Search results for: Tunnel drying

Authors: Mahmoud Hassanlourad, Mehran Naghizadehrokni, Vahid Molaei

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In this study, the seismic behavior of a shallow tunnel with square cross section is investigated in a two layered and elastic heterogeneous environment using numerical method. To do so, FLAC finite difference software was used. Behavioral model of the ground and tunnel structure was assumed linear elastic. Dynamic load was applied to the model for 0.2 seconds from the bottom in form of a square pulse with maximum acceleration of 1 m/s². The interface between the two layers was considered at three different levels of crest, middle, and bottom of the tunnel. The stiffness of the two upper and lower layers was considered to be varied from 10 MPa to 1000 MPa. Deformation of cross section of the tunnel due to dynamic load propagation, as well as the values of axial force and bending moment created in the tunnel structure, were examined in the three states mentioned above. The results of analyses show that heterogeneity of the environment, its stratification, and positioning of the interface of the two layers with respect to tunnel height and the stiffness ratio of the two layers have significant effects on the value of bending moment, axial force, and distortion of tunnel cross-section.

Keywords: Dynamic analysis, shallow-buried tunnel, two-layered ground.

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Authors: M. Mehani, L. Segni

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Medicinal and aromatic plants are promising and are characterized by the biosynthesis of odorous molecules that make up the so-called essential oils (EO), which have long been known for their antiseptic and therapeutic activity in folk medicine. Essential oils have many therapeutic properties. In herbal medicine, they are used for their antiseptic properties against infectious diseases of fungal origin, against dermatophytes, those of bacterial origin. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of drying in the shade on the water content and on the content of essential oils extracted from leaves of Eucalyptus camendulensis for better quality control of medicinal and aromatic plants. The water content of the Eucalyptus camendulensis plant material decreases during the drying process. It decreased from 100% to 0.006% for the drying in the shade after ten days. The moisture content is practically constant at the end of the drying period. The drying in the shade increases the concentration of essential oils of Eucalyptus camendulensis. When the leaves of Eucalyptus camendulensis plant are in the shade, the maximum of the essential oil content was obtained on the eighth day, the recorded value was 1.43% ± 0.01%. Beyond these periods, the content continuously drop in before stabilizing. The optimum drying time is between 6 and 9 days.

Keywords: Eucalyptus camendulensis, drying, essential oils, water and essential oil.

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Authors: Reihaneh Ahmadzadeh Ghavidel, Mehdi Ghiafeh Davoodi

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Tomato powder has good potential as substitute of tomato paste and other tomato products. In order to protect physicochemical properties and nutritional quality of tomato during dehydration process, investigation was carried out using different drying methods and pretreatments. Solar drier and continuous conveyor (tunnel) drier were used for dehydration where as calcium chloride (CaCl2), potassium metabisulphite (KMS), calcium chloride and potassium metabisulphite (CaCl2 +KMS), and sodium chloride (NaCl) selected for treatment.. lycopene content, dehydration ratio, rehydration ratio and non-enzymatic browning in addition to moisture, sugar and titrable acidity were studied. Results show that pre-treatment with CaCl2 and NaCl increased water removal and moisture mobility in tomato slices during drying of tomatoes. Where CaCl2 used along with KMS the NEB was recorded the least compared to other treatments and the best results were obtained while using the two chemicals in combination form. Storage studies in LDPE polymeric and metalized polyesters films showed less changes in the products packed in metallized polyester pouches and even after 6 months lycopene content did not decrease more than 20% as compared to the control sample and provide extension of shelf life in acceptable condition for 6 months. In most of the quality characteristics tunnel drier samples presented better values in comparison to solar drier.

Keywords: Dehydration, Tomato powder, Lycopene, Browning

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Authors: Marco Intelvi, Apolinar Picado, Joaquín Martínez

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In this work, simulation algorithms for contact drying of agitated particulate materials under vacuum and at atmospheric pressure were developed. The implementation of algorithms gives a predictive estimation of drying rate curves and bulk bed temperature during contact drying. The calculations are based on the penetration model to describe the drying process, where all process parameters such as heat and mass transfer coefficients, effective bed properties, gas and liquid phase properties are estimated with proper correlations. Simulation results were compared with experimental data from the literature. In both cases, simulation results were in good agreement with experimental data. Few deviations were identified and the limitations of the predictive capabilities of the models are discussed. The programs give a good insight of the drying behaviour of the analysed powders.

Keywords: Agitated bed, Atmospheric pressure, Penetrationmodel, Vacuum

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Authors: A.H. Akhaveissy

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Nonlinear finite element method and Serendipity eight nodes element are used for determining of ground surface settlement due to tunneling. Linear element with elastic behavior is used for modeling of lining. Modified Generalized plasticity model with nonassociated flow rule is applied for analysis of a tunnel in Sao Paulo – Brazil. The tunnel had analyzed by Lades- model with 16 parameters. In this work modified Generalized Plasticity is used with 10 parameters, also Mohr-Coulomb model is used to analysis the tunnel. The results show good agreement with observed results of field data by modified Generalized Plasticity model than other models. The obtained result by Mohr-Coulomb model shows less settlement than other model due to excavation.

Keywords: Non-associated flow rule, Generalized plasticity, tunnel excavation, Excavation method.

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Authors: C. Sanchis-Borras, J. M. Molina-Garcia-Pardo, P. Degauque, M. Lienard

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The objective of this contribution is to study the performances in terms of bit error rate, of space-time code algorithms applied to MIMO communication in tunnels. Indeed, the channel characteristics in a tunnel are quite different than those of urban or indoor environment, due to the guiding effect of the tunnel. Therefore, MIMO channel matrices have been measured in a straight tunnel, in a frequency band around 3GHz. Correlation between array elements and properties of the MIMO matrices are first studied as a function of the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. Then, owing to a software tool simulating the link, predicted values of bit error rate are given for VLAST, OSTBC and QSTBC algorithms applied to a MIMO configuration with 2 or 4 array elements. Results are interpreted from the analysis of the channel properties.

Keywords: MIMO, propagation channel, space-time algorithms, tunnel.

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Authors: M. Kucukali Ozturk, Y. Beceren, B. Nergis

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The study discussed in this paper was conducted in an attempt to investigate effects of different drying methods (line dry and tumble dry) on viscose single jersey fabrics knitted with ring yarn.

Keywords: Color change, dimensional properties, drying method, fabric tightness, physical properties.

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Authors: Hardik Vaghela, Mamta Khosla, Balwindar Raj

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In this paper, we present and investigate a double gate PN diode based tunnel field effect transistor (DGPNTFET). The importance of proposed structure is that the formation of different drain doping is not required and ambipolar effect in OFF state is completely removed for this structure. Validation of this structure to behave like a Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (TFET) is carried out through energy band diagrams and transfer characteristics. Simulated result shows point subthreshold slope (SS) of 19.14 mV/decade and ON to OFF current ratio (I_ON / I_OFF) of 2.66 × 10¹⁴ (I_ON at V_GS=1.5V, V_DS=1V and I_OFF at V_GS=0V, V_DS=1V) for gate length of 20nm and HfO₂ as gate oxide at room temperature. Which indicate that the DGPNTFET is a promising candidate for nano-scale, ambipolar free switch.

Keywords: Ambipolar effect, double gate PN diode based tunnel field effect transistor, high-κ dielectric material, subthreshold slope, tunnel field effect transistor.

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Authors: Chien-Yeh Hsu, Yuan-Ching Chiang, Zi-Jie Chien, Sih-Li Chen

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In this study, a field experiment and performance analysis of air-tunnel heat exchanger integrated with water-filled raft foundation of residential building were performed. In order to obtain better performance, conventional applications of air-tunnel inevitably have high initial cost or issues about insufficient installation space. To improve the feasibility of air tunnel heat exchanger in high-density housing, an integrated system consisting of air pipes immersed in the water-filled raft foundation was presented, taking advantage of immense amount of water and relatively stable temperature in raft foundation of building. The foundation-integrated air tunnel was applied to a residential building located in Yilan, Taiwan, and its thermal performance was measured in the field experiment. The results indicated that the cooling potential of integrated system was close to the potential of soil-based EAHE at 2 m depth or deeper. An analytical model based on thermal resistance method was validated by measurement results, and was used to carry out the dimensioning of foundation-integrated air tunnel. The discrepancies between calculated value and measured data were less than 2.7%. In addition, the return-on-investment with regard to thermal performance and economics of the application was evaluated. Because the installation for air tunnel is scheduled in the building foundation construction, the utilization of integrated system spends less construction cost compare to the conventional earth-air tunnel.

Keywords: Air tunnel, ground heat exchanger, raft foundation, residential building.

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Authors: S. Khamtree, T. Ratanawilai, C. Nuntadusit

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Rubberwood is a crucial commercial timber in Southern Thailand. All processes in a rubberwood production depend on the knowledge and expertise of the technicians, especially the drying process. This research aims to develop an empirical model for drying kinetics in rubberwood. During the experiment, the temperature of the hot air and the average air flow velocity were kept at 80-100 °C and 1.75 m/s, respectively. The moisture content in the samples was determined less than 12% in the achievement of drying basis. The drying kinetic was simulated using an empirical solver. The experimental results illustrated that the moisture content was reduced whereas the drying temperature and time were increased. The coefficient of the moisture ratio between the empirical and the experimental model was tested with three statistical parameters, R-square (R²), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Chi-square (χ²) to predict the accuracy of the parameters. The experimental moisture ratio had a good fit with the empirical model. Additionally, the results indicated that the drying of rubberwood using the Henderson and Pabis model revealed the suitable level of agreement. The result presented an excellent estimation (R² = 0.9963) for the moisture movement compared to the other models. Therefore, the empirical results were valid and can be implemented in the future experiments.

Keywords: Empirical models, hot air, moisture ratio, rubberwood.

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Authors: E. T. L. Cöuras Ford, V. A. C. Vale, J. U. L. Mendes, F. A. Ribeiro

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The study of the aerodynamics related to the improvement in the acting of airplanes and automobiles with the objective of being reduced the effect of the attrition of the air on structures, providing larger speeds and smaller consumption of fuel. The application of the knowledge of the aerodynamics not more limits to the aeronautical and automobile industries. Therefore, this research aims to design and construction of a wind tunnel to perform aerodynamic analysis in bodies of cars, seeking greater efficiency. Therefore, this research aims to design and construction of a wind tunnel to perform aerodynamic analysis in bodies of cars, seeking greater efficiency. For this, a methodology for wind tunnel type selection is designed to be built, taking into account the various existing configurations in which chose to build an open circuit tunnel, due to the lower complexity of construction and installation; operational simplicity and low cost. The guidelines for the project were teaching: the layer that limits study and analyze specimens with different geometries. For the variation of pressure in the test, section of a switched gauge used a pitot tube. Thus, it was possible to obtain quantitative and qualitative results, which proved to be satisfactory.

Keywords: Wind tunnel, Aerodynamics, Air.

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Authors: B. J. C. Horsten, L. L. M. Veldhuis

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Because support interference corrections are not properly understood, engineers mostly rely on expensive dummy measurements or CFD calculations. This paper presents a method based on uncorrected wind tunnel measurements and fast calculation techniques (it is a hybrid method) to calculate wall interference, support interference and residual interference (when e.g. a support member closely approaches the wind tunnel walls) for any type of wind tunnel and support configuration. The method provides with a simple formula for the calculation of the interference gradient. This gradient is based on the uncorrected measurements and a successive calculation of the slopes of the interference-free aerodynamic coefficients. For the latter purpose a new vortex-lattice routine is developed that corrects the slopes for viscous effects. A test case of a measurement on a wing proves the value of this hybrid method as trends and orders of magnitudes of the interference are correctly determined.

Keywords: Hybrid method, support interference, wall interference, wind tunnel corrections.

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Authors: Vijay R. Khawale, Shashank B. Thakare

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The experiment was carried out to study the performance of solar crop dryer coupled with reversed absorber type solar air heater (SD2). Excel software is used to analyse the raw data obtained from the drying experiment to develop a model. An attempt is made in this paper to correlate the collector efficiency, dryer efficiency and pick-up efficiency. All these efficiencies are dependent on the parameters such as solar flux, ambient temperature, collector outlet temperature and moisture content. The simulation equation was developed to predict the values of collector efficiency. The parameters a, n and drying constant k were determined from a plot of curve using a drying models. Experimental data of drying red chili in conventional solar dryer and solar dryer coupled with reversed absorber solar air heater was compared by fitting with three drying models. The moisture content will be rapidly reduced in solar dryer with reversed absorber due to higher drying temperatures. The best fit model was selected to describe the drying behavior of red chili. For SD2 the values of the coefficient of determination (R²=0.997), mean bias error (MBE=0.00026) and root mean square error (RMSE=0.016) were used to determine the goodness or the quality of the fit. Pages model showed a better fit to drying red chili among Newton model and Henderson & Pabis model.

Keywords: Solar dryer, red chili, reversed absorber, reflector, Buckingham pi theorem, drying model.

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Authors: L. Nikakhtar, S. Zare

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One of the main practical difficulties attended with tunnel construction is related to underground water. Uncontrolled water behavior may cause extra loads on the lining, mechanical instability, and unfavorable environmental problems. Estimating underground water inflow rate to the tunnels is a complex skill. The common calculation methods are: empirical methods, analytical solutions, numerical solutions based on the equivalent continuous porous media. In this research the rate of underground water inflow to the Tabriz metro first line tunnel has been investigated by numerical finite difference method using FLAC^2D software. Comparing results of Heuer analytical method and numerical simulation showed good agreement with each other. Fully coupled and one-way coupled hydro mechanical states as well as water-free conditions in the soil around the tunnel are used in numerical models and these models have been applied to evaluate the loading value on the tunnel support system. Results showed that the fully coupled hydro mechanical analysis estimated more axial forces, moments and shear forces in linings, so this type of analysis is more conservative and reliable method for design of tunnel lining system. As sensitivity analysis, inflow water rates into the tunnel were evaluated in different soil permeability, underground water levels and depths of the tunnel. Result demonstrated that water level in constant depth of the tunnel is more sensitive factor for water inflow rate to the tunnel in comparison of other parameters investigated in the sensitivity analysis.

Keywords: Coupled hydro mechanical analysis, FLAC2D, Tabriz Metro, inflow rate.

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Authors: Cristian P. Topa, Esteban A. Valencia, Victor H. Hidalgo, Marco A. Martinez

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Wind tunnel experiments for aerodynamic profiles display numerous advantages, such as: clean steady laminar flow, controlled environmental conditions, streamlines visualization, and real data acquisition. However, the experiment instrumentation usually is expensive, and hence, each test implies a incremented in design cost. The aim of this work is to select and implement a low-cost static pressure data acquisition system for a NACA 2412 airfoil in an open cycle wind tunnel. This work compares wind tunnel experiment with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and parametric analysis. The experiment was evaluated at Reynolds of 1.65 e⁵, with increasing angles from -5° to 15°. The comparison between the approaches show good enough accuracy, between the experiment and CFD, additional parametric analysis results differ widely from the other methods, which complies with the lack of accuracy of the lateral approach due its simplicity.

Keywords: Wind tunnel, low cost instrumentation, experimental testing, CFD simulation.

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Authors: Saeed Sedighizadeh, Abbas Mansoori, Mohammad Reza Pirestani, Davoud Sedighizadeh

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The usual method of river flow diversion involves construction of tunnels and cofferdams. Given the fact that the cost of diversion works could be as high as 10-20% of the total dam construction cost, due attention should be paid to optimum design of the diversion works. The cost of diversion works depends, on factors, such as: the tunnel dimensions and the intended tunneling support measures during and after excavation; quality and characterizes of the rock through which the tunnel should be excavated; the dimensions of the upstream (and downstream) cofferdams; and the magnitude of river flood the system is designed to divert. In this paper by use of the cost of unit prices for tunnel excavation, tunnel lining, tunnel support (rock bolt + shotcrete) and cofferdam fill the cost function was determined. The function is then minimized by the aid of PSO Algorithm (particle swarm optimization). It is found that the optimum diameter and the total diversion cost are directly related to the river flood discharge (Q). It has also shown that in addition to optimum diameter design discharge (Q), river length, tunnel length, is mainly a function of the ratios (not the absolute values) of the unit prices and does not depend on the overall price levels in the respective country. The results of optimization use in some of the case study lead us to significant changes in the cost.

Keywords: Diversion Tunnel, Optimization, PSO Algorithm

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Authors: J. Šejnoha, D. Jarušková, O. Špačková, E. Novotná

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Construction of tunnels is connected with high uncertainty in the field of costs, construction period, safety and impact on surroundings. Risk management became therefore a common part of tunnel projects, especially after a set of fatal collapses occurred in 1990's. Such collapses are caused usually by combination of factors that can be divided into three main groups, i.e. unfavourable geological conditions, failures in the design and planning or failures in the execution. This paper suggests a procedure enabling quantification of the excavation risk related to extraordinary accidents using FTA and ETA tools. It will elaborate on a common process of risk analysis and enable the transfer of information and experience between particular tunnel construction projects. Further, it gives a guide for designers, management and other participants, how to deal with risk of such accidents and how to make qualified decisions based on a probabilistic approach.

Keywords: risk quantification, tunnel collapse, ETA, FTA, geotechnical risk

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Authors: L.Wiset, N. Poomsa-ad, V. Srilaong

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The peel of dragon fruit is a byproduct left over after consuming. Normally, the use of plants as antioxidant source must be dried before further process. Therefore, the aim of this study is interesting to dry the peel by heat pump dryer (45 ºC) and fluidized bed dryer (110 º C) compared with the sun drying method. The sample with initial moisture content of about 85-91% wet basis was dried down to about 10% wet basis where it took 620 and 25 min for heat pump dryer and fluidized bed dryer, respectively. However, the sun drying took about 900 min to dry the peel. After that, sample was evaluated antioxidant activity, -carotene and betalains contents. The results found that the antioxidant activity and betalains contents of dried peel obtained from heat pump and fluidized bed dryings were significantly higher than that sun drying (p 0.05). Moreover, the drying by heat pump provided the highest -carotene content.

Keywords: Pitaya, betalains, β-carotene, antioxidant.

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Authors: Marco Soares dos Santos, Camila Nicola Boeri, Jorge Augusto Ferreira, Fernando Neto da Silva

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The highly nonlinear characteristics of drying processes have prompted researchers to seek new nonlinear control solutions. However, the relation between the implementation complexity, on-line processing complexity, reliability control structure and controller-s performance is not well established. The present paper proposes high performance nonlinear fuzzy controllers for a real-time operation of a drying machine, being developed under a consistent match between those issues. A PCI-6025E data acquisition device from National Instruments® was used, and the control system was fully designed with MATLAB® / SIMULINK language. Drying parameters, namely relative humidity and temperature, were controlled through MIMOs Hybrid Bang-bang+PI (BPI) and Four-dimensional Fuzzy Logic (FLC) real-time-based controllers to perform drying tests on biological materials. The performance of the drying strategies was compared through several criteria, which are reported without controllers- retuning. Controllers- performance analysis has showed much better performance of FLC than BPI controller. The absolute errors were lower than 8,85 % for Fuzzy Logic Controller, about three times lower than the experimental results with BPI control.

Keywords: Drying control, Fuzzy logic control, Intelligent temperature-humidity control.

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Authors: M. O. Oke, T. S. Workneh

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Drying behavior of blanched sweet potato in a cabinet dryer using different five air temperatures (40-80°C) and ten sweet potato varieties sliced to 5mm thickness were investigated. The drying data were fitted to eight models. The Modified Henderson and Pabis model gave the best fit to the experimental moisture ratio data obtained during the drying of all the varieties while Newton (Lewis) and Wang and Singh models gave the least fit. The values of Deff obtained for Bophelo variety (1.27 x 10-9 to 1.77 x 10-9 m2/s) was the least while that of S191 (1.93 x 10-9 to 2.47 x 10-9 m2/s) was the highest which indicates that moisture diffusivity in sweet potato is affected by the genetic factor. Activation energy values ranged from 0.27-6.54 kJ/mol. The lower activation energy indicates that drying of sweet potato slices requires less energy and is hence a cost and energy saving method. The drying behavior of blanched sweet potato was investigated in a cabinet dryer. Drying time decreased considerably with increase in hot air temperature. Out of the eight models fitted, the Modified Henderson and Pabis model gave the best fit to the experimental moisture ratio data on all the varieties while Newton, Wang and Singh models gave the least. The lower activation energy (0.27 - 6.54 kJ/mol) obtained indicates that drying of sweet potato slices requires less energy and is hence a cost and energy saving method.

Keywords: Sweet Potato Slice, Drying Models, Moisture Ratio, Moisture Diffusivity, Activation Energy.

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Authors: D. S. C. Soares, D. G. Costa, J. T. S., A. K. S. Abud, T. P. Nunes, A. M. Oliveira Júnior

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Mathematical models of drying are used for the purpose of understanding the drying process in order to determine important parameters for design and operation of the dryer. The jackfruit is a fruit with high consumption in the Northeast and perishability. It is necessary to apply techniques to improve their conservation for longer in order to diffuse it by regions with low consumption. This study aimed to analyze several mathematical models (Page, Lewis, and Midilli) to indicate one that best fits the conditions of convective drying process using performance indicators associated with each model: accuracy (Af) and noise factors (Bf), mean square error (RMSE) and standard error of prediction (% SEP). Jackfruit drying was carried out in convective type tray dryer at a temperature of 50°C for 9 hours. It is observed that the model Midili was more accurate with Af: 1.39, Bf: 1.33, RMSE: 0.01%, and SEP: 5.34. However, the use of the Model Midilli is not appropriate for purposes of control process due to need four tuning parameters. With the performance indicators used in this paper, the Page model showed similar results with only two parameters. It is concluded that the best correlation between the experimental and estimated data is given by the Page’s model.

Keywords: Drying, models, jackfruit.

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Authors: Azza A. Abou-Arab, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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The influence of microwave drying methods on the nutritional and anti-nutritional composition and physical characteristics of banana peels was investigated. Banana peels were assessed for physical properties such as yield, pH value, bulk density, water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC). The results showed that, the yield of banana peels and pH value was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased by microwave drying (11.20% and pH 5.08, respectively) compared with control. Bulk density was increased by microwave drying and recorded 62.03 g/100 ml. The banana peels flour demonstrated that the highest WHC was 8.65 g water/g dry sample and OHC was 6.73 g oil/g dry sample compared to control. The results observed a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in moisture, fiber and total carbohydrates content of banana peels; whereas, the rates of ash, protein and fat content were increased after drying by microwave compared with control. The lignin content of banana peels was significantly increased (P < 0.05) by microwave drying and the recorded value was 8.31% dw. The results also revealed that the ascorbic acid content was significantly decreased by microwave drying and recorded 18.32 mg/100 g dw vis. 23.51 mg/100 g dw for control. With regarding the anti-nutrients, phytates, alkaloids, oxalates and hydrogen cyanides levels in banana peels, it was in the threshold value mentioned as safety restrict. These results demonstrated that the levels of phytates, alkaloids, oxalates and hydrogen cyanides were decreased by microwave drying methods which recorded 4.07%, 5.45%, 0.85% and 32.15%, respectively.

Keywords: Banana peels, microwave drying, physical characteristics, nutritional composition, anti-nutritional composition.

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Authors: Kenia Martínez, Geniel Talavera, Juan Alonso

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Moringa oleifera is a plant containing many nutrients that are mostly concentrated within the leaves. Commonly, the separation process of these nutrients involves solid-liquid extraction followed by evaporation and drying to obtain a concentrated extract, which is rich in proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other essential nutrients that can be used in the food industry. In this work, three drying methods were used, which involved very different temperature and pressure conditions, to evaluate the effect of each method on the vitamin C content and the antioxidant efficiency of the extracts. Solid-liquid extractions of Moringa leaf (LE) were carried out by employing an ethanol solution (35% v/v) at 50 °C for 2 hours. The resulting extracts were then dried i) in a convective oven (CO) at 100 °C and at an atmospheric pressure of 750 mbar for 8 hours, ii) in a vacuum evaporator (VE) at 50 °C and at 300 mbar for 2 hours, and iii) in a freeze-drier (FD) at -40 °C and at 0.050 mbar for 36 hours. The antioxidant capacity (EC₅₀, mg solids/g DPPH) of the dry solids was calculated by the free radical inhibition method employing DPPH˙ at 517 nm, resulting in a value of 2902.5 ± 14.8 for LE, 3433.1 ± 85.2 for FD, 3980.1 ± 37.2 for VE, and 8123.5 ± 263.3 for CO. The calculated antioxidant efficiency (AE, g DPPH/(mg solids·min)) was 2.920 × 10^-5 for LE, 2.884 × 10^-5 for FD, 2.512 × 10^-5 for VE, and 1.009 × 10^-5 for CO. Further, the content of vitamin C (mg/L) determined by HPLC was 59.0 ± 0.3 for LE, 49.7 ± 0.6 for FD, 45.0 ± 0.4 for VE, and 23.6 ± 0.7 for CO. The results indicate that the convective drying preserves vitamin C and antioxidant efficiency to 40% and 34% of the initial value, respectively, while vacuum drying to 76% and 86%, and freeze-drying to 84% and 98%, respectively.

Keywords: Antioxidant efficiency, convective drying, freeze-drying, Moringa oleifera, vacuum drying, vitamin C content.

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Authors: Avdhesh K. Sharma

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Formulation for drying and pyrolysis process in packed beds at slow heating rates is presented. Drying of biomass particles bed is described by mass diffusion equation and local moisture-vapour-equilibrium relations. In gasifiers, volatilization rate during pyrolysis of biomass is modeled by using apparent kinetic rate expression, while product compositions at slow heating rates is modeled using empirical fitted mass ratios (i.e., CO/CO₂, ME/CO₂, H₂O/CO₂) in terms of pyrolysis temperature. The drying module is validated fairly with available chemical kinetics scheme and found that the testing zone in gasifier bed constituted of relatively smaller particles having high airflow with high isothermal temperature expedite the drying process. Further, volatile releases more quickly within the shorter zone height at high temperatures (isothermal). Both, moisture loss and volatile release profiles are found to be sensitive to temperature, although the influence of initial moisture content on volatile release profile is not so sensitive.

Keywords: Modeling downdraft gasifier, drying, pyrolysis, moist woody biomass.

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Authors: Azza A. Abou-Arab, Marwa H. Mahmoud, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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The present investigation studied the content of bioactive compounds as ascorbic acid, β-carotene, and flavonoids, and the effect of drying methods (microwave, solar, and air oven drying) on its level in citrus peel. These levels were decreased significantly (p <0.05) due to the dried methods. The percentage of ascorbic acid content loss of orange C. Valencia were 46.64, 52.95 and 68.83% with microwave, solar and air oven methods, respectively comparing to fresh samples. Also, the percentages of β- carotene loss of orange C. Valencia were 38.89, 52.42 and 87.14% with microwave, solar and air oven methods, respectively. Total flavonoid content recorded 453.33, 396.67 and 327.50 mg QE/100g dw, with dried by microwave, solar and oven methods, respectively compared with control in orange, C. valencia. These results revealed that microwave drying procedure was the most effective method which maintained citrus bioactive compounds content (ascorbic acid, β-carotene and flavonoid) followed by solar. On the other hand, air oven drying came in the last order due to direct heat treatment.

Keywords: Ascorbic acid, β-carotene, flavonoids, microwave, solar, air oven drying.

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Authors: D. Zare, H. Naderi, A. A. Jafari

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Drying characteristics of rough rice (variety of lenjan) with an initial moisture content of 25% dry basis (db) was studied in a hot air dryer assisted by infrared heating. Three arrival air temperatures (30, 40 and 500C) and four infrared radiation intensities (0, 0.2 , 0.4 and 0.6 W/cm2) and three arrival air speeds (0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 m.s-1) were studied. Bending strength of brown rice kernel, percentage of cracked kernels and time of drying were measured and evaluated. The results showed that increasing the drying arrival air temperature and radiation intensity of infrared resulted decrease in drying time. High bending strength and low percentage of cracked kernel was obtained when paddy was dried by hot air assisted infrared dryer. Between this factors and their interactive effect were a significant difference (p<0.01). An intensity level of 0.2 W/cm2 was found to be optimum for radiation drying. Furthermore, in the present study, the application of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for predicting the moisture content during drying (output parameter for ANN modeling) was investigated. Infrared Radiation intensity, drying air temperature, arrival air speed and drying time were considered as input parameters for the model. An ANN model with two hidden layers with 8 and 14 neurons were selected for studying the influence of transfer functions and training algorithms. The results revealed that a network with the Tansig (hyperbolic tangent sigmoid) transfer function and trainlm (Levenberg-Marquardt) back propagation algorithm made the most accurate predictions for the paddy drying system. Mean square error (MSE) was calculated and found that the random errors were within and acceptable range of ±5% with coefficient of determination (R2) of 99%.

Keywords: Rough rice, Infrared-hot air, Artificial Neural Network

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Authors: Nickson Kipng’etich Lang’at, Thomas Thoruwa, John Abraham, John Wanyoko

Abstract:

Green tea is made from the top two leaves and buds of a shrub, Camellia sinensis, of the family Theaceae and the order Theales. The green tea leaves are picked and immediately sent to be dried or steamed to prevent fermentation. Fluid bed drying technique is a common drying method used in drying green tea because of its ease in design and construction and fluidization of fine tea particles. Major problems in this method are significant loss of chemical content of the leaf and green appearance of tea, retention of high moisture content in the leaves and bed channeling and defluidization. The energy associated with the drying technology has been shown to be a vital factor in determining the quality of green tea. As part of the implementation, prototype dryer was built that facilitated sequence of operations involving steaming, cooling, pre-drying and final drying. The major findings of the project were in terms of quality characteristics of tea leaves and energy consumption during processing. The optimal design achieved a moisture content of 4.2 ± 0.84%. With the optimum drying temperature of 100 ºC, the specific energy consumption was 1697.8 kj.Kg^-1 and evaporation rate of 4.272 x 10^-4 Kg.m^-2.s^-1. The energy consumption in a fluidized system can be further reduced by focusing on energy saving designs.

Keywords: Evaporation rate, fluid bed dryer, maceration, specific energy consumption.

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Authors: Dehghan Manshadi M., Mirzaei M., Soltani M. R., Ghorbanian K.

Abstract:

Subsonic wind tunnel experiments were conducted to study the effect of tripped boundary layer on the pressure distribution in the contraction region of the tunnel. Measurements were performed by installing trip strip at two different positions in the concave portion of the contraction. The results show that installation of the trip strips, have significant effects on both turbulence and pressure distribution. The reduction in the free stream turbulence and reduction of the wall static pressure distribution deferred signified with the location of the trip strip.

Keywords: Contraction, pressure distribution, trip strip, turbulence intensity.

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Authors: R.S Pugazenthi, Andy C. McIntosh

Abstract:

Plasma Wind Tunnels (PWT) are extensively used for screening and qualification of re-entry Thermel Protection System (TPS) materials. Proper design of a supersonic diffuser for plasma wind tunnel is of importance for achieving good pressurerecovery (thereby reducing vacuum pumping requirement & run time costs) and isolating downstream stream fluctuations from propagating costs) and isolating downstream stream fluctuationnts the details of a rapid design methodology successfully employed for designing supersonic diffuser for high power (several megawatts)plasma wind tunnels and numerical performance analysis of a diffuser configuration designed for one megawatt power rated plasma wind tunnel(enthalpy ~ 30 MJ/kg) using FLUENT 6.3® solver for different diffuser operating sub-atmospheric back-pressures.

Keywords: Compressible flow, plasma wind tunnel, re-entry, supersonic diffuser

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Authors: Jafar Hashemi, Reza Tabatabaekoloor, Toshinori Kimura

Abstract:

The study of interaction among the grain, moisture, and the surrounding space (air) is key to understanding the graindrying process. In Iran, rice (mostly Indica type) is dried by flat bed type dryer until the final MC reaches to 6 to 8%. The experiments were conducted to examine the effect of application of discharge fan with different heights of paddy on the drying efficiency. Experiments were designed based on two different configurations of the drying methods; with and without discharge fan with three different heights of paddy including; 5, 10, and 15 cm. The humid heated air will be going out immediately by the suction of discharge fan. The drying time is established upon the average final MC to achieve about 8%. To save energy and reduce the drying time, the distribution of temperature between layers should be fast and uniform with minimum difference; otherwise the difference of MC gradient between layers will be high and will induce grain breakage. The difference of final MC between layers in the two methods was 48-73%. The steady state of temperature between the two methods has saved time in the range of 10-20%, and the efficiency of temperature distribution increased 17-26% by the use of discharge fan.

Keywords: FBT Dryer, Final MC, Discharge Fan.

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