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CFD simulation and optimization on airflow uniformity of material drying room used in steam blanching and hot-air vacuum drying equipment

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Abstract

Airflow velocity uniformity in material drying room used in steam blanching and hot-air vacuum drying equipment is crucial for obtaining a good drying quality of fruits and vegetables. To analyze the airflow velocity uniformity and give the optimization design for improving the airflow uniformity, CFD method is used for the flow field analysis of material drying room and the velocity non-uniformity coefficient is used as the evaluation indicator for the velocity uniformity. Results show that the airflow velocity distribution in the material drying room at the original inlet airflow distribution chamber is relatively uneven and the airflow velocity non-uniformity coefficient in drying area is 34 %. For reducing the airflow velocity non-uniformity, the airflow velocity distribution of three structural modification directions with 12 designs in total are analyzed and compared. The minimum airflow velocity non-uniformity coefficient for adding a spoiler model, reducing the closed end width and adding nozzle baffles are 17.1 %, 30.2 %, 10.4 %, respectively. Through comparison, adding the nozzle baffle with a width of 11 mm at the rear end of each nozzle outlet is considered as the optimal designs to conduct the experimental validation. Experimental validation results shows the the relative error between the simulated value and the measured value is within 10 %, proving that the CFD prediction results is reliable and the research results can give a theoretical reference for the designers to evaluate and optimize the structure of inlet airflow distribution chamber for improving the airflow uniformity in drying area.

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Abbreviations

Si :

Source term in the i direction

|v|:

Velocity magnitude, m/s

v i :

Velocity magnitude in the i direction, m/s

C 0, C 1 :

Empirical coefficients

M :

Non-uniformity coefficient

σ v :

Standard deviation of airflow velocity

\({\bar v}\) :

Average airflow velocity, m/s

n :

Number of monitoring points

I :

Turbulent intensity

D H :

Hydraulic diameter

C u :

Christensen uniformity coefficient

Hi :

Average moisture content in drying area i

\(\overline H \) :

Average moisture content of all areas

m :

Number of drying areas

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by Research and Application Demonstration of Key Technologies in Edible Fungus Industry such as Auricularia auricula-judae (Grants No. 2021YFD1600403), Shaanxi University of Science and Technology Doctoral Research Startup Fund (Grants No.BJ16-19), Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education Youth Innovation Team Research Program Project (Grants No.21JP016), Key Projects of Shaanxi International Science and Technology Cooperation Plan (Grants No.2020KWZ-015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

    Dong Wang, Libin Tan, Yuejin Yuan & Yuming Lu

Authors
  1. Dong Wang
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  2. Libin Tan
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  3. Yuejin Yuan
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  4. Yuming Lu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Libin Tan.

Additional information

Dong Wang is a Ph.D. and the Master’s supervisor in the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi Province. He is specialized in CFD simulations and doing his research in the field of food drying, modern processing technology and intelligent equipment design of agricultural products.

Libin Tan is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi Province. He is specialized in CFD simulations and doing his research in the field of heat transfer and thermal engineering in industrial applications, heat and mass transfer in food drying process and processing technology.

Yuejin Yuan is a Professor in the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi Province. He received his Ph.D. degree in China Agricultural University. He is specialized in CFD and doing research on heat transfer and thermal engineering in the field of engineering, food drying, and biomass burning.

Yuming Lu is a Master graduated form College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi Province. He is specialized in CFD simulations and doing his research in the field of heat and mass transfer in food drying and the usage of modern processing technology.

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Wang, D., Tan, L., Yuan, Y. et al. CFD simulation and optimization on airflow uniformity of material drying room used in steam blanching and hot-air vacuum drying equipment. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 5463–5474 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0945-0

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