MODELING AND DESIGN OF CONVEYOR BELT DRYERS

A mathematical model suitable for the design of conveyor belt dryers was developed. The objective of design was the evaluation of optimum flow-sheet structure, construction characteristics, and operational conditions. The methodology followed was based on constructing a superstructure which involves a large number of minor structures, and optimizing it by means of non-linear mathematical programming techniques. The optimization problem can be stated in an equivalent way so that the computational effort involved in its solution is greatly reduced. This decomposition strategy transforms the original problem into an optimization problem of a major and a minor stage.