The influence of feedstock stacking shape on the drying performance of conveyor belt dryer

Conveyor belt dryers have been applied extensively in the drying process even though the problem of uneven drying along the dryer length exist. The general solution is to install an auxiliary device in the chamber to adjust the arrangement of air passages. A series of problems, however, are observed, such as occupying internal space and increasing flow resistance. A novel flow field improvement technology has been developed and conducted by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with a modified heat and moisture transfer model and validated by physical verification. The results show that specific stacking of feedstock characterized as vertical serration stacking with 30° angle and 43.0 mm interval can help to improve drying performance. Three indices (Integrate area, Mavg, and Mu) for the evaluation of velocity distribution confirms that most uniform moisture of products is obtained with the specific characteristics. This work presents an unconventional method to solve the problem of uneven air-distribution and thus improving drying efficiency.