Psychrometrics – concepts &

examples

Mathematical and experimental modeling of

the drying process of a vent dryer

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Content

1. Regulatory energy requirements

• Main factors and their interactions involved in a vent dryer

2. Equipment and experimentation equipment

3. Design of experiments
• Definition of experimental parameters

4. Theoretical model of drying

• Heater model
• The mass balance through the drum
• Mass balance of the fan
• Energy balance of the gas outlet duct

5. Experimental results vs model

• Initial conditions of entry and power
• Temperature of air entering and leaving the drum
• Relative humidity of the air and mass of evaporation
• Overall energy balance of the drying process

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 1. Regulatory energy requirements

Trend of energy Cobined Energy Factor, CEF

factors, CEF.

E* most efficiency

losses
Q

Contro
Clothes Q motor l
moving Volum
Coils
Q Clothes 
dQ
e
Air inlet
Q dt
dQmoisture
dt
Time dmH 2O

Drying
dt Air Outlet
Q
Processs
Thermal
Air flow
Energía

Factors of the drying phenomenon Energy flow by process

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 2. Equipment and experimentation material
Instrumentation

Test conditions according to the Standard Energy

– DOE 10 CFR 430.
DOE of Energy
7.3 ft3 Venting Dryer
Y´s Level
Energy Consumption <1900 Wh/ciclo
Total Cycle Time <80 min
X´s Level
Power 2000 W - 3000 W
Motor frequency 90 - 140 Hz
Constants Level
Kind of clothes DOE
Amount of clothes 3.45 kg
Voltage 240 V / 60 Hz
Wet clothes 57.5 %
Temperature of wáter 15.6 °C ±2.7 °C
Room humidity 50% ±10%
Room Temperature 23.8°C ±2.7°C
Restritcion of exhaust duct (open) 3.5 pulg.
Cycle Normal, cottons

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3. Design of experiments

Design of experiments

RunOrder Frequency Air flow Power Energy cons.@ 2% TTC @ 2%

No Hz CFM W Wh/ciclo min

1 90 240 3000 1906 40
2 140 343 3000 1768 38
3 115 290 2500 1909 47
4 90 240 2000 1781 55
5 140 343 2000 1679 52

Constant factors that are not of interest to quantify their impact in this study
Values are taken from Standard Energy - DOE 10 CFR430.
Parametrs Units Value
Kind of clothes -- DOE
Clothes ege # cycles < 25
Temperature of eviroment °F 75 ± 5 °F
Moisture content of air % 50 ± 10%
Washing water hardness ppm <50
Voltage V/Hz 120/60
Drum speed rpm ~50
It is not of interest of this
Clothes movement -- study

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 3.1. Experimental results
The power supplied to the heater, the air temperature profiles and the outlet to the drum, and the dehydration profile of the clothes were
registered each 5 seconds. This test corresponds to the parameters of run 5, shown in Table 4 . In this graph, three sections are shown, which
can be separated into three stages for analysis.

The information generated in run 5 of the design of the skills was used for the model to reproduce the behaviors
of each of the registered signals during the experiments.
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4. Theoretical model of drying Main estimates:
a) Dehydration profiles
b) Evaporation mass
c) Relative pressures, temperatures
and humidity at each point

Mass and energy balances will be made in each of the dryer processes.
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 4.1. Heater model (proceso 1 – 2)

Objective: to determine the change of ambient air conditions at the entrance of the drum.

Temperature of the heater coils

Thc = temp of the heater coils
T T 
dT 

mhcCh hc  Ph  kAhc  Thc  h in   Ahc hc Thc4  Thw
4

dt  2 

Temperature calculus of the heater walls Thw = temp of the heater walls.

T T 
mhw Ch
dThw
 
 Ahc  hc Thc4  Thw
4 
 kAhwi  Thw  h in   kAhwo Thw  Troom 
dt  2 
Out put air temperature of the heater

 T T   T T 
m a Ca Th  Tin   kAhwi  Thw  h in   kAhc  Thc  h in  Th = output air temp of the heater
 2   2  – inlet to the drum

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 4.2. The mass balance through the drum (process 2 – 3)
Representative control volume

Temperature of drum components

 m  A h2  h3   Q pérdidas, D 
Tm t  Tm t     t
 mbd Ct  mbd Cw X  mD CD 
ptex  X tex ,Ttex   p sat Ttex  a X tex 
Evaporation mass (Modelo de L. Stabreberg)   X 
a  1
12
 2 po Ra c pa m a 
psat Tt    T2  Tt Tt    1    X
 evap  hm Atex  ptex  p2 
m  M t kACev Tt  
hm Atex = coeficiente de transferencia de masa
ptex = presión de saturación de los textiles
P2 = presión del aire de entrada al tambor
The moisture content remaining in textiles
mw   m ew dt
X tex  [%]
mtex, BD Ene ´18
 4.3. Mass balance of the fan (process 4 – 5)

Mass balance of the fan

Change of enthalpy of the air due to the work done by the fan

 c pa 1

Wc c pa p3 a3 a  p4 a  c pa 
h4  h3      1
m a c  p 
  3a 


The enthalpy of the air through the fan that can be determined by

P f
h4  h3 
m a
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 4.4. Energy balance of the gas exhaust duct (process 4 – 5)

The mass balance through the exhaust gas duct (steady state)

(AV)4
T4 T5 < T4

4
T4 T5

 a ha 4  ha 5   m
QVC  m  v hv 4  hv 5 
where m v  m a ,

 a ha 4  ha 5   hv 4  hv 5 
QVC  m

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 5. Comparative results
experimentales vs model

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 5.1. Initial conditions of the input air and power
The thermal model used the initial conditions of cycle 5 of Table 4 for the effect of
reproducing the drying behaviors. The model takes these three profiles for the calculation
of the following processes in the dryer.

The cycle begins with the supply of power and volumetric flow of air through the heater with a relative
humidity between 40 and 50%. With the intention of reproducing the results, the power supply and the
volumetric flow of run 5 of the experimental design are taken from Table 4.
It is observed in Figure 8, the power remains constant throughout the cycle a value very close to 2000.
The volumetric flow approaches a value of 290 CFM at the beginning of the cycle and 280 CFM gradually
drops at the end of the cycle. Ene ´18
5.2. Temperature of air entering and leaving the drum

Comparison of the air temperature profiles at the inlet and output of the drum and the
dehydration profile.

The three profiles have a close behavior and approximation between the experimental
data and the model.
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 5.3. RH of the air and mass of evaporation

Profiles of relative humidity of the air at Comparative of evaporation mass with

the entrance and exit of the drum. experimental data and the model.

There is a variation approx. of 35% between the The profile of the evaporation mass obtained with
relative humidity of the inlet air between the experimental data of temperature, RH´s, air flow and
measured values versus the model. While the power follows the same behavior of the evaporation
variation of the relative humidity of the exit air is of profile obtained with model data.
20%; however, the dehydration profile of the clothes
has a very similar behavior between the measured
data and the model.
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 5.4. Overall energy balance of the drying process

Sankey Diagram
This diagram represents the proportional energy quantities of each of the processes.

Qperdidas, heater = 52 W

Qperdidas, Drum = 25 W
Energy supplied to the fan motor

432 W Qdases, exhaust = 271 W

Energy supplied to the coils 2000 W

Etotal  Ph  Pm otor1  Pm otor2
Etotal  2000  432  384  2816 W
Evaporación = calentamiento de los
textiles + agua en los textiles + Qevap, tambor = 2312 W
tambor

Heating of clothes, water on clothes,

384 W elements of the drum
Energy supplied to the drum motor
155 W

In this exercise the energy was used to evaporate the water from the textiles, until reaching
2% of residual water, approximately, representing 63% of the initial energy used.

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Thanks!

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