Study of air distribution in tray dryer using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

The objective of this work is to investigate the air flow distribution in conventional tray dryer and modified dryer using computational fluid dynamics. Simplified model of drying chamber with assumptions was used for simulation. Grid independence study and model validation were performed with the model of conventional tray dryer. Relative error of models was acceptable for all simulations. The shape of front and rear walls of drying chamber was varied. The results showed that the reason of poor air distribution inside conventional tray dryer was improper installation of air baffle resulting in air flow obstruction. Flow pattern inside the modified drying chamber highly depends on the front wall, while effect of rear wall on flow was insignificant. The critical zones occur at the top of drying chamber for both conventional and modified tray dryers.