PRESENTED BY: OWUSU-ADUOMIH IBRAHIM

SUPERVISOR: DR. ANTHONY SIMONS

Problem statement Objectives Methods used Facilities employed Scope of work Main work Conclusions Recommendation

The gratis firewood dryer is a free convection dryer used for drying agriculture produce. The fuel used is wood which leads to deforestation The amount of heat it generates cannot be well controlled.

The produce get burnt when the system overheats.

To redesign the heat supply system to allow the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) To use forced convection to supply hot air To include an automatic fuel supply regulator in the design to regulate supply of fuel to the burner.

A careful study of how the existing design operates Interaction with operators of the dryer

Review of relevant literature on hot air drying

The Gratis firewood dryer.

The Internet The UMaT library.

This project work is limited to improving the design of the firewood dryer to use LPG.

According to the Ghana Statistical Services, about sixty percent of the countrys population are involved in agriculture. In ideal terms, this will mean a lot of competition on the food market and hence cheaper food prices.

But the situation on the ground is quite different due to crude food production and preservation methods.
Increasing the use of mechanised dryers will go a long way to limit the perennial food price inflation.

Dryers can following.

be

classified

according

to

the

Source of heat Mode of heat transfer Drying procedure employed

Equipment used

In hot air drying, food is exposed to a stream of preheated air which absorbs moisture from the food.

For effective drying, air should be hot, dry and flowing. The dryness of air is termed humidity (the lower the humidity, the drier the air).
Increase in Temperature reduces relative humidity and allows air to carry more water vapour. Initial moisture content of the air will reduce the amount it can remove. Temperature of the air is kept at a degree that prevents changes to the microstructure of the food but it is high enough to remove moisture from food.

FOOD CATEGORY
Grains Meat Fish Vegetables

SAFE DRYING TEMPERATURE

45oC 68oC 60oC 54oC
Appromedia.com, 2010

The drying of most hygroscopic materials follows a characteristic pattern.

The characteristic drying curve is divided into three basic parts: the constant rate period, the uniform falling rate period, and the varying falling rate period.

One or more of the components may be missing under certain conditions.

(Anon, 1956)

Fig. 1.1 Drying curve Anon(1956)

heating coil

Fig. 1.2 Existing design

pro Fig. 1.3 Proposed design

Fig. 1.4 Exploded view

Front view

Side view

Top view

Fig 1.5 Projected views

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3 Fig. 1.6 Drying trays

Type 4

Fig. 1.7 Fuel supply system

Fig. 1.8 Air flow pattern

Air flow velocity Conventional cross flow dryers Conventional platform dryers

0.3 - 0.7 m/s

0.1 m/s

A flow velocity of 0.1m/s is chosen for the design. Anon(2001) Volume flow rate = flow velocity Area perpendicular to the direction of flow

Mass flow rate Where is the air density and V is the volume flow rate. Density of air at 27 oC (average ambient temperature) = 1.176 kg/m3
Let us consider a case where an average air temperature of 45 oC is required. Density of air at 45o C = 1.109 kg/m3

Mass flow rate of heated air,

Temperature difference (T) = Tc Ta Where Tc is temperature inside cabinet and Ta is ambient temperature. Specific heat capacity of air (cP) from 15 to 70oC = 1007 J/kg.k
Required rate of heat addition, Expected volume flow rate from fan,

Cengel et al., 20..

The rate of heat transfer from the hot plate to the air stream is given by

At 1 atm. pressure, air temperature of 27oC will give a Prandtl number (Pr) of 0.72876 (Cengel et al., 2008) For flat plates under forced convection Pr > 0.5 means the flow is turbulent. The Nusselt number (Nu) is given by
(Processasociate.com)

l -The characteristic linear factor, = 0.3m - (Thermal conductivity of the air) at 27o C =0.025732 J/kg.K

Also, Velocity of air inside the heating section,

Assuming a steady frictionless incompressible flow, A1 C1 =A2 C2, Where A is flow area and C is flow velocity.

Fig. 1.9

Section 1-1

A(square m) 0.350

C(m/s) 1.616

2-2 4-4
5-5 6-6

0.045 0.084
1.011 6.000

12.570 6.774
0.559 0.094

Vapour pressure (Pv) = RH(Psat.@T), Where Pv is the vapour pressure, and Psat@T is the saturated vapour pressure at temperature T. In the worst case scenario where the air at ambient temperature is already saturated, RHo=100% and Pv = 3.602 kPa. After heating air in the absence of water to 45 C. Psat@45 C = 9.87kPa
(Cengel and Boles)

RH 3.602 9.87 0.365

Less attention will be required from the operator. The design has better ergonomics.

The quality of the end product will also be better.

I recommend that Gratis Foundation should adopt this design and build a prototype for testing and evaluation.