Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Numerical simulation of moisture-heat coupling in belt dryer and

structure optimization
Zhang Hang ⇑, Deng Shengxiang
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China

h i g h l i g h t s

We added the viscous dissipation term in the energy equation.

We used the porous medium model and the evaporation model in the calculation process.

When material thickness increases, the ‘‘ripple” phenomenon disappears.

Material thickness has the largest influence on moisture uniformity, followed by velocity.

Wing defector reduces areca-nut moisture content and improves moisture content uniformity.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to improve internal air flow field of belt dryer and increase moisture standard deviation of drying
Received 14 March 2017 material in dryer, we used FLUENT software to study influences of material thickness, air velocity, air
Revised 1 July 2017 temperature and air relative humidity on material moisture content and uniformity in dryer on the basis
Accepted 12 August 2017
of computational fluid mechanics and heat and mass transfer theory. Viscous dissipation was added to
Available online 14 August 2017
the energy equation. Porous medium model and evaporation model were used to improve result accu-
racy. A comparison between the moisture content of material inside the dryer was made when no deflec-
Keywords:
tor, a common deflector and a wing deflector are applied. Results show that air velocity in each
Belt dryer
Flow velocity
measuring point is consistent with the numerical simulation. Material thickness had the largest influence
Moisture content on moisture content uniformity among four factors, followed by drying air velocity. The result of variance
Uniformity of material moisture content indicates that the thicker material thickness was, the better moisture con-
Wing deflector tent uniformity would be. When test conditions were shown as follows: 80 mm thickness; 343 K inlet air
temperature; 1.5 m/s air velocity; 0.24 air initial humidity, moisture standard deviation of material was
optimal. The wing deflector reduced material moisture content as a whole and moisture content unifor-
mity was improved.
Ó 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction designs of round bale and simulated flow field inside the dryer. It
was showed that the simplest dryer provides a deficient air distri-
Belt dryer is a continuous drying equipment, which has the bution and inadequate drying, but an improved air distribution and
advantages of no damage to the surface of the material. It is suit- drying uniformity to other designed dryer. Insufficient height of
able for the drying of vegetables, such as traditional Chinese med- the ventilation duct was also one of the reasons why the horizontal
icine and so on [1,2]. It has been a hot point in the research and airflow was not smooth and the drying was uneven [10]. In addi-
application of drying machine [3–7], and the main reason is that tion, the unreasonable working parameters (including hot air
the process and structure of the dryer are not reasonable. L.Q. velocity [8,11,12], hot air temperature [11,12], material layer
Hao [8] found that the process structure was the main factor that thickness [8,12,13], hot air humidity [12], material layer length
affected the moisture unevenness of corn after drying. It was sug- and conveyor belt speed [13] and other factors) leaded to uneven
gested that the air flow should be reduced properly in the mixed distribution of material moisture.
flow dryer. F.D. Román and O. Hensel [9] have provided four drying It is difficult and expensive (sensor expensive) to obtain the
internal flow field and moisture distribution in the working state
⇑ Corresponding author. of the dryer [14], even so, there are still the error of measuring
E-mail address: zhanghang4202@126.com (H. Zhang). instrument, limited measuring range and so on. Numerical simula-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.08.071
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301 293

tion is a good method to adjust and optimize the operating param- The testing material is Chinese olive areca-nut from Hainan pro-
eters, which can predict the heat and flow field under different vince. Before areca-nut is placed in the dryer for drying, it is
conditions [15,16]. Comparing the experimental and predicted cleaned, soaked, aired, divided, stripped, rinsed and filtered.
(extracted for the CFD analysis) data revealed a very good correla- The author considers influences of material thickness, air veloc-
tion coefficient of 99.9% and 86.5% for drying air temperature and ity, air temperature and air initial humidity on material drying. As
air velocity in the drying chamber, respectively [17]. It provided designing the test scheme, the author considers that 4 factors and 3
the reliability of the numerical simulation results. This approach levels should be inspected. If the full assembly (34) is used, it needs
has also been touted by structural engineers, since it can be used a test for 81 times. However, if the orthogonal trial is used, just 9
to predict the improved results in a computer, which has brought points should be applied to be distributed in the testing points
great convenience for the engineers. For example, L. Czétány and evenly. The orthogonal test design picks up some representative
P. Láng [18] used Fluent software to simulate the flow field and points to test from the comprehensive test according to orthogo-
temperature field of 3 different structures of ventilation system. nality. These representative points are equipped with some fea-
In addition to the commonly used FLUENT software, there are tures, including ‘‘even distribution and homogeneous/uniform
scholars [19,20] using C/C++ language programming method for design”. It is a high-efficient and economic experimental design
the drying process of belt dryer numerical calculation. To analyze method [25]. The orthogonal experiment of the design is shown
moisture transfer during convective drying, a simultaneous heat in Table 1.
and moisture transfer model was developed based on Fick’s diffu-
sion equation [21]. The model accurately predicted moisture loss 3. Mathematical model and simulation
as a function of drying time and position for the potato and carrot
samples during convective hot air drying and further demonstrates 3.1. Control equation
the importance and improved accuracy of obtaining diffusion coef-
ficients and its temperature dependence under isothermal condi- The heat and moisture transfer model of material layer and air
tions. Karim and Kumar [22] have developed a multiphase is established by using areca as the simulation object. Assuming
porous media model describing the physics of intermittent micro- that fluid is the incompressible fluid, coefficient of gas viscosity
wave convective drying (IMCD) process. In another work [23], they is a constant. The areca-nut applies a porous medium model. The
have taken shrinkage and pore evolution into consideration and porosity and mean diameter are used to describe particle property,
gave a improvement model (IMCD2). Simulated results are vali- and assuming that the areca-nut particle won’t shrink in the drying
dated against experimental data. An empirical model calculating process [26]. To simplify calculation, the mesh belt of the ventila-
moisture evaporation from a particle and droplet was proposed tion hole is regarded as a porous medium model [27]. The control
and validated by Wawrzyniak [24]. It was said that the model equations are shown as follows:
can be applied to the installations for dewatering.
From the point of view of heat and moisture coupling, the air (1) Continuity equation [28,29]
flow field, temperature field and component concentration field
inside the belt dryer was simulated by FLUENT software with According to the conservation of mass, fluid net quality in and
multi-phase model, porous medium model and evaporation model. out of the control volume in unit time is equal to the reduced qual-
In addition, in order to make the results more accurate, the equa- ity caused by density fluctuation of fluid in the interval control vol-
tion of viscous dissipation term was added to the governing ume at the same interval. Air motion in drying process conforms to
equation. the law of conservation of mass. The differential equation is
derived as follows:
@ qa
þ r  ðqa uÞ ¼ 0 ð1Þ
2. Experiment @t

@ qa
A multi-layer horizontal belt dryer self-designed by Xinyuan þ r  ðqa v Þ ¼ 0 ð2Þ
@t
Chain Transmission Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was
selected to test. The subject is a five-layer belted cross-flow drying @ qa
system, which is composed of rack, belt chain, elevator, air inlet þ r  ðqa wÞ ¼ 0 ð3Þ
@t
and outlet, and transmission drum. Length  width  height of
the box is 20 m  1.8 m  2.5 m. The primary structure is shown in which qa is fluid density, kg/m3; t is time, s; u is velocity in x
in Fig. 1. direction, m/s; and v is velocity in y direction, m/s; w is velocity
The drying air is supplied by a variable frequency blower, which on the z direction, m/s.
enters into the dryer from the bottom and comes out from the top, (2) N-S equation [28,29]
and then gathered together in the centralized air duct. The heating According to Newton’s second law, time change rate of fluid
system of the air is arranged in the pipeline at the bottom and is momentum should be equal to resultant force by fluid. The resul-
completed by electric heating. The temperature control system tant force on infinitesimal volume is equal to the product between
based on PLC is adopted in the experiment. The material enters fluid quality and fluid accelerated speed. The differential equation
from the top of the left side of the dryer through the elevator, is derived as:
and pass through the conveyer belt to exit from the right side of
@ðqa uÞ * @p
the bottom. þ r  ðqa u u Þ ¼ r  ðl  graduÞ  þ su ð4Þ
The five-layer conveyor belt is the 6-mesh steel wire gauze with @t @x
the length and width of 19 m  1.6 m. The height of each layer is
@ðqa vÞ * @p
fixed, 440 mm. The thickness of the conveyor belt and areca-nut þ r  ðqa v u Þ ¼ r  ðl  gradv Þ  þ sv ð5Þ
@t @y
layer are 40, 60, 80 mm, respectively. Interlayer spacing is 400,
380, 360 mm, accordingly. Structural parameter of drying air
@ðqa vÞ * @p
entrance is 2 m  0.6 m  0.2 m and structural parameter of the þ r  ðqa w u Þ ¼ r  ðl  gradwÞ  þ sw ð6Þ
exit is 1.2 m  0.6 m  0.5 m.
@t @z
294 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301

Fig. 1. A sketch of the belt dryer.

Table 1
Four factors and three levels orthogonal experiment table.

Test number Combination Air humidity (kg/kg) Air temperature (K) Air velocity (m s1) Material thickness (mm)
1 A1B1C1D1 0.22 343 1.25 40
2 A1B2C2D2 0.22 348 1.5 60
3 A1B3C3D3 0.22 353 1.75 80
4 A2B1C3D3 0.24 343 1.5 80
5 A2B2C3D1 0.24 348 1.75 40
6 A2B3C1D2 0.24 353 1.25 60
7 A3B1C3D2 0.26 343 1.75 60
8 A3B2C1D3 0.26 348 1.25 80
9 A3B3C2D1 0.26 353 1.5 40

where qa is fluid density, kg/m3; t is time, s; p is pressure on fluid in areca-nut layer, respectively; j is heat transfer coefficient of
infinitesimal volume, Pa; m is viscosity coefficient of fluid, kg/(m s). fluid, W(m K)1; keff is heat transfer coefficient of areca-nut layer;
(3) Energy conservation equation [28,29] T is fluid temperature, K.
According to first law of thermodynamics, internal energy And ST, Sh are source items, named viscous dissipation. they
increment in fluid infinitesimal volume is equal to outside heat mean that internal heat source of fluid is converted to thermal
exchange plus work of surrounding fluid on infinitesimal volume. energy through fluid machinery, due to the function of viscidity.
The definition is shown as follows: The scholar Thorpe [30] found that source item Sh of the energy
equation can be expressed as follows:
@ðqa TÞ @ðqa uTÞ @ðqa v TÞ @ðqa wTÞ
þ þ þ @W
@t @x @y @z Sh ¼ hs ð1  eÞqs ð9Þ



 @t
@ j @T @ j @T @ j @T
¼ þ þ þ ST ð7Þ in which W is moisture in areca-nut; hs stands for adsorption heat
@x cp @x @y cp @y @z cp @z
on areca-nut surface. Afterwards, Hunter [31] got the relationship
Considering that the research object in the paper is energy between adsorption heat on areca-nut surface and latent heat of
transfer, general energy equation is materialized as the corre- vaporization hv in free water:
sponding equation:

  hs Psat dT dr
¼1þ þ ð10Þ
@H @T hv r dPsat dT
qa eca þ qb ð1  eÞ cg þ cw W þ W þ ca r  ðqa lTÞ
@T @t dT dr
dPsat
and dT are represented by substituting the formula (4)–(10), (4)–
¼ keff r2 T þ Sh ð8Þ (11) and (4)–(12):
where qb is areca-nut density on a wet basis; Cp is fluid specific heat   
at constant pressure, J(kg K)1; e is porosity of areca-nut layer; Hw dT T þ 273:15 6800
¼ 5 ð11Þ
is overall heat of areca-nut layer; m is viscosity coefficient of fluid, dPsat Psat T þ 273:15
kg/m s; Ca, Cg and Cw are specific heat of air, areca-nut and moisture
 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301 295

 
6  1025 6800 3.2. Physical properties and boundary conditions
Psat ¼ exp  ð12Þ
ðT þ 273:15Þ 5 T þ 273:15
Velocity inlet boundary condition and pressure outlet boundary
dr Ar condition are selected. The wall of the dryer is insulated so that the
¼ expðBW e Þ ð13Þ
dT ðT þ CÞ2 wall condition is insulated and no sliding. This paper uses SIMPLE
  algorithm in pressure-base solver to simulate incompressible fluid
A
r ¼ exp  expðBWÞ ð14Þ in the dryer. The discrete variables such as momentum, turbulent
T þC
kinetic energy and turbulent change rate term adopted with two
in which r is relative humidity of air, A, B and C stand for empirical order upwind scheme, The other settings are kept by default. Envi-
constants, where A = 921.69 °C1, B = 18.077, C = 112.35 °C [30], and ronmental temperature and initial temperature areca-nut are 20 °C
W and We are moisture and water content in areca-nut, respec- and other physical property parameters are shown in Table 2.
tively, and T represents temperature.
User Define Function (UDF) was used to decode from formula 3.3. Mesh dividing and independence verification
(9) to formula (14), adding the control equation, and UDF code is
shown as follows: The geometric model of the dryer is established by using the
front processor of FLUENT software. Then, geometric model of
DEFINE_SOURCE(energy_source,c,t,dS,eqn) the dryer is conducted mesh generation. It is the structured hexa-
{ hedral mesh unit, as shown in Fig. 2. Material layer has mesh
Real Tabs, T, w, psat, dpsatdt, drdt, hsbyhv, hs; encryption.
Real pe, re, We, we, dwsebydt, Source_t; The dryer geometry model is divided into 4 classes of models
Tabs = C_T(c,t); with different mesh sizes (Mesh I = 496,000, Mesh II = 855,600,
T = Tabs-273.15; Mesh III = 1438,200, Mesh IV = 2,584,000). Under the 1# boundary
We = C_UDSI(s,t,0); condition, the transient simulation of the geometry model with
psat = 6.0e25/pow(Tabs,5) ⁄ exp(-6800/Tabs); time step 0.01 s is carried out for the 4 different numbers of mesh.
pe = we ⁄ PATM/(0.622 + we); Fig. 3(a) indicates the velocity distribution in the length direction
re = pe/psat; of the dry top layer channel, and Fig. 3(b) is the bottom of the
if(re< = 0) dryer. Comparison results of different mesh number models: the
Source_t = 0; calculation error of I and II is 13.24%, the calculation error between
else if(-(T + CP)/AP ⁄ log(re)< = 0) II and III is 5.33%, and the calculation error of III and IV is 1.40%.
Source_t = 0; Therefore, the computational results of mesh number III and IV
else are relatively close. Considering the computational resources, the
{We = -1/BP ⁄ log(-(T + CP)/AP ⁄ log(re)); /⁄formula (14)⁄/ grid number III can be considered more reasonable, and the simu-
dpsatdt = psat/Tabs ⁄ (-5 + 6800/Tabs); /⁄formula (11)⁄/ lation results have a certain reliability.
drdt = AP⁄re/pow((T + CP),2) ⁄ exp(-BP ⁄ We); /⁄formula
(13)⁄/
3.4. Experimental verification
hsbyhv = 1 + psat/re ⁄ 1/dpsatdt ⁄ drdt; /⁄formula (10)⁄/
hs = hsbyhv ⁄ (2501.33–2.363 ⁄ TC) ⁄ 1.0e3;
Drying air is the medium for heat transfer, and the material
C_UDMI(c,t,4) = hs;
absorbs heat from the air to evaporate its moisture. The greater
Source_t = C_UDMI(c,t,1) ⁄ hs; /⁄formula (9)⁄/
the air velocity is, the lower the moisture content of the material
//dS[eqn] = 0.0;
is. Therefore, the air flow field can be used to verify the rationality
Return Source_t;
of the simulation results [32,33]. In the paper, air velocity is
}
regarded as a parameter of test measurement. The measurement
}
methods are shown as follows: QDF-2B hot-bulb electric anemo-
scope (range: 0.05–5 m/s) is used to measure air velocity in inlet,
outlet and the box. Measuring points are arranged on the top and
(4) Porous medium model bottom, showing X = 0.8, 2.4, 4.0, 5.6, 7.2 m. Under the stable work-
ing conditions of the dryer, velocity of hole site is observed, aver-
Areca-nut is regarded as a wet porous medium model. Airflow aging air velocity of every hole for 5 times. Air velocity on the
passes through areca-nut layer and flow in layers is regarded as first layer and fifth layer of the dryer is shown in Fig. 4. The air
the flow of porous medium. The porous medium model is consti- velocity relative error of bottom layer between the simulated value
tuted by adding the momentum equation behind the momentum and the measured value is 4.25%, while it is 2.77% to top layer. The
equation. For isotropous porous medium (suitable for areca-nut simulated data are within the allowable range of error.
layer), the source item used the following equation:
l 1 4. Results and discussion
s¼ v þ c q jv jv ð15Þ
a i 22 b i i
where a stands for permeability and C2 represents inertial resis- 4.1. 1Flow field inside dryer and analysis of effective factors
tance factor.
a and C2 can be calculated as the following formulas: The internal flow field of the dryer under 1#, 5# and 9# test con-
ditions is shown in Fig. 5. It can be observed from the figure that
D2b e3
a¼ ð16Þ velocity closing to the entrance of the first layer is the largest
150ð1  eÞ2 and reaches 1.0 m/s (the red circle is about 1.8–2.0 m/s), because
obstruction of the material layer changes air direction and it forms
3:5ð1  eÞ
c2 ¼ ð17Þ around the corner. Meanwhile, the comparison shows that velocity
Db e3
in 5# test is obviously higher than other test conditions. Voids in
and Db is mean diameter of areca-nut particle, mm. porous media also makes some drying-air pass through the mate-
296 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301

Table 2
Physical parameters of areca nut and fluid.

Physical parameter Unit Value Physical parameter Unit Value

Viscous resistance (1/a) / 989847 Heat capacity kJ/(kg K) 3.082
Inertia resistance (C2) / 1142 Thermal conductivity W/(m K) 1.43
Air density (qf) kg m3 1.225 Thermal diffusivity m2/s 0.16
Nut initial moisture (mi) % 64.9 Moisture diffusion m2/s 5.7  1010
Nut density (qb) kg m3 154.2 Turbulence intensity (I) % 3.96
Porosity (e) m3 m3 0.544 Hydraulic diameter (D) m 1

Fig. 2. Geometric model and mesh of dryer.

Mesh I; Mesh II; Mesh III; Mesh IV 0.8 (a) Bottom layer
Velocity / (m.s-1)

Calculated
1.0
(a) Bottom layer 0.6
Measured
Velocity / (m⋅s-1)

0.8
0.6 0.4

0.4 0.2
0.2 0.0
0.0 0 2 4 6 8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dryer length / (m)
Dryer length / (m)
1.6
Velocity / (m.s-1)

(b) Top layer Calculated

1.6 Measured
Velocity / (m⋅s-1)

(b) Top layer 1.2

1.2
0.8
0.8
0.4
0.4
0.0
0.0 0 2 4 6 8
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dryer length / (m)
Dryer length / (m) Fig. 4. Comparison of velocity between calculated and measured results.

Fig. 3. Comparison of velocity between different mesh numbers.

that velocity in the top layer increases. Results show that drying air
rial layer to enter into the upper layer space. It can be observed velocity has no continuous change, but it changes discontinuously,
that the higher layer is, the lower velocity will be. Flow velocity similar to ‘‘ripple” shape.
of the third layer is only 0.3–0.5 m/s. After drying air enters into The internal flow field of the dryer under 2#, 6# and 7# test con-
the fourth layer, velocity has no big change, only 0.3 m/s. Because ditions are shown in Fig. 6. It can be observed that features of the
the fourth layer closes to the outlet, velocity stops reducing, but its three flow fields are basically similar to Fig. 5. The difference is air
uniformity increases gradually. Such an explanation can be verified velocity in the first layer. Moreover, horizontal velocity of drying
 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301 297

Fig. 5. Flow field inside dryer under conditions of 40 mm thickness of the material layer.

Fig. 6. Flow field inside dryer under conditions of 60 mm thickness of the material layer.

air is also increased. Based on 7#, drying air velocity in the first 3# test, velocity of drying air is centered the entrance and gradually
layer increases and this also enlarges velocity in the upper layer. reduces from both sides, showing no ‘‘ripple” as the above-
By combining with velocity among them, drying air velocity of mentioned tests. Such a phenomenon can be summarized that
7# is obviously higher than the other ones, followed by 2#. As the increase of material thickness enlarges vertical upward
shown in red circle in the Fig. 6, drying air velocity increases in obstruction of drying air, thus horizontal movement of drying air
Type C (having eddy), because drying air moves in the layer and in the layer is fully developed. Velocity is larger and it is distributed
gathers to the end of the conveyer belt, it vertically flows to the more evenly.
upper layer. Some of them move forward under the inertia force
until it contacts with wall surface and is kept off, forming eddy. 4.2. Moisture content inside dryer and analysis of effective factors
Some of them close to the conveyor belt and flow in the horizontal
upper layer. The distribution situation of material moisture content in the
Internal flow field of the dryer under 3#, 4# and 8# test condi- top layer in the horizontal direction is shown in Fig. 8. It can
tions is shown in Fig. 7. It can be observed from the figure that be observed from the figure that moisture content around
the difference between 3#, 4# and 8# tests and the above- X = (4–6 m and 14–16 m) is even and moisture content is lower
mentioned tests lines in continuity of velocity change. Based on than other places, because drying air in the length direction
298 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301

Fig. 7. Flow field inside dryer under conditions of 80 mm thickness of the material layer.
Moisture/(100%)

0.32 (a) 1# case 5 # case 9 # case

0.30
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)
Moisture/(100%)

0.32 (b) 2 # case 6 # case 7 # case

0.30
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)
Moisture/(100%)

0.44
0.40 (c) 3 # case 4 # case 8 # case
0.36
0.32
0.28
0.24
0.20
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)

Fig. 8. Moisture of material in top layer. (a) 40 mm layer thickness, (b) 60 mm layer thickness, (c) 80 mm layer thickness.

passes through and takes away moisture on the material surface. the moisture content is close to other two groups, as shown in
Moreover, drying air from the bottom passes through the material Fig. 8(c). Moreover, moisture content in the middle of (X = 6–
layer and absorbs lots of moisture. Moisture layer on other posi- 14 m) in Fig. 8(a, b) is not distributed evenly and it is slightly
tions is short of upward drying air from the bottom. In addition to higher. Moisture content curve of Fig. 8(c) is flat and almost has
the entrance, moisture content in other places is high, because no change.
length and height in the transport layer are too big. It is caused The distribution of material moisture content in horizontal
by the smaller entrance size of drying air. By comparing with direction of the middle-level layer is shown in Fig. 9. Material
them, it shows that in three tests with the thickness of 80 mm, moisture content around the entrance is even. By comparing with
 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301 299

Moisture/(100%)
0.32
0.30
(a) 1# case 5 # case 9 # case
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Moisture/(100%) Dryer length /(m)

0.36
0.33
(b) 2 # case 6 # case 7 # case
0.30
0.27
0.24
0.21
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)
Moisture/(100%)

0.39
0.36 (c) 3 # case 4 # case 8 # case
0.33
0.30
0.27
0.24
0.21
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)

Fig. 9. Moisture of material in middle layer. (a) 40 mm layer thickness, (b) 60 mm layer thickness, (c) 80 mm layer thickness.

the moisture content in the entrance, the regional area of even that moisture content has the higher uniformity in the bot-
moisture content with the material thickness of 40 mm is greater tom. Only the curve in both ends and middle fluctuates. In
than others. When the thickness is 40 mm, 9# is greater than 1# X = 0–1.5 m in Fig. 10(c), moisture content curve fluctuates
and 1#, while 5# is greater than 1#, showing that the above- strongly, because there is 1 m interval from the end of con-
mentioned material thickness plays a role on moisture content dis- veyor end and drying box. Therefore, drying air flows
tribution around the entrance, followed by temperature. When upward rapidly. Materials in the dead space region can’t
thickness temperature is increased to 80 mm, curve fluctuation is be dried. Left-side material is affected by drying air back-
reduced and materials are drying and even. flow in the bottom, so as to reduce moisture water. There-
Distribution of material content in the horizontal direction fore, moisture content increases rapidly and then it
of the bottom layer is shown in Fig. 10. It can be observed decreases.

0.32
Moisture/(100%)

0.30 (a) 1# case 5 # case 9 # case

0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)

0.34
Moisture/(100%)

0.32 (b) 2 # case 6 # case 7 # case

0.30
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)

0.39
Moisture/(100%)

0.36 (c) 3 # case 4 # case 8 # case

0.33
0.30
0.27
0.24
0.21
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Dryer length /(m)

Fig. 10. Moisture of material in bottom layer. (a) 40 mm layer thickness, (b) 60 mm layer thickness, (c) 80 mm layer thickness.
300 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301

0.40 4.3. Structure modification of belt dryer

Based on the above-mentioned results and analyzes, the author

0.35 conducts structural optimization on the dryer, so as to distribute
Moisture uniformity (Mu)

moisture evenly. Deflector is installed in the entrance to guide dry-

ing air to both sides. It can be observed from Fig. 12(b) that drying
0.30 air guided by the common deflector flows to the middle and both
sides of the dryer. Moisture content in the entrance is reduced dra-
matically. In the remote place, it still gathers small moisture, while
0.25
wing deflector in Fig. 12(c) expands the drying area. Moisture con-
tent presents the descending tendency as a whole.
0.20
5. Conclusion
1# 2# 3# 4# 5# 6# 7# 8# 9#
Experiment number Based on the computational fluid mechanics and heat and mass
transfer theory, FLUENT software is used to do numerical situation
Fig. 11. moisture standard deviation of material.
on flow field and material moisture in the belt dryer and calculate
moisture standard deviation in the dryer. Finally, the author pro-
poses some suggestion on improvement and main conclusions
are shown as follows:
The moisture content uniformity [12] is expressed Mu. The com-
putational formula is shown as follows:
(1) Air velocity in the test is identical to the numerical simula-
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi tion. When material thickness increases, the flow velocity
X M i  M av g 2 is centered the entrance and reduces gradually to both sides.
Mu ¼ ð18Þ There is no ‘‘ripple” phenomenon. The increase of material
M av g
thickness makes drying air distribution become even.
(2) Material thickness has the largest influence on moisture
where Mi is mean moisture of every observation point under the content uniformity, followed by velocity. The results of Mu
same time. Mavg is the arithmetic mean value on all observational show that when the thicker thickness is, the better moisture
points of the conveyor belt. The smaller Mu is, the closer Mi to Mavg content uniformity will be. Test condition is 80 mm, drying
will be (namely moisture content on every measuring point is close air temperature at the entrance is 343 K, drying air velocity
to the overall mean moisture content), indicating that material is 1.5 m/s, moisture content at the entrance is 0.24, thus
layer moisture is evener. material moisture distributes evenly. Material thickness is
It can be observed from Fig. 11 that moisture content in 3#, the primary factor of moisture content uniformity, while
4 and 8# has the smaller uniformity index, indicating that in
#
condition in 4# better conforms to the requirements of low
influence factors, material thickness plays a critical role on mois- energy consumption.
ture standard deviation. Meanwhile, Mu of 4# is less than 3# (3) Wing deflector reduces areca-nut moisture content and
and 8#. improves moisture content uniformity.

Fig. 12. Species concentration distribution inside dryer. (a) Dryer without deflector, (b) Dryer with common deflector, (c) Dryer with wing deflector.
 H. Zhang, S. Deng / Applied Thermal Engineering 127 (2017) 292–301 301

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