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Abstract

An objective of present work is an attempt to develop a low-cost swirling flow fluidized bed dryer that can lead to reduced drying time. In this study, a swirling fluidized bed dryer is designed and fabricated to increase the heat transfer rate between the air and the wheat particle. The swirl flow is generated by a swirl chamber which has an adjustable guide vane and tangential injection of air. The drying experiments are conducted at various air temperatures (36°C, 40°C and 50°C) and velocities (4.5 m/s, 6.2 m/s and 6.8 m/s) with respective vane angles of 25°, 45° and 65°. The performance of swirling fluidized bed dryer with different operating conditions are analyzed by considering the effect of inlet air temperature, inlet air velocities, initial moisture content and drying time. The results are shown that combination of 50° temperatures, 6.8 m/s velocity at65° blades angle in swirl chamber produces the best configuration for the common applications.