Inlet Size and Location Impact on Greenhouse Dryer Process Dynamics

Abstract

A significant amount of food waste is generated in the post-harvest stage of the food production chain due to unsuitable drying. Understanding greenhouse dryer (GHD) process dynamics could help achieve a better dryer design to reduce food waste generation. This study utilizes a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of a GHD to investigate the effect of inlet size and location on GHD kinetics. The software used is COMSOL software (COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.6) which is capable of modeling the GHD. From the simulation results, three key observations in terms of GHD dynamics are derived. The inlet size is positively correlated to the average velocity in GHD and negatively correlated to the average temperature in GHD. The inlet location impacts both the spatial distribution of the temperature and velocity in the GHD. This implies that a GHD operating temperature and drying rate can be controlled with a simple modification of inlet size and location, which means a single GHD could be used to dry different crops depending on the season. It is concluded that the inlet size and location should be considered when designing a GHD.