Influence of the Entrance Configuration on the Performance of a Non-Mechanical Solid Feeding Device for a Pneumatic Dryer

The solids feeder is an important component of a dryer, since it is responsible for introducing the moist material at controlled, specified rates. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of solids feeding configuration on the fluid dynamic behavior of a 53-mm-diameter vertical pneumatic conveyor with a loop of 180 degrees, aiming at further applications in drying granular materials. A non-mechanical solid feeding system constituted by a hopper connected to an inclined pipe was applied to feed type D particles in the conveying line. This simple feeding apparatus was modified through the insertion of different flow restriction devices at the air inlet, namely a reduction nozzle and a Venturi device. This was aimed at studying how the solids flow rates and the fluid dynamics of the whole conveying line are affected by the entrance configuration and inlet devices. The use of inlet devices combined with the non-mechanical inclined valve affected significantly the performance of the valve when operating with type D particles in a pneumatic conveying line. When using inlet devices, an increase in the conveyed solid flow rates at a given air velocity was observed. The reduction nozzle yielded a range of solids loading ratios similar to that of the inclined valve with no inlet device, and introduced some pressure instabilities at the entrance region. The Venturi device allowed operation at a wider range of solids loading ratios and no pressure instability was detected in the conveying line. For the conditions investigated, neither the gas velocity nor the loading ratio affected the extent of entrance length. The inlet devices may be successfully applied to modify and improve the performance of the inclined valve as a solids feeder in pneumatic dryers.