SELECTED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A ROTARY STEAM TUBE DRYER USING SPREADSHEET SIMULATION

Ugochukwu C. Okonkwo and Lazarus Chima 

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

ABSTRACT

The primary motivation that triggered this study was when a feasible analytical solution amenable to computer spreadsheet programming was sort for, in explaining the physical configuration of the rotary steam tube dryer. An existing rotary steam tube dryer was studied from where analytical derivation of the moisture content distribution, drying rate, mass condensation rate and system efficiency were established. With the derived equations, the developed spreadsheet modules calculate and plot charts, simultaneously, illustrating the variations of the above parameters along the length of the pipe. The results generally show; that the moisture content falls steadily from inlet to outlet of the dryer and that the drying rate has an initial increase before falling along the length of the dryer. The results also show that the rate of steam condensation has an initial steep increase at the beginning of the length of the dryer, which eventually normalizes to steady state as the length advances, while the system efficiency generally increases with increase in length. This developed case was achieved with ordinary Excel array functions without the use of macros and add-ins.

Keywords: Drying, Spreadsheet Simulation, Rotary Steam Tube, Moisture Content