Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulation of Fabric Cooling in a Stenter Machine

Abstract

Stenter machines are used to remove moisture from fabrics produced in the textile industry. Following the drying process, the cooling process, which is applied to fabrics using injector channels, is conducted in the last section of a stenter machine, preventing fabrics from expanding and the degradation of their quality. The present study mainly aimed to investigate the fabric-cooling process in a stenter machine used actively in a textile company. First, industrial data were obtained with some experiments, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were then conducted by validating the industrial data. All CFD models were simulated using ANSYS Fluent commercial CFD software. A total of four parameters, including two geometric and two operating parameters, were considered in order to investigate their effects on the fabric-cooling performance of the stenter machine. While the geometric parameters were the porosity (β) and injector angle (α), the operating parameters were the velocity of the airflow that cools the fabrics and fabric velocity, representing the movement of the fabric. As outputs of CFD simulations, fabric surface temperature values, the distributions of fabric surface temperatures, and some streamlines were illustrated. Although low values of porosity (β1 = 0.05) and injector angle (α1 = 0°) provided better performance, airflow velocity could be increased one or two times for the range of these constant parameters.