A NEW EXPERIMENTAL METHOD FOR FLIGHT DESIGN IN ROTARY DRYERS

ALIREZA FAKOURI
*

Department of mechanical engineering, URMIA University of Technology (UUT), (IRAN)
A.Fakouri@uut.ac.ir
ABSTRACT
Rotary dryers are commonly used to drying granular materials in the food and chemical
processing industries. Rotary dryers contain lifters to lift the material away from the bottom of the
dryer and then to drop it through the hot air to increase mass and heat transfer between the granular
material and the gaseous phase.
The shape of lifters and the amount of solids contained within the flights and in the airborne phase of
rotary dryers is critical to the analysis and design of these nits.
This paper describes a new experimental method that can be used to calculate the hold up of
materials in lifters during rotation depending on the lifter geometry and the angle of repose of
materials and the diameter of dryer with a simple mechanical device.
KEYWORDS: Rotary Dryer, Flight Design, Hold Up

1. INTRODUCTION
The performance of rotary drum dryers depends primarily on the effectiveness of contact
between the materials and hot air throughout the length of the drum. (See Fig. 1)


Fig. 1 Contact between the cascading particles and the drying gases

This paper drives from earlier research [3] that presents a new model GFRLIFT, which estimates
the amount of materials that can be supported by the lifters during rotation and compares this for
different lifter geometries. That model was used to calculate the hold up of material of different lifter
geometries and to estimate the amount of material lost from those lifters in order to demonstrate the
performance of these lifters during rotation in the cascading dryer. For a free-flowing granular
material it is appropriate to assume that the top surface of the material in the lifter occurs at the
dynamic angle of repose of the material. Hence, the volume in the lifter at a specified angle of rotation
is calculated as the sum of the different rectangular areas shown in Fig.2 multiplied by a notional
depth and when these lifters were tested in the experimental rig, the results shows that the estimated
volume of the lifters and the estimated hold up volume during rotation are different by the
experimental results and if the material change the error will be increased [1,2].


Fig. 2 An industrial design which approximates the optimum flight design

Also for experimental tests we need a drum dryer at the same diameter and image analysis and image
processing has been used to determine the flights hold up and flux [2].
In this paper we explain a simple and precision method to calculating the hold up of material of
different lifter geometries without any error and without using the image processing.

2. METHOD DEVELOPMENT
This article establishes a totally new experimental method for designing interior flight in
rotary dryers. It is very important to have the greatest amount of fall in the circular section called
"drum" emphasizing that the highest flux rate take place in the vertical diameter of the circle, because
it has the longest flux bath and needs a lot of time to have contact with the passing air stream .on the
other hand, the number of flights and diameter of the drum are the main factors to be considered while
designing the capacity of the machine. It is suggested that 10 to 16 percent of the materials be filled
on the flight. Therefore it calls for determining the number of flights. The system introduced in the
present article (fig. 3), make it possible to accurately determine the volume of each flight and the rate
of flux based on rotation angle and speed in drum. So far, a lot has been done to work on flight
geometry. The best lifter (EHD cascade) has been used to test the system [3].

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of the machine
Since the present research is based on mathematical studies and there was little chance to carry out
practical experiments, the present system would be the best. The most complete and accurate one of
its kind to determine the effect of flight geometry on capacity and function of rotary dryers.
The practical experiment of the suggested designs for the flights givens, need making a real model of
the dryer [1]. Also, it is expensive and time consuming. In addition, it is only possible at some definite
diameters. Therefore the engineering design methods using TOPSIS decision making system are
used and applied to design a machine which can test any kind of flight for any kind of material with
any drum diameter and desired rotary speed.
In this method, a radius cut is made from the cross section drum of the dryers (Fig.4).


Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of the drum radius changing mechanism
Because the grooves found on it, it is possible to make any size of diameter, from 20 to 200cm (See
fig. 5) .Any profile of flight can be installed on it, and is able to rotate with any desired speed.

Fig. 5 Mount of flight model on the machine
The machine has a chassis with a metal framework. On the center of rotation a gearbox is installed
whose transformation ratio is 1/60. The bar on the gearbox is rotated manually and every single
rotation of it equals 6 degrees rotation of the flight. In order to have a complete simulation of the
dryer, the circuits of 3-phase electromotor with a varying rotation rate 100 to 1400 r/min, controls it.
As a result, it is possible to rotate the flight system with an angular speed of 23- 105 r/min as shown
in fig. 6.
First an accurate profile of the flight is made out of aclearisinglass with real dimensions and depth of
25cm.Then it is installed in the desired distance from the center of rotation in the machine as shown in
fig. 5.

Fig. 6 Illustration of drum rotation modeling
In order to start the experiment, the angle of the shaft is set at 18. Appropriate amount of the
materials is filled into the machine to overload it. Every rotation of the shaft in the gearbox causes the
bar to rotate up to 6 and some amount of the materials flux out of it. Below the rotary section, there is
a tunnel to collect the flux material and guide them into a container on a digital balance. In fact, every
time the bar rotates, its flight empties some of the materials in to the balance. This amount is
registered. With every half rotation of the flight (approximately 200), all its content is emptied and
registered based on the rotation angle of the flight. This process is presented in the diagram fig. 7. In
this way, the total volume of the flight, the amount of flux according to the rotation of the drum is
determined with high accuracy. This experiment is replicable for all different shapes of flight,
different kinds of materials and different radiuses for drum. Accordingly, a very simple, but accurate,
means is introduced into industry to design flights. For example, this experiment is tested on a
material with a flux angle of 36 and a diameter of 200 cm for dryer in 5 processes. The average
findings are in the following table 1:
Table 1
The amount of flux according to the rotation of the drum
Rotation angle -18 -12 -6 0 6 12 18 24 30
Flux 2 9.5 14 20 21 21.5 22.5 24 25.1
Rotation angle 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84
Flux 27.5 29 32 35 39 44 49.5 47 37
Rotation angle 90 96 102 108 114 120 126 132 138
Flux 28.5 23.5 25.5 18 17 15.5 13 10 8
Rotation angle 144 150 156 162 168 174 180 186 192
Flux 8 7 5.5 4 3 2.5 1.5 1 0

Comparing the findings of the research with the previous theoretical calculations [2] and experimental
tests shows a complete go togetherness between them. Therefore, the error of theoretical calculations
is removed [3].

Fig. 7 Experimental valves for flux per rotation angle
3. RESULTS
Theoretical calculations prove to bring about more errors for designing an appropriate shape
and number of the flights essential to make a rotary dryer, and can' not be unreliable. on the other
hand. Making a real model of dryers is so expensive, therefore, the rotary dryer introduced in this
article is one of the most accurate and suitable ones to be used. Using this machine enable us to test
any kind of profile for flights for any kind of materials for dryers with any drum diameter size and
rotation angle practically and without the errors resulting from the calculation hypotheses. Also, we
are able to accurately draw the diagrams related to flight volume to rotation time and flux amount
angle in order to find and use the ideal shape of the flight.


References
[1] JHON Kelly, Flight Design in Rotary Dryers. Drying Technology, 10(4), 979-993 (1992)
[2] O. O. AGAVI. M. E. SHEEBAN, Application of image analysis to determine design loading in
flighted rotary dryers, Powder Technology, 233(2012) 123-130
[3] DEMNISR VANPUVELDE. Modeling the hold up of lifters in rotary dryers, Chemical
Engineering Research and Design, 87(2009) 226-232