Drying Chamber Back-Mixing for Process Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drying processes, such as flash and vortex disintegrator dryers, face challenges in controlling the drying of products with low solid content or low viscosity, leading to inefficient energy consumption and potential damage due to unstable process control, especially when back-mixing is required.
Innovation Solution
The method involves feeding finished dried product back into the drying chamber, where it is mixed with the wet product, allowing for precise control of processing conditions, including temperature and power consumption, by using a predetermined flow rate based on controllable settings dependent on product parameters like dry matter content and viscosity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If back-mixing is used to control the drying process of fluid or wet product, then the process control is improved, but the energy consumption increases and the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the mixing function from a separate pre-mixer device and integrates it into the drying chamber itself, where the impeller performs both drying and mixing functions. This eliminates the need for additional mixing equipment and reduces overall energy consumption while maintaining process control reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The impeller in the drying chamber is designed to serve multiple functions: it acts as both the drying medium (exposing product to hot gas) and the mixing device (agitating the product). This multi-functionality reduces device complexity and eliminates the energy consumption associated with separate mixing operations.
2Reliability
If back-mixing is used to control the drying process, then the process control is improved, but the device complexity increases due to requiring a pre-mixer
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the drying chamber and mixing chamber into a single integrated unit. The impeller located within the drying chamber performs both drying and mixing functions, eliminating the need for a separate pre-mixer device and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The impeller is designed as a multi-functional component that simultaneously provides mixing action and facilitates drying by exposing the product to hot gas circulating in the chamber. This eliminates the need for separate dedicated mixing and drying devices.
3Loss of time
If flash dryer or vortex disintegrator dryer is used, then the processing time is reduced, but the process becomes difficult to control for products with low solid content or low viscosity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs a dynamically controllable impeller system within the drying chamber that can adjust its speed and agitation pattern. This dynamic control allows the system to handle products with varying solid content and viscosity while maintaining short processing times, as the impeller can be optimized for each specific product type.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback control mechanisms that monitor the drying process parameters and adjust the impeller operation accordingly. This feedback enables reliable control of the short-duration drying process, ensuring consistent results even for products with low solid content or low viscosity that are difficult to control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach stabilizes the drying process, reduces energy consumption, and enables efficient operation even with highly liquid feeds, by utilizing the well-defined properties of finished dried product to maintain consistent processing conditions.
Implementation Method 1
drying the mixture of fluid or wet product and finished dried product in a gas containing finished dried product
Implementation Method 2
some of its liquid contents being evaporated and discharged
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
In the method and apparatus (1) for drying a fluid or wet product, a drying chamber (2), an air inlet, a feed tank (3), and a product recovery system (14) are provided. During operation, a fluid or wet product is fed from the feed tank into the drying chamber at a predetermined flow rate, and finished dried product is fed into the drying chamber at a flow rate corresponding to controllable settings. The fluid or wet product is mixed with the finished dried product in the drying chamber. The mixture of fluid or wet product and finished dried product is dried in a gas containing finished dried product, and the product is recovered from the gas in the product recovery system.