Simulation of air movement in a cinnamon chips dryer using computational fluid dynamics

Non uniformity of final moisture content of the product being dried is the main drawback of tray dryers. The difficulty in maintaining the uniform air velocity throughout the drying chamber had been identified as the main reason for this non uniform drying. A CFD model was developed to analyses the velocity and temperature profiles of a cinnamon chips dryer by using STAR CD. The modeled data for air velocities had been experimentally verified for velocity distribution within the drying chamber. The CFD analysis revealed the presence of non uniform air re-circulating zones at the inlet air duct and drying chamber, which results in non uniformity of air velocities. Previously reported variations of moisture level in dried cinnamon chips at different tray locations were compared with modeled velocity distributions of the present study. The results indicated that the variations in the moisture level of dried cinnamon chips were directly attributed to the non uniform air distributions at different tray location