Rekha Khanolkar
B. Tech., M. Chem. Engg.
| Education Details | ||
Course |
Institute/University |
Year of Passing |
| B. Tech. Chemical Engineering |
Jondhale College of Engineering, Dombivli Maharashtra. | 2005 |
| M. Chem. Engineering | University Institute of Chemical Technology, UICT, Mumbai | 2007 |
Abstract of Masters Thesis:
DESIGN OF HEAT PUMP DRYING SYSTEMS
Heat pump drying (HPD) has been a revolution in the field of drying technology, as it serves the dual purpose of saving energy and maintaining good product quality. The air coming out of heat pump can be manipulated to the required humidity and temperature. In the present work, the heat pump model (equipment model) was solved followed by the drying model (material model) for the case of open loop HPD system. For the drying air of 40°C, the values of specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) and coefficient of performance (COP), ranged from 1 to 3 and 3 to 8 respectively in the absence of air bypass over evaporator, as the ambient air temperature was increased from 20 to 400C, while the ambient relative humidity was varied between 50% and 70%. The effect of air bypass ratio, ambient air temperature and relative humidity on COP, SMER and moisture extraction rate (MER) was studied. Coefficient of performance was observed to be higher for the modified heat pump system with heat bypass coil as compared to the one for conventional system with the same refrigerant flow. The use of external condenser helps to control the air temperature at dryer inlet. Drying of shrimp and different fruits was carried out using heat pump dryer and the results were compared with the predicted values.