How Does a Deep Bed Dryer Achieve Uniform Airflow Penetration Through the Layer of Rice?
Rice drying is a critical post-harvest process that ensures food security. Freshly harvested rice typically has a moisture content ranging from 22% to 30%. If not dried to below 14% in a timely manner, enhanced enzyme activity and mold growth can significantly degrade the quality of both the rice and the resulting rice products. As an efficient convective drying device, the deep bed dryer removes moisture through the synergistic effects of airflow, temperature, and relative humidity, making it one of the widely applied drying technologies today. However, a core issue remains: how to design the aeration system to ensure that the drying airflow uniformly penetrates the rice layer, avoiding localized over-drying or insufficient drying? Diswandi Nurba from IPB University in Indonesia at al. systematically evaluated the performance of four aeration system designs through a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and AHP-TOPSIS multi-criteria decision analysis, provid