a follow‐up paper.…”