ICheiTl

0263-8762/04/S30.00+0.00

2004 Institution of Chemical Engineers

Trans IChemE, Part A, October 2004
Chemical

Engineering

Research

and Design,

82(A10): 13441352

AIR FLOW PATTERNS IN DEHUMIDIFIER

WOOD DRYING KILNS
Z. F . SUN *, C . G . C A R R I N G T O N , J . A. A N D E R S O N and Q. S U N
1

Physics Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

^Energy Group Ltd, Dunedin, New Zealand

y simulating the airflow patterns, velocity and pressure distributions in an industrial

dehumidifier wood drying kiln, it is shown that typical dehumidifier system configurations create a risk of high levels of air recirculation at the dehumidifier, with adverse
implications for dryer capacity and efficiency. The simulation results also show that, for high
efficiency, it is important to avoid air recirculation. An alternative air flow configuration,
which could achieve this result using a single set of fans, is presented and its performance
assessed.
Keywords: wood drying; heat transfer; mass transfer; mathematical modelling; heat pump;
dehumidifier.

INTRODUCTION
Airflow design is potentially important in the design of
dehumidifier drying kilns which operate as closed, fullyrecirculatory systems. In this paper, we show how the
performance of a dehumidifier wood drying kiln can be
impaired by a mismatch between the kiln airflow system
and the dehumidifier. In turn, the poor performance of
the dehumidifier reduces the overall efficiency of the kiln,
resulting in increased drying time and energy use.
In industrial wood drying kilns, the effect of non-uniform
airflows is particularly difficult to resolve. Nijdam and
Keey (2002) have investigated airflow patterns in conventional heat-and-vent timber kilns to determine design modifications that promote more uniform flows. Their velocity
measurements down the height of the timber stack in a
kiln with outward-swing overhead baffles showed that the
uppermost packets of the stack were starved of airflow.
Nijdam and Keey (2002) demonstrated that, using contoured right-angled bends and inward-swinging overhead
baffles in higher-velocity wood drying kilns, there was a
3-fold reduction in the range of the vertical velocity
distribution.
In a typical industrial dehumidifier kiln, the dehumidifier
comprises separate modules, with their own fans, independent of other fans which may be used to maintain air movement in the kiln. In this system the kiln airflow and the
dehumidifier airflow interact closely, although they are normally not designed as an integrated system. The impact of
mismatches is difficult to anticipate. It is also difficult to

'Correspondence to: Dr Z.F. Sun, Physics Department, University of

Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
E-mail: zhifa@physics.otago.ac.nz

measure the distributions of air velocity and pressure, due

to the complex interactions of the subsystems, such as the
kiln fans, wood stack, air ducts and the dehumidifier fans
and heat exchangers. In this paper we present an analysis
of airflow in a commercial dehumidifier wood drying kiln
as a whole, using a three-dimensional CFD model. We
show how airflow design has the potential to affect the performance of dehumidifier wood drying kilns in unexpected
ways. A modified kiln configuration, in which an air duct
connects the exit of the dehumidifier fans with the upper
duct space of the kiln, has been assessed using the CFD
model. The results show that this kiln configuration can
significantly improve the dehumidifier wood drying kiln
performance. In particular, for dehumidifier wood drying
kilns to achieve high efficiency, it is advantageous to use
a single set of fans to drive the air flow and to ensure all
the flow passes the dehumidifiers without recirculation.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 shows the flow configuration and the coordinate
system based on a commercial wood drying kiln. The origin
of the coordinate system is at the mid-point of the left-hand
wall (Figure la) of the kiln at floor level. The system consists of two dehumidifier modules installed side-by-side, a
wood stack and six kiln air recirculation fans, all located
within an insulated kiln chamber.
The two main elements of the dehumidifier, which influence the flow patterns in the kiln, are the condenser and
evaporator and their air fans, shown in Figure 1(a). Each
module has two condenser fans and three evaporator fans.
For simplicity, in this investigation only the characteristics
of the volume flow rate and pressure drops of the condenser
1344

AIR FLOW PATTERNS

kiln fans.

r .2.2 m-

11

5.3 m
4.24 m
- stack

6.8 m

0.8 m

air duct

3.B7m 4.3 m
condenser coils
and fans
evaporator coils
and fans

U-1.9m
A

(a)
0.54 m

1.08 m

0.63 m

4.51 m
baffle-board

central
symmetry line

2.75 m 0.5 m
A-A
(b)

B
(c)

1345

the geometry shown in detail in Figure 1. It is assumed

that the side baffles which prevent air bypassing the side
of the timber stack, as shown in Figure 1(b), are fully effective, and air bypass is neglected. The details of the horizontal board layers are shown in Figure 1(c). The space
between board layers is 20 mm, which is maintained by
longitudinal stickers (or fillets) across the width of the
stack at intervals of 450-600 mm (Keey et ai, 2000).
Since the aspect ratio of the ducts formed by the board
layers and stickers is relatively large, more than 20, the
effects of the stickers inside the stack on flow patterns
have been neglected. Stickers at the side end of the stack,
however, prevent air flow from the stack to the side
bypass space. As demonstrated by previous authors,
the effect of small gaps between in-line boards on the pressure drop of airflow across wood stacks (Langrish and Keey,
1996) and on external mass and heat transfer rates (Sun,
2001) can be neglected. Thus, small gaps between in-line
boards have been ignored in the simulation. The ratio of
the inlet plenum-space width to the sum of the heights of
the sticker spaces is equal to 0.67 (=0.8/1.22 m), which
is smaller than the minimum value (unity) which was
suggested by Nijdam and Keey (2002) to mitigate the
adverse effect of the frictional pressure drop down the
height of the plenum chamber.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of an industrial dehumidifier wood-drying

kiln.

NUMERICAL METHOD
coils and fans are considered, since the airflow of the evaporator enters the condenser and the flow rate is typically
only 10% of the condenser air flow. Each dehumidifier
module also has an electric air heater to preheat the kiln
before drying commences. Here the flow resistance of the
heater, which is located between the condenser fans and
condenser coils, has been incorporated with the condenser
coils.
As shown in Figure 1(a), the cross section of the kiln
chamber along the x-direction has a trapezoidal shape,
with the front higher than the rear by 1 m. The backwardsloping roof would produce stronger vortices in the front
top corner and thus a larger pressure drop than the peaktop and barrel-top kilns discussed by Nijdam and Keey
(2002). In Figure 1(a), the dashed lines represent the
walls of a simple air duct which connects the top ceiling
space with the exit of the dehumidifier in a modified configuration of the kiln.
Stacks of wood are normally several packets deep in the
air flow direction and several packets high. As shown in
Figure 1(a), three in-line packets, being 2.1 m deep each
in the air flow direction, are considered. The three packets
are supported by bearers 100 mm thick. The gaps separated
the packets in the airflow direction are 0.25 m wide and
the gaps separated the packets vertically are neglected.
Concrete slabs, 150 mm thick, are placed on the top of
the timber stack to reduce warp during drying (Nijdam
and Keey, 2002). It is assumed that the kiln is fully
loaded with 60 layers of wood boards and thus the horizontal ceiling of the drying zone is just on the top of the
concrete slabs.
The wood stack is assumed to be a normally aligned
stack of wood boards (Sun and Carrington, 1999), with

In order to characterize the distributions of air velocity

and pressure and air recirculation occurring in the kiln,
the renormalization group (RNG) k-e turbulence model
has been used to solve the turbulent momentum transport
equations. The RNG k-e model employs a differential
form of the relation for the effective viscosity, yielding
an accurate description of how the effective turbulent transport varies with the effective Reynolds number. This allows
accurate extension of the model to near-wall flows and lowReynolds-number or transitional flows (Fluent Incorporated, 1997). The RNG k-e model can be expressed by
the following momentum equations and the equations for
turbulent kinetic energy (k) and its rate of dissipation (e)
(Fluent Incorporated, 1997):
9

9/

(P"i) + X - (pUiUj)
OX;

3M,

BP

duj

Peir

9bc,

(1)
d,

9 ,

9 /

- (pk) + - (put) = - U
%

dk\

M e f f

- J + n,S - pe
(2)

and
3,
3
^-(pe) + (pw,e)
N

at

ax,

3 /
3.v,

9e\

" e M e f fdxi
T - )+CUTH,S

-C eP-T
2

- R

(3)

In the simulation, the standard RNG k-e model constants,

derived analytically by RNG theory, have been used: C =
0.0845, C = 1.42, C = 1.68, a = 1.0. The standard
M

l 6

2e

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

1346

SUN

logarithmic wall functions have been used for the near wall
treatments (Fluent Incorporated, 1997). The SIMPLE algorithm has been used together with the solver of Fluent/Uns
(Fluent Incorporated, 1997) to solve the pressure-velocity
coupling equations. In order to improve numerical accuracy, the second-order-upwind scheme has been used to
discretize all the balance equations.

EFFECTS OF MESH SIZES

Successful computations of turbulent flows require sufficiently fine meshes for the regions where the mean flow
changes rapidly and there are shear layers with a large
mean rate of strain. In order to get mesh-independent modelling results of wood drying kilns, sufficiently fine meshes
should be used for the regions near to the surfaces of wood
boards in wood stacks and the walls of the kiln chamber.
The effects of the mesh size have been investigated using
a two-dimensional model for a sample wood stack which
is similar to the in-line packets shown in Figure 1(a), but
with a depth of 2.4 m. Since the physical geometry of the
board layers and the flow patterns around the board layers
has a periodically repeating nature, only two half-board
layers in the sample stack have been considered. The
methods and boundary conditions used for the simulation
of the flow patterns of the airflow across the sample stack
are similar to those discussed by Sun (2001), except that
a roughness height of 0.34 mm has been assumed in the
standard wall function for the surfaces of wood boards
(Langrish and Keey, 1996).
Since the standard wall function is used in the calculation, the distance from the wall at the wall-adjacent
cells must be determined by considering the range over
which the log-law representing the wall functions is valid.
To use the standard wall functions, the wall unit or the
surface y , defined as
pu y/ix, should have a value
of 30 approximately (Fluent Incorporated, 1997).
Figure 2 shows the profiles of the air static pressure and
the averaged airflow velocity along the the sample stack, at
a typical free-stream inlet velocity of 2 m s~ , which corresponds to an average central line velocity of 5.8 m s in
the space (from x = 1 m to x = 3.4 m) between board
layers. In order to obtain mesh-independent results and
y+ % 30, the mesh size used is Ax x Ay = 2.5 x 2.5 mm.
T

- 1

Figure 2. A i r pressure and velocity profiles along a sample stack. Solid

lines: air spaces between board layers (mesh size: A.v x Ay = 2.5 x 2.5 mm).
Dashed lines: equation (4) used for the spaces between board layers (mesh
size: Ax x Av = 100 x 20 mm).

et

al.
The pressure profile of the airflow at both the entrance
and the exit of the stack should not be affected by the friction force of the walls of the boards significantly. Therefore, larger meshes may be used for the regions outside
the stack. In addition, in order to use largerf meshes for
the space between the board layers to save cpu time and
storage memory, a correlation describing the pressure gradient along the flow direction, which is mainly caused by
the friction force of the boards, has been established. This
was obtained using the mesh-independent results of the pressure drop simulated under different central line velocities,
//. as follows
Si = -0.42 1066|M|

(4)

By treating the space between board layers as an isotropic porous medium, equation (4) was used as a negative
momentum source term in the standard fluid flow equations
of the RNG k-e turbulence model. This allowed a larger
mesh size, Ax x Ay = 100 x 20 mm, to be used to obtain
the profiles of the pressure and the average velocity of
the airflow passing through the sample stack. The profiles
were compared with those obtained using a smaller mesh
size of Ax x Ay = 2.5 x 2.5 mm as shown in Figure 2. It
is seen that, even when a relatively large mesh size, Ax x
Ay = 100 x 20 mm, is used, both the pressure and air velocity calculated using equation (4) in the space between the
board layers are in good agreement with profiles obtained
using a mesh size of Ax x Ay = 2.5 x 2.5 mm. The results
show that equation (4) may be used with the larger mesh
size for central line velocities up to 1 0 m s " .
1

MESH CELLS AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

In order to maximize computational efficiency, only
one half of the kiln is considered, by treating the central
plane of the kiln along the flow direction as a symmetric
plane. The spaces between the board layers inside the
stack are represented as an isotropic porous medium, as
described above. Based on the kiln and dehumidifier flow
configuration, a three-dimensional grid has been designed.
Along both the horizontal x- and y-directions of the
whole kiln, the mesh size is 80 mm, which is smaller
than the horizontal mesh size of 100 mm used to analyse
the sample stack. Along the vertical j-direction of the
kiln, the mesh size is varied. Beneath the top ceiling of
the kiln, the mesh size is Az = 20 mm, which is equal to
the height of the spaces between board layers. Thus, the
aspect ratio of the mesh cells in these spaces is less than
5 : 1 , the recommended maximum (Fluent Incorporated,
1997). In the top ceiling space of the kiln, the mesh size
in all the three directions is 80 mm, except for the regions
near the walls of the kiln chamber.
In order to take account of the effects of the walls, five
layers of meshes adjacent to the walls and the ceiling were
constructed, with a mesh size of 10 mm in the inward
normal direction of the walls. A mesh size of 10 mm is sufficiently small for the regions near the walls, since the air
velocity near the walls is relatively small. For a system
with a complex circulating geometry, mixed mesh cells
of unstructured mesh elements have to be used in certain
spaces, in order that the mesh cells can be linked properly

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

AIR FLOW PATTERNS

300
Woods Air
Movement 2101
Fantech
0714/10
Extension of
fitted relation

250
S

0_

200
150-

100
Q_
50
02

4
6
Volume flow rate m s ~
3

Figure 3. Fan curves of the Woods air movement kiln fans and the Fantech
0714/10/25 condenser fans.

1347

for the pressure rise across each of the kiln fans, and
AP = 203.029 + 28.7837v - 2.6677v , 9.1 < v < 15.7
2

<

for the pressure rise across each of the condenser fans. In

equations (5) and (6), v represents the average local velocity normal to the fans.
The condenser heat exchanger and heating elements
of the preheater are treated as a single porous medium.
A negative source term representing the pressure gradients
across the condensers and preheater was estimated from
performance data for commercial finned-tube heat exchangers as follows:
Si = -77.7694|v|

with the structured mesh cells in their neighbouring spaces.

A commercial software, GAMBIT (Fluent Incorporated,
1998), was used to build the mesh cells, yielding in total
1.25 x 10 nodes and 5.20 x 10 mixed mesh cells composed primarily of tetrahedral mesh elements and hexahedral, pyramidal, and wedge elements where appropriate
and 6.97 x Mr hexahedral cells.
The boundary conditions for air flow are determined
by the performance characteristics of the kiln fans. The
total air volume flow rate through the stack is determined
by the pressure jumps across the kiln fans, which are, in
turn related to the volume flow rate of the airflow. The
fan curve of the Woods air movement (WAM) 2101
propeller kiln fans (diameter 0.63 m), provided by the manufacturer of the kiln (Campbell, 2001, personal communication), and the fan curve of the Fantech 0714/10 (blade
angle: 25% diameter 0.71 m) condenser fans (Fantech pty
Ltd, 1993) are shown in Figure 3. The following relations
have been obtained:
6

141.7350- 1.1612v
179.8578 - 3.5175v

1.6828v , 5 . 6 < v < 7 . 4

1.7454v , 7.4 < v < 10
2

(5)

(6)

(7)

where v is the local velocity. In addition, the non-slip wall

condition is applied to the surface of the wood boards, kiln
chamber walls and other solid components.
The operating condition for the kiln is defined through a
fixed atmospheric pressure (=101,325 Pa) at a point at the
rear end of the kiln. A constant air viscosity corresponding
to room temperature was used in the calculation.

SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 4 shows the profiles of the velocity magnitude
vector of the airflow on a horizontal x-y plane coinciding
with the axes of the kiln fans. This shows one side of the
kiln, as in Figure 1(b), and the three circular vertically
oriented surfaces represent the kiln fans. It can be
seen that the velocity field is quite complex, with high
velocity downstream of the kiln fans and air flow eddies
in the side corners. Air flow eddies are also generated in
the spaces between the kiln fans. Owing to the lumped
parameter models employed for the kiln and condenser
fans, the annular characteristic of the exit flow of propeller-type fans has been ignored. Since the flow in the kiln
is not uniform, the calculated mass flow rates of the three
kiln fans are different, which are 2.50, 2.82 and
2.53 kg s~ along the y-direction.

Figure 4. Vector of velocity magnitude on the horizontal plane where z = 4.24 m.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

1348

SUN

Figure 5 shows the velocity field in a vertical y-z plane

coinciding with the axes of the condenser fans of the dehumidifiers. In this figure, the two horizontally oriented gridsurfaces represent the condenser fans. It can be seen that air
flow eddies are produced at the top side-corners of the kiln
and in the downstream spaces between the condenser fans.
More generally, the CFD results indicate that air flow
eddies are produced at all the top and bottom corners of
the kiln and at the corners of the timber packets. The
eddies represent dissipative processes that reduce the efficiency of both the kiln fans and the dehumidifier fans.
The calculated mass flow rates of the two condenser fans
are the same, at 4.89 kg s .
Figures 6 and 7 show profiles of the x-velocity along
lines from the stack inlet to stack outlet on two typical horizontal planes, at the top ( z = 3.71m) and bottom
(z = 0.11 m) of the stack.
It is seen from Figure 6 that the velocity profiles on the
top plane (z = 3.71 m) are not uniform at the entrance
region of the first packet. The x-velocity spans from 0.5
to 1.5 m s~' approximately. This variation in the velocity
appears to be caused by non-uniform flow in the ceiling
space of the kiln illustrated in Figure 4. The large range
in the x-velocity indicates that there are large recirculation eddies in the top entrance region of the first packet.
The flow patterns of the airflow on the top plane of the
second packet are similar to those of the first packet, but
the velocities are larger. At the entrance of the third
packet, the x-velocity span is smaller than those at the

et

al.
3.50e+00 -|
3.00e+00 2.50e+00 2.00e+00E, 1.50e+002?
o 1.00e+00o
>

5.00e-01 0.00e+00-5.00e-01 -

-1.00e+000

4
5
6
x-coordinate (m)

Figure 6. .r-velocity profiles on the plane z = 3.71 m.

entrances of the first and second packets. However, the

large span in x-velocity in the exit region of the third
packet indicates the presence of recirculation eddies at
the exit of the stack. These appear to be caused by the
kiln fans installed in the ceiling space of the kiln and by
the strong resistance of the airflow impelled by the condenser fans illustrated in Figure 5. Since the effects of the
longitudinal stickers inside the stack have been neglected
in the simulation, the air velocity spans in the cross ydirection may be overestimated. However, this would not
produce serious errors in the average mass flow rates.
The x-velocities averaged over the cross-sectional area of
the top airflow channel at the locations of 1 m from the
leading edge of each of the packets are 0.94, 1.93, and
2.39 m s~
in the first, second and third packets,
respectively.
As shown in Figure 7, unlike the air velocity profiles on
the top plane, which increase from the first packet to the
third packet, the air velocity on the bottom plane decreases.
The average values of the x-velocity in the bottom airflow
channel are 1.92, 1.59 and 1.37 m s ~ ' in the first, second
and third packets, respectively.

2.50e+00
2.25e+00
2.00e+00

s . m m

- - > i iC\

1.756+00'

1.50e+00

1.258+00

1.00e+00

7.50e-01
5.00e-01

' " 'A)

411
1

2.50e-01
0.00e+00
Figure 5. Vector of velocity magnitude on the vertical plane where
x = 8.725 m.

o
o
=
a

y=0
y = 0.45
y = 0.9
y=1.35
y = 1.8
y = 2.25
y = 2.7
1

3
4
5
x-coordinate (m)

Figure 7. .v-velocity profiles on the plane z = 0.11 m.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

AIR FLOW PATTERNS

The velocity profiles for the middle plane of the stack
(z = 1.91 m), which are not shown here, are similar to
the velocity profiles at z = 3.71 m and z = 0.11 m shown
in Figures 6 and 7. However, the profiles of x-velocity on
the middle plane of the stack are more uniform than those
on the top plane (z = 3.71 m) and on the bottom plane
(z = 0.11 m). The average values of the x-velocity in the
middle airflow channel are 1.96, 1.88 and 1.89 m s " in
the first, second and third packets respectively.
Profiles of the x- and y-velocity along lines from the
stack inlet to stack outlet indicate that, in the vertical zdirection, the velocity profiles are also not uniform.
Figure 8 shows the vertical profiles of the x-velocities averaged over the cross-sectional areas of the corresponding
flow channels at the locations of 1 m from the leading
edge of each of the three packets (solid lines, test 1). It is
seen that, in the first packet, with increasing in the height
of the stack, the air velocity increases from 1.92 m s>~ at
the bottom of the stack to 2.20 m s
at z = 0.53 m, and
then decreases to 0.94 m s" at the top of the stack. The
vertical profile of the air velocity in the second packet is
more uniform than that in the first stack, and the velocity
in the top region is much larger than that in the first
packet. The vertical profile of the air velocity in the third
packet shows that the air velocity in this packet gradually
increases with the height of the stack from 1.37 m s~ at
the bottom of the packet to 2.39 njs. at the top of the
packet. The increase in the air velocity in the third packet
may be due to the effect of the kiln fans, since the upper
part of the third packet is close to the kiln fans. It appears
that the empty spaces between successive packets have the
effect of redistributing the airflow rate through the packets.
The variations and fluctuations of the vertical profiles of the
air velocity in the first and second packets are consistent
with the measurements by Nijdam and Keey (2002) in a
traditional peak-top kiln and in a newer barrel-top kiln.
Nijdam and Keey (2002) found that the upper part of the
stacks were normally starved of airflow at the air entry
end, due to a recirculation zone adjacent to the stack
within the inlet plenum chamber.

1349

Air flow recirculation between the outlet of the dehumidifier and its inlet is also illustrated in Figure 9, which
shows pathlines of massless particles discharged from the
condenser fans. Here, the three vertically oriented gridsurfaces represent the kiln fans, the two horizontally

1
2
3
Height from base of timber stack (z-direction) (m)
Figure 8. Air velocity profile along height of the stack.

Figure 9. Illustrative pathlines of particles leaving condenser fans. Particles are coded by the grey colour.

oriented grid-surfaces denote the condenser fans, and the

grid-box represents the dehumidifier walls. This figure
shows that a significant fraction of air leaving the dehumidifier mixes with the airflow out of the stack and re-enters
the dehumidifier, because the kiln fans and the condenser
fans are not configured in an integrated way. Indeed, part
of the airflow recycles several times from the outlet of
the dehumidifier to its inlet.
Overall calculated results for the kiln with the present
configuration (Figure 1) are listed in Table 1 along with
results for a modified configuration discussed below. In
Table 1, w is the x-velocity averaged over the whole
cross-sectional area of the stack at the locations inside
each of the three packets, 1 m from the inlet of each
packet. It is seen that, for this kiln (test 1 in Table 1), the
total mass flow rate (19.55 kg s~ ) delivered by the condenser fans is larger than that (15.70 kg s ) delivered by the
kiln fans. The difference (3.85 kg s~ ) between the mass
flow rates delivered by the condenser fans and kiln fans
represents the minimum amount of airflow recirculation
from the exit of the dehumidifier to its inlet. This would
happen i f all the airflow leaving the stack were to enter
the dehumidifier. For the present kiln, the minimum
amount of the airflow recirculation is 19.7% of the total
air mass flow rate delivered by the condenser fans. However, the simulation indicates that the real recirculation
mass flow rate is likely to be much larger than this minimum value, since much of the airflow delivered by the
kiln fans comes from the stack directly.
s

Figures 10 and 11 show the pathlines of massless particles

which are discharged from the upper and lower rear-end
surfaces of the stack respectively. In Figures 10 and 11,
the vertical rectangular gray surfaces represent the rearend surfaces of the upper 21 board layers and lower 39
board layers of the stack, respectively. It can be seen from

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

1350

SUN et al.
Table I . Calculated results for different kiln configurations.

Test
1
2

Number of
kiln fans

Number dehumidifier
modules

Duct

AP,
(Pa)

6
0

2 (4 condenser fans)
2 (4 condenser fans)

No
Yes

31.34
38.58

Figure 10 that all the air flow discharged from the flow
channels of the upper 21 board layers of the stack, with
some local recirculation in the space above the dehumidifier,
enters the kiln fans directly. Figure 11 shows that, although
most of the air flow discharged from the lower 39 board
layers enters the condenser and then passes across the dehumidifier fans, part of the air flow discharged from the lower
part of the staGk goes to the kiln fans directly.
The mass flow rate, 6.15 kg s~', of the air discharged
from the upper 21 board layers of the stack is 39.2% of
the total flow rate of the kiln fans. Hence less than 60.8%
of the total flow rate of the kiln fans comes from the
dehumidifier. Thus, using the data shown in Table 1 for
test 1, the mass flow rate entering the kiln fans from the
dehumidifier is less than 9.55 kg s~' and the mass flow
rate of air recirculation from the exit of the dehumidifiers
to its inlet is more than 10.0 kg s , representing 51.2% of
the total flow rate of the condenser fans. This airflow recirculation would raise the temperature and reduce the humidity of air at the inlet of the dehumidifiers, which would
reduce the efficiency of the dehumidifiers. In addition,
energy used by the condenser fans to maintain this large
amount of recirculation flow, approximately 51.2% of the
total energy used by the condenser fans, does not make
any contribution to the performance of the kiln.
_1

wk,fan
(kgs ' )
15.70

(kgs

')

19.55
18.26

(kgs )
- 1

15.70 <
18.26

(ms )
_ 1

1.91
2.23

using the CFD turbulence model. In test 2, air recirculation

from the exit to the inlet of the dehumidifier was eliminated, using an air duct connecting the dehumidifier to
the top ceiling space of the kiln, shown by the dashed
lines in Figure 1(a).
The vertical profiles of the average x-velocity in test 2
are shown by the dashed lines in Figure 8. The air velocities
in the three packets of the kiln in test 2 are significantly
larger than those in test 1. In addition, the velocity distributions from the first packet to the third packet are more
uniform than those in test 1 and the air velocity profiles
in the vertical z-direction in test 2 are similar to those in
test 1. This indicates that, by using appropriate ducting
and only the condenser fans, the drying performance of
the kiln would be improved.
Overall calculated results for test 2 are also listed in
Table 1. It is seen that, without using kiln fans but with
an air duct, the calculated average x-velocity (2.23 m s )
in test 2 is larger than that (1.91 m s ) in test 1. Since
no kiln fans are used, the energy consumption of the kiln
fans would be eliminated in test 2. As shown in Table 1,
compared with test 1 the overall mass flow rate of the
_

- 1

A MODIFIED CONFIGURATION
To illustrate the effect of changing the dehumidifier kilns,
a modified configuration, test 2 in Table 1. was investigated

Figure 10. Pathlines of the particles discharged from the rear-end surface
of the upper 21 board layers of the stack. Particles are coded by the grey
colour.

Figure 11. Pathlines of the particles discharged from the rear-end surface
of the lower 39 board layers of the stack. Particles are coded by the grey
colour.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

AIR FLOW PATTERNS

condenser fans in test 2 has decreased by 1.29 kg s~ and
the stack pressure drop in test 2 has increased by 7.4 Pa.
The volume flow rate of each condenser fan has decreased
from 4.07 to 3.80 m s~ , and the power of the condenser
fans should increase by approximately 1%. On the other
hand, the adverse implications of the air recirculation on
the performance of the dehumidifier, which are discussed
below, do not occur in test 2.

1351

1500 r
1400
O

I
JZ

1300
O Energy of preheater
1200

Energy of kiln fans

CD

c 1100
111

1000

INFLUENCE OF RECIRCULATION ON DRYER

PERFORMANCE
The CFD turbulence model cannot be used to simulate
the thermodynamic cycle and mass and heat transfer processes in the dehumidifier or in the wood boards. Hence,
to assess the influence of airflow recirculation at the dehumidifiers on the performance of the kiln system, a dynamic
dehumidifier wood drying model developed previously
(Sun et al., 2000) has been used. The model solves the integral form of the unsteady state mass, momentum and
energy balance equations for both the air flow and the wood
boards. The distributions of the average mass fractions,
temperature, pressure and velocity of the air stream, as
well as the average moisture content of the wood boards
and their temperature, can be estimated using this model.
For illustrative purposes, the timber is Pinus radiata sapwood with an initial moisture content 140%. The final
moisture content is 13%, and the volume of timber is
70 m . There are two dehumidifier modules in the kiln,
and the external heat and mass transfer rates between airflow and the surfaces of wood boards were calculated
using correlations established on the basis of modified
boundary layer theories which take account of the separation and reattachment flows (Sun, 2002). The maximum
condensing temperature, maximum evaporating temperature, and minimum stack inlet relative humidity are limited
to be 75C, 25 C and 40% respectively (Carrington et al,
1995). An air preheater of 30 kW is used, which is turned
off when the stack inlet dry-bulb temperature reaches
50C. The stack inlet air velocity is 2 m s ' , based on the
CFD results as shown in Table 1 for the present kiln (test 1).
3

900

10

20
30
40
Percentage of Air Recirculation (%)

50

60

Figure 13. Effects of airflow recirculation at dehumidifiers on kiln fan

energy and preheater energy.

that the total dehumidifier energy for the condenser and

evaporator fans and compressors and the total energy of
the kiln fans increase significantly with increasing airflow
recirculation from the outlet to the inlet of the dehumidifiers. As expected, the total energy of the preheater is
almost constant. The drying time also increases with the
percentage of airflow recirculation. With 50% airflow recirculation from the exit to the inlet of the dehumidifiers, the
drying time increases by 14% and the total energy used by
the dehumidifier, preheater and kiln fans increases by 18%.
The results of the dynamic simulation are qualitatively
supported by measurements conducted on a commercial
kiln with the same configuration shown in Figure 1, but
with one dehumidifier module. Measurements of drying
rate and dehumidifier power input were made under two conditions: (i) as illustrated in Figure 1, with some recirculation
at the dehumidifier; and (ii) with a duct, similar to that shown
in Figure 1(a), to prevent recirculation. It is not possible to
compare the two sets of data directly, due to differences in

The calculated overall dehumidifier energy use, kiln fan

energy, heater energy, and drying time are shown in
Figures 12 and 13, respectively. It is seen from these figures

<10

70

Pre-baffle

Post-baffle

60

1.6
1.5

O Energy of dehumidifier

50

A Drying Time
f"

1.4

JZ
g

40

* 1.3
>,
at
CD
c

1 2

1.1
10

20
30
40
50
Percentage of Air Recirculation (%)

Figure 12. Effects of airflow recirculation at dehumidifiers on dehumidifier

energy and drying lime.

30^
30

40

50
60
Model Drying Rate (kg l r )

70

Figure 14. Comparison of measured drying rate with a model benchmark

under conditions with and without recirculation.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352

SUN

1352
22

et

al.
airflow is properly ducted to prevent recirculation and
(b) avoid using two sets of air fans in series.

NOMENCLATURE
k
M
P
Af
S/
r
it
fi
v
x
y
z

Greek symbols
a
k

ct

141
14

,
16

,
18

1
20

Model Power (kW)

e
iu, ff
fj.
p
e

Figure 15. Comparison of measured dehumidifier power consumption with

a model benchmark under conditions with and without recirculation.

turbulent kinetic energy (m s~~)

mass flow rate (kg s" )
pressure (N t r T )
pressure drop of air flow passing through stack (N m ~ )
momentum source term for porous media (N m ~ )
time (s)
velocity component or velocity in jr-direction (m s ' )
average x-velocity in stack (m s~ )
velocity (m s )
coordinate (m)
coordinate (m)
coordinate (m)
2

_ l

inverse effective Prandtl number for turbulent kinetic

energy
inverse effective Prandtl number for turbulent dissipation rate
turbulent dissipation rate ( m s )
effective viscosity (p., + p.) (kg m ' s )
turbulent viscosity (kg m
s )
density (kg m ~ )
2

- 3

_ 1

- 1

_ l

Subscripts

the temperature and humidity when the measurements

were made. This difficulty is avoided by comparing the measured data with dehumidifier model predictions, the model
assuming no recirculation, to provide a common performance reference for the measured data. Accurate agreement
with the model is not necessary for this comparison. In the
results, shown in Figures 14 and 15, the measured drying
rate is consistently below the model prediction when there
is no baffle, but close to the model results when the baffle
is present. In addition the data indicates that the power
use is higher when the baffle is not present.

CONCLUSION
Air flow patterns in an industrial dehumidifier wood
drying kiln have been investigated using a CFD model. In
order to solve the computational difficulties for simulation
of a practical kiln, a simplified procedure has been developed in which the spaces between the board layers are treated as an isotropic porous medium. A momentum source
term describing the pressure drop within the porous
medium has been added to the standard fluid flow equations.
The results obtained show that, without suitable air ducting at the dehumidifier air discharge, a large fraction of the
dehumidifier airflow recycles back to the inlet of the dehumidifiers. Using a dehumidifier wood drying kiln model, it
has been demonstrated that such air recirculation reduces
the efficiency of the dehumidifiers and increases drying
time, by 18 and 14%, respectively, for the example
presented.
A modified kiln configuration, in which an air duct connects the dehumidifier with the upper airflow channel of the
kiln, has been analysed. The results show that this configuration significantly improves the dehumidifier performance.
It is concluded that, for dehumidifier wood drying kilns to
achieve high efficiency, it is important to (a) ensure the

c,fan
i
j
k
k,fan

condenser fans
/-direction
/-direction
kiln
kiln fans

REFERENCES
Carrington, C.G., Bannister, P. and Liu, Q., Performance analysis of a
dehumidifier using HFC-134a, Int J Refrig, 18: 477-485.
Fantech Pty Ltd, 1993. Fans by Fantech, 1st edn (The Craftsman Press,
Australia).
Fluent Incorporated, 1997, Fluent/Uns and Rampant 4.2 User's Guide
(Fluent Incorporated, Lebanon, NH).
Fluent Incorporated, 1998, GAMBIT Modeling Guide (Fluent Incorporated,
Lebanon, NH).
Keey. R.B. Langrish, T A G . and Walker. J.C.F.. 2000, Kiln-drying of
Lumber (Springer, Berlin, Germany).
Langrish, T.A.G. and Keey, R.B. 1996, The effects of air bypassing in
timber kilns on fan power consumption, in Proceedings of CHEMECA
1996, Sydney, 30 September-2 October, pp. 103-108.
Nijdam. J.J. and Keey, R.B., 2002. New timber kiln designs for promoting
uniform airflows within the wood stack. Trans IChemE, Part A, Chem
Eng Res Des, 80(A7): 739-744.
Sun. Z.F., 2001. Numerical simulation of flow in an array of in-line blunt
boards: mass transfer and flow patterns. Chem Eng Sci. 56(5): 1883-1896.
Sun, Z.F., 2002, Correlations for mass transfer coefficients over blunt
boards based on modified boundary layer theories, Chem Eng Sci,
57(11), 2029-2033.
Sun, Z.F. and Carrington, C.G., 1999, Effect of stack configuration on
wood drying processes, in Proceedings of 6th International IUFRO
Wood Drying Conference. Stellenbosch, South Africa, 25-28 January.
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Sun, Z.F.. Carrington, C.G. and Bannister, P., 2000, Dynamic modelling of
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the New Zealand Foundation for
Research Science and Technology for supporting this work under contract
UOOX0004.
The manuscript was received I July 2002 and accepted for publication
after revision 18 June 2004.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A10): 1344-1352