Thermal Analysis on Heat Pump Chili Drying Chamber with variations in the direction of air flow using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Drying chilies using a heat pump includes drying at low temperatures so that the temperature distribution and flow direction in the drying chamber need to be considered. The distribution of temperature and flow direction in the heat pump drying room with a drying room size of 1 m × 0.8 m × 0.75 m to dry 1 kg of chilies built in the Sustainable Energy and Research Center (SERC) laboratory is not good enough to make the drying time longer. The procedure has been established with the aim of evaluating the speed distribution and temperature of the drying air in the drying chamber to determine the need for redesign. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to analyze flow patterns that occur in the drying chamber where in this study two types of flow directions that enter the heat pump chili drying chamber are compared. CFD has replaced the classical numerical analysis method of drying processes based on experimental models. Analytical methods and experimental methods are limited in describing the distribution of temperature and air flow in the drying chamber. In this case, the finite element method is used in the form of CFD analysis where the geometry of the drying chamber is divided into several analyzed elements. After doing the CFD simulation, it is obtained that the heat pump chili drying chamber model with the flow direction from below the temperature increases faster than the heat pump chili drying chamber model with the flow direction from the side. The simulation results show that the drying room with the direction of hot air flow from below, the temperature of the dried chilies increases faster and the temperature distribution is better than the drying room with the flow direction from the side. In both models of the drying chamber, the temperature value is obtained in the timestep 600, namely in the drying chamber model with hot air flow from the side is 305,569 K and in the drying chamber model with hot air flow from below is 313,697 K. For the drying model in this heat pump chili drying room it is advisable to use the flow direction from below because it is better. This solution can also be offered to get the right drying chamber model.