CHARACTERISTICS STUDY OF A SINGLE PASS CONVEYOR COOLER OF MOBILE CORN DRYER USINGCOMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

• Main Author: Hamidah, Rahmah
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/71854
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

To ensure the quality of corn kernels when they reach consumers, the corn kernels must be handled correctly during and post-harvest. This includes drying, cooling, and storing processes. A Mobile Corn Dryer (MCD) is an innovation to help farmers through this process and operates by first drying the corn kernels through exposure to high temperature air so that the moisture content is lowered, then cooling the corn kernels inside a cooler system. This research focuses on analysing the cooling characteristics of corn kernels in the cooler system, by conducting a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis. The CFD analysis consists of simulation domain modelling, mesh generation, set-up, simulation, convergence check, mesh independence study, and finally analysis of the results. The simulation was conducted for mass flow rate of corn kernels of 1.5, 3.25 and 5 tonnes/hr, and for each mass flow rate, along different thicknesses of 1, 2, 3 and 4 cm. The results show that the fluid flow inside the ducts is affected by the geometrical configuration of the cooler system. In addition, the presence of the corn kernels create resistance to the flow and increasing thickness of these corn kernels result in lower mass flow rates of the air and greater pressure losses. Consequently, lower mass flow rates result in lower heat transfer from the corns to the air. The increasing residence time inside the cooler system allows for larger heat transfer from the corns to the air, thus allowing for lower exit temperatures of corn kernels. Moreover, with further increase in residence time inside the cooler system, the thickness of the corn kernels will no longer affect the temperature of the corn kernels exiting the cooler system.