Thermal Studies on Effects of Use of Desiccant Cooling in Cold Storage by Using CFD Analysis

EasyChair Preprint 5549

Abstract

Heat transfer within the onions, stored in cold storage is highly dependent on the operating conditions. When the relative humidity increases, onions stored in the cold storage starts sprouting and rotting. This states the importance of reducing relative humidity under the recommended value i.e. within the range of 55-65%. The recommended temperature for a cold storage system is below 5 0C. The study attempted to bring down the relative humidity as well as the temperature within the best-required range to keep onions fresh for a longer period of time. This study is based on both experimental as well as computational fluid dynamics software (CFD-ANSYS FLUENT 19). For maintaining relative humidity inside the cold storage, the desiccant cooling system was used. The duct has been added to the cold storage and desiccant material named blue silica gel is placed into the duct. Desiccant dehumidifies the air by absorbing the moisture of air of cold storage. In addition, a fan has been placed on the duct for proper circulation of air through the duct. The final obtained temperature was 4.623 0C and relative humidity was recorded as 58.5%. The results obtained from CFD analysis have been validated with the experimental results. On the basis of this study, it can be stated that in onion storage into the cold storage system desiccant material is evidently very effective and keeps the onion fresh for a longer period of time.

Keyphrases: Blue Silica gel, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Desiccant, Temperature, cold storage, heat transfer, relative humidity

@booklet{EasyChair:5549,
  author    = {Shalini Singh and Basant Kumar Chourasia},
  title     = {Thermal Studies on Effects of Use of Desiccant Cooling in Cold Storage by Using CFD Analysis},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 5549},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}