REFRACTANCE WINDOW

Conditioned air supply manifold 400 has a circular body 410 that according to one embodiment has a six inch diameter. Conditioned air supply manifold 400 also includes a supply opening 420 that extends from the circular body 410. Supply opening 420 has a top portion 430 and a bottom portion 435 that are parallel to each other. According to one embodiment, top portion 430 and a bottom portion 435 are approximately 5/16 of an inch apart from the center of supply opening 420, creating a ⅝ inch opening 425. Top portion 430 and bottom portion 435 may extend approximately 2 inches from the circular body 410. BACKGROUND In a traditional drying system, the product to be dried is placed on a continuous belt that floats on the surface of a body of heated water.
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According to our results, a greater drying efficiency and a less chemical deterioration of the plant sample are obtained by drying with Refractance window. Dehydration is one of the most effective means to preserve foods in a stable and safe condition for an extended shelf life. Loss of heat sensitive nutrients and other health promoting compounds in dried foods are major concerns in the design and operation of food drying equipment.
1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an exemplary dryer 100 using an air supply manifold 120 that extends across the width of the drying belt 110, according to one embodiment. The dryer 100 includes a cover 101 that provides a cover and headspace Refractance Window Dehydrator Machine above a drying belt 110 for the dryer 100, an air supply manifold 120 that introduces conditioned air 102 into the dryer 100 and an air outlet exhaust manifold 130. The drying belt 110 floats above a heated medium flowing in a trough 150.

Figure 1.Schematic diagram of the Refractance Window® continuous pilot dryer used in this work. Adapted from Ocoró-Zamora and Ayala-Aponte . Krokida, M.; Marinos-Kouris, D. Rehydration kinetics of dehydrated products. Ortiz-Jerez, M.J.; Gulati, T.; Datta, A.K.; Ochoa-Martínez, C.I. Quantitative understanding of Refractance Window™ drying. Monobasic potassium phosphate (KH2PO4, ≥99.0%), acetic acid (glacial, ≥99.7%), ascorbic acid (99.0%), vitamin E (α-tocopherol, ≥96.0%), methanol (≥99.9%), isopropanol (99.9%), and chloroform (99.9%) were all provided by Sigma-Aldrich .
Infrared energy and conducted heat permit rapid drying at atmospheric pressure rather than under a vacuum. This rapid, yet gentle process provides superior retention of a product’s beneficial properties, including its nutrition, flavour, colour and aroma. 4 illustrates an exemplary side view of the conditioned air supply manifold 400, according to one embodiment.

Instead, it relies on the transfer of thermal energy from warm water and cold water to the food since water is a fantastic conductor of energy. It does this up until a precise point of dehydration, at which the adjusted speed and temperature fulfilled, the drying process automatically ceases since it is fully automated using PLC system and operated by using HMI. Mathematical modeling was performed from drying kinetics data using the Lewis, Henderson-Pabis, Page, and Logarithmic models. Activation Energy and Diffusivity were also determined. The model with the best fit was the logarithmic one, with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.99. The obtained activation energies were 22.81 kJ mol−1 for Refractance window and 31.44 kJ mol−1 using conventional hot air drying while a diffusivity of 2.9 ∗10−8 m2 s−1 for RW and 1.3∗10−8 m2 s−1 for CO were found as well.
Figure 4.Relationship between volume change and moisture content during drying of Aloe vera gel slabs with 5 mm (60 °C, ♦; 70 °C, ■; 80 °C, ▲; 90 °C, ●) and 10 mm (60 °C, ◊; 70 °C, □; 80 °C, ∆; 90 °C, ○) thickness. Miranda, M.; Vega-Gálvez, A.; García, P.; Di Scala, K.; Shi, J.; Xue, S.; Uribe, E. Effect of temperature on structural properties of Aloe vera gel and Weibull distribution for modelling drying process. Values between 15 and 22 units employing temperatures between 50 and 90 °C and using 10 mm thin aloe gel slabs. Our results proved the feasibility of the RW method to preserve the natural color of the samples to be dried. The measurement of vitamins C and E were performed for dry samples with an approximate moisture content of 0.10 g water/g solid.
The rapid depletion of non-renewable energy sources, along with rising environmental concerns, are opening up new opportunities for developing sustainable drying systems and reducing its carbon footprint. Drying modelling is a powerful tool for understanding the mechanism and predicting fluid flow hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer during the drying process. First, the drying mechanism and novel drying technologies are explained. Then, various modelling methods are summarised. Finally, new insights into quality and energy modelling using CFD are discussed.