J. of Thermal Science Vol.3, No.

4 Journal of Thermal Science

Science Press 1994

H e a t and M a s s Transfer E n f o r c e m e n t of V i b r a t i n g
Fluidized B e d

Chu Zhide Yang Junhong Li Xuhui Song Yang

Department of Thermal Energy Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjing 300072, China

This paper briefly introduces the development of vibrating fluidized bed at home and abroad, elabo-
rates the vibration properties of vibrating fluidized bed, the fluidizing velocity and pressure drop of the
bed layer. It also deduces the non-steady state drying dyvamic equations of vibrating fluidized bed,
analyzes main factors which influence the drying rate and inquires into drying rules of fixed bed and
vibrating fluidiz~ bed.

Keywords: radiation drylng, vibrating flui~ d r y i n g , o p t i m i z e d drying.

INTRODUCTION has gained more and more attention. According to

statistics by chairman of the International Drying In-
stitute A.S. Mujudar, at present, the ratio that me-
Traditionally, dry ovens and dry rooms axe used for
chanic vibration used in drying in developed countries
drying, whose thermal efficiencies are not more than
is the highest Is] (as shown in Fig.l).
10%. Although some improvements have been made
on sifter type, tumble board hot ah dryer, includ-
ing ordinary radiation dryer, their thermal efficien-
cies are only about 30%. The thermal efficiency of
the BG134 air spray rolling cylinder type single plank
dryer, which is newly imported from C.KELLER Cor-
poration Germany is 38%. The TDRN-1 roller press e-

type single plank infrared dryer invented by Tianjin E

University has many high and new technologies such O

as high-temperature and fixed-direction, and its ther-

mal efficiency has already reached 60%[1].
With energy of mechanic vibration stressed on, ma-
terial will be fluidized and may reach much evener and
stabler fluidizing state than by air fluidizing. Good
Fig.1 Application of Vibrated Processing Equipment
drying results may be obtained with the influences of
heat convection, heat conduction and heat radiation. Fig.1 shows that 30% of vibrating fluidized beds
It is shown by documents [2] that vibrating fluidized are used in drying. But in our country now, they are
bed has five advantages. mainly used in conveyance of materials. Design and
Technology of vibrating fluidization has been widely analogical experiments have been carried out in China,
used in industry in several developed countries, and it and this has greatly improved the heat and mass
transfer enforcement of vibrating fluidization [4-el, but
Received,1994.
The project is supportedby the National Fundation of China deepgoing research on its basic rules is still expected.
258 Journal of Thermal Science, Vol. 3, No.4, 1994

T H E E S S E N T I A L P R O P E R T I E S OF V I B - fine linear relation with dry based material moisture

RATING FLUIDIZED BED content[6].

5
1. V i b r a t i n g P r o p e r t y o f t h e B e d L a y e r Vibrating 3
According to the vibrating intensity of the bed layer fluidizat~_~, " " ~
(the ratio between the bed layer acceleration Aw 2 and ¢onvcctiv%T I , /
the gravitational acceleration g, where A is the am- fluidization , •
plitude and ~v is the rotation frequency), the essential <
properties of the vibrating fluidized bed material layer
are divided into three types: while Aw2/g < 1, it is ~P J
i
called vibrating bed: materials stick stably and evenly
to the surface of the bed layer; while Awa/g ~ 1, it log Vo
is called sub-vibrating bed: materials are in the ten-
1¢ig.2 Fluidized pressure drop and fluidized velocity
dency of jumping, but haven't jumped up yet; while
Aw2/g > 1, it is called vibrating fluidized bed: mate-
rials are thrown up and the fluidizing layer is formed,
materials are incessantly jumping up and down, rolling EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON VIB-
with the power of vibration, then the stes£1y fluidizing RATING FLUIDIZED BED
layer appears. The collision opportunity increases and
heat and mass transfer is enforced. That vibrating fluidized bed can get high heat
transfer coefficient has been proved by many re-
searchers. Mujumdar did many investigations on heat
2. M i n i m u m Fluidizing V e l o c i t y conduction coefficient of vibrating fluidized bed, and
Bratu and Jinesou, Gupta, Mujumdar and Mush- the results show that the heat conduction coefficient
taev separately give the related formulas for calculat- of vibrating bed is three times more than that of fixed
ing the minimum fluidizing velocity[7-9]. Though the bed in non-ventilating bed; With the increase of air
fomnlas are different in forms, they all show that the velocity, vibration effect on heat conduction decreases
increase of vibrating intensity can effectively decrease little by little and this rule is identical with air flu-
the minimum fluidizing air velocity. While vibrating idized bed. The effects that air velocity exerts on the
intensity Araa/g = 1.3 ,,, 9.85, the ratio of many gran- heat given coefficient of the bed layer and wall sur-
ular materials between the minimum fluidizing veloc- face are shown in Fig.3. In Fig.3 we see that while
ity of vibrating fluidized bed and the minimum flu- air velocity is lower than the critical fluidizing veloc-
idizing velocity of air fluidized bed reaches 1:6. ity, it belongs to fixed bed stage. At this stage, the
heat given coefficient increases very slowly with the
increase of air velocity, this is shown as curve AB,
3. P r e s s u r e D r o p o f t h e B e d L a y e r While the flowing velocity is greater than the criti-
Compared with ordinary air fluidized bed, the in- cad velocity, the heat given coefficient rises quickly to
fluence of vibration can decrease the pressure drop of it's maximum point C as curveBC shows. Then the
fluidLv~d bed. The fluidizing curve of vibrating flu- bed layer material is fluidized. But if the air velocity
idized bed is different from ordinary air fluidized bed, continues to increase, the heat given coefficient drops
it has two constant stages. Fig.2 is the relationship instead of increasing. Then we can draw a conclusion
curve of the pressure drop A p and the air velocity from Fig.3: Heat transfer in "air fluidized bed is much
V. In various vibrating conditions, forms of this type better than that in fixed bed.
of curves have some differences. Compared with or- Vibrating fluidized bed can improve the bed layer
dinary air fluidized bed, the bed layer's uniform flu- mixing, improve the heat and mass transfer property,
idization can be reached at a rather small air velocity, and raise the drying rate. It is reported by Laitsev
and the value of the pressure drop in the first fluidiz- et al. that the drying rate of vibrating fluidized bed
ing stage is evidently lower than that of the minimum is 1.5,~2.5 times more than that of air fluidized bed.
fluidizing pressure drop in air fluidized bed. Osinikii et al. found that the drying rate in constant
Researches by Hou Caiyun and Cao Chongwen et rate stage is 6 times more than that of fixed bed {s].
al. demonstrate that the bed layer pressure drop not The experiment result of milk powder drying which
only relates to vibrating parameters, but also changes is given by Valohzr is: The drying rate of vibrat-
with the material moisture content. It decreases with ing fluidization is 2,~8 times more than that of air
the decrease of material moisture content, and it is in fluidization, and the multiple increases with the in-
Chu Zhide et al. Heat and Mass Transfer Enforcement of Vibrating Fluidized Bed 259

crease of frequency[9]. Fig.4 is the drying curve of

.=_ 10.
vibrating fluidized bed and fixed bed in various vi-
bration intensities [4]. While the vibration intensity
Aw2/g > 1 (namely: w _> 380 r/rain), the drying ma-
terieds jump up and down, roll in the bed with the
effects of vibrating force and air flux. The moisture
content of the fluidized state (NH4)2SO4 will drop to
less than 0.5% in 4.5 minutes, but if fixed bed is used, 2
it will take 7~8 mi,utes. So fluidized bed enforced
heat and mass transfer and shortened the drying pe- "E"
riod by 50%. From deepgoing analysis, we can get the
drying rate curve for moist (NH4)2SO4 of vibrating
0 1.o 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 610
dryingtim© (rain)
fluidized bed and fixed bed. This is shown in Fig.5.
Fig.5 Drying rate curve for moist (NI~)2S04
From Fig.5 we can see that vibrating fluidized bed has
in vibrated bed and fixed bed
three evident stages: rising rate stage, constant rate
stage and falling rate stage. Though fixed bed also
has these three stages, its drying rate in constant dry- THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
ing rate stage is 5 times lower than that in vibrating
fluidized bed. In drying process with effects of both radiational
Analysis of basic drying rules show that the en- heat transfer and heat convectional vibrating fluidiza-
ergy expense per unit moisture dehydration in con- tion, the heat flux that material received from radi-
stant rate stage is the lowest than that in other stages. ation is Q1, from heat conduction is Q2, from heat
This has been proved by many fixed bed drying exper- convection is Q3, from vibration is Q4, from moist
iments for Chinese medicinal herbs and thick planks. vapour absorption of infrared is Q5. That is:
1. H e a t flux t h a t m a t e r i a l received ~ o m ra-
"' ~ !
fluidizcdbed _l diation:
I! Q, = ~ KIC~[CTmlIO0) 4 - (ToillO0) 4] (W) (1)
I 0 ;,
j .
l C
am - - Jf - - where
Tai - - the instantaneous surface temperature of
the radiator
Tsi - - the instantaneous surface temperature of
material
Co - - the radiation constant of black body
- - the system emissivity between the radiator
Vc Vbest
and material.
Y~.3 Effect on heat given coefllcient of bed KF - - the surface area conversion coefficient,
layer and wall surface by ~ velocity
where F1 is the surface area of the radia-
,-,40 tor, F the upper surface area of material
35 a
30 2. H e a t flux t h a t m a t e r i a l received f r o m h e a t
conduction o f t h e b e d layer:
~ 25 d e
20
c
Q2 = f f A,/6 x (t~ - t,,)dF(W) (2)
] 15
where:
to~ - - the central layer temperature of material
tai - - the instantaneous surface temperature of
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 material
dryingtime (rain) 6 thickness of material
Fig.4 Motive drying curve for moist (NH4)2SO4 Aw - - heat conduction coefficient of moist
in vibrated bed and fixed bed material
260 Journal of Thermal Science, Vol. 3, No.4, 1994

3. H e a t flux t h a t m a t e r i a l received f r o m h e a t Q1 + Q2 + Qs + Q4 + Q5
convection:
= ( c . + XC~)Go(dt/d~) + ~ d M / d (6)
qs =//~,i(td, - tol)dF(W) (3) where:
F ta- the specific heat of absolute dry material
where: x - - the water content of dry basic material
tdi - - i n s t a n t a n e o u s dry bulb temperature of the specific heat of water
the air G o - - the mass of absolute dry material (Kg)
tsi - - the instantaneous surface temperature of the latent heat of evaporation corresponding
material to different temperatures of material
ai - - heat convection coefficient surface (KJ/Kg)
M the moisture dehydrated from material (g)
4. H e a t flux t h a t m a t e r i a l received f r o m vi-
t - - the average temperature of material
b r a t i o n o f t h e b e d layer:
Substituting Eq.(1), (2), (3), (4), (5) into Eq.(6).
Since Go = Gw/(1 +z), G,~ is the mass of moist mate-
Q4 =//A2W2~Pn,/gdF(W) (4) rial (Kg), substituting Gw/F6p~, into Eq.(6), we ob-
tain
where:
A the amplitude of material
- -
dM KiCoe
W - - rotation frequency of the vibrating bed Co~ -- ,-,~p,~ [(TR~/IO0)' - (T"/100)'](1 + X)
g gravitational acceleration
- -

- - thickness of the material layer

+ ~'~ (to~ - t°~)(1 + X)
rwop~
P density of moist material
+ ~ (Qit d , - t.,)(1 + X)
- -

F - upper surface area of material

-

5. T h e r a d i a t i o n o f air is s t r o n g l y selective: + Co [C~,(T~,/Ioo)'

rwopw
For water vapor, it has strong absorption peak in
the infrared absorption band 2.55 ,~ 2.84/~m, 5.6 ,~ -~.(T./lOO)4] (1 + x )
7.6pm and 12 ,,, 30#m. When the temperature of
the radiator surface is 100 ,~ 700°C, water vapor in + A2W 2 (1 + X) co + XC',dt/d~ (7)
grwp~ r~
the drying section will absorb the infrared radiation,
leading to an increase in the temperature and improve- Where dM/God~" is the drying rate, i.e. the chang-
ment of heat transfer in deep layer of the material. ing rate of the quantity of evaporated moisture from
The heat flux that the material obtains from the wa- material, calculated per unit absolute dry material,
ter vapor is: versus the corresponding sampling time.
Equation (7) is one of the non-steady state drying
Q5 -----//Co [ea(Tdi/100) 4 dynamics, it is a multi-variable synthetic index. Dry-
!
ing rate is a synthetic index that reveals the drying
-%(ToJIO0)'] dF(W) (5) process. There are many factors that dominate dry-
ing rate, they are explained separately as follows:
where:
1. I n f l u e n c e o n d r y i n g r a t e b y m n t e r i a l thick-
Co - - the radiation constant of black body
ne88*
T~i - - instantaneous dry bulb temperature
Eq.(7) shows that material thickness ~ is conversely
of the air (K) proportional to drying rate. Documents[ 141 put for-
Tsi - - the instantaneous surface temperature ward that drying rate is conversely proportional to
of material material thickness square by the water diffusion the-
ea - - radiativity of the air ory of solid interior. How to test and verify the two
ag - - absorbance of the air theories are the main problem to know basic drying
Study macroscopically: material received various rules.
kinds of heat flux, and its total heat transfer results in Brhen the material property parameters, vibrating
the rising of the material temperature and the evapo- intensity and air velocity are kept constant and only
ration of water, namely: the material thickness is changed, the obtained drying
Chu Zhide et al. Heat and Mass Transfer Enforcement of Vibrating Fluidized Bed 261

rate becomes the single value function of the material 2. E f f e c t o n d r y i n g r a t e b y m a t e r i a l m o i s t u r e

thickness, but U = f ( 1 / 6 ) and U = / ( 1 / 6 2 ) , which is content
much closer to reality, can be judged by experimental From Eq.(7), we know that drying rate is propor-
d a t a comparison. Fig.6 is the curve of drying rate in tional to material moisture content, t h a t is, for the
a constant air velocity and inlet air temperature 'con- same kind of material, with the identical heat supply
dition with various vibrating parameters and various condition and vibration parameters, the drying rate
material thickness. Table 1 is the result from treating varies with the initial moisture content of material.
with Fig.6 when Aw2/g= 2.3. Drying rate in constant stage is also an important pa-
rameter to evaluate whether a material is difficult or
17 easy to dry. H this point is omitted, reMization of
.g
15 material drying property will also result in mistake.
# Fig.7 is the result obtained with the change of air
13 velocity, when other conditions are identical and the
11
moisture content of (NH4)2SO4 is respectively 72.7%
and 54.6%. When the air velocity is fixed at 0.17 m/s,
9 0.36 m/s, the change of the drying rate caused by the
material initial moisture content is shown as in Table
7 .g......._.g----- 2.
#
5 I I I I I
0.6 1.0 1.4 1.8 2.2 2.6
~bnXm panme~ aWyg '| 2o

Fig.6 Effect on U by different bed layer

height and vibrating parameters ff

From Table 1 we can find that the relative er- 8

ror D when U = f ( 1 / 6 ) is 2.5-5.3 times less than
E . This comparing analysis method is also proved
through infrared radiation drying of biological materi-
als such as the Chinese angelica and Rhizome of large- OtI 012 Or3 Or4 Or50J.6
airveioci~" V mls
headed atractylodes in various thickness. Drying rate
conversely proportional to material thickness is more Fig.7 Effect on drying rate by material
corresponding to reality than to material thickness moisture content
square.

Table 1. Effect on drying rate by height of bed layer in equal vibrating parameters
and heat supply conditions (vibrating ~arameters: Aw2/g= 2.3)
bed layer rate of bed rate of bed layer drying rate' rate of relative error D relative error E times of error
height layer height height square drying rate
(mm) A &+d& B (&+d&) 2 U C U~/U~+~ (A- c ) / c % (B - c ) / c % E/D
17 1.51
4.1
1.6 2.7 114 - - 29 il8
28 1.20
1.5 2.3 1.33 • 12---- 69 3.4
42 0.90
1.7 1.3' !.40 7.1 18 2.5
54 0.64

Table 2 Effect on drying rate by material moisture content

air velocity initial moist rate of initial drying rate of relative error
(m/s) content (%) moist content K1 rate U drying rate K2 (K2-K1)/K2 x 100~.
0.17 72.7 0.80
0.17 54.6 1.33 0.56 1.43 6.9
0.36 72.7 1.44
0.36 54.0 1.33 0.91 1.57 15
262 Journal of Thermal Science, Vol. 3, No.4, 1994

From Table 2, we find that material initial moisture tional with the vibration intensity, heat supply tem-
content has important effect on drying rate. So when perature, air flux velocity and material moisture con-
we experimented for essential data of hot air and in- tent, and it is conversely proportional to the thickness
frared radiation drying of Chinese medical herbs, in of material.
order to evaluate the difllculty of drying for 27 kinds
of herds, we tried our best to take the identical mate-
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