Parametric Analysis of Cylinder Drying Process in Association with Various Materials

Abstract

In this study, the heat and mass transfers in the fabric drying process of a single-cylinder dryer are numerically examined in detail by using MATLAB codes and illustrating 3D velocity and temperature profiles obtained by a CFD-ACE+ software package. Seven different drying materials including Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Cotton, Wool, Rayon, and Nylon are employed as drying materials. Influences of the drying-material thickness, contacting percentage, cylinder temperature, feeding velocity, and cylinder diameter are examined in detail. For all cases in this study, it is found that the maximum temperature of the drying material in the drying process is strongly dependent on the thermal diffusivity of the drying material. The higher the thermal diffusivity of the drying material, the greater the peak temperature achieved. The peak temperature of the drying material increases with the increase in the contacting percentage. The higher feeding velocity leads to a faster increase in the temperature of the drying material; however, the peak temperature of the slower feeding velocity is higher than that of the faster one. The heat transfer between the central layer of the drying material and to ambient environment is limited by the thermal diffusivity of the drying material.