小型木材乾燥檆の中天井が室内空気の流れに及ぼす影響の数値シミュレーション

摘要

近年，人工乾燥された木材の需要が高まる一方 で，原油の高騰等の要因により，木材乾燥に必 要とされるエネルギーの削減が強く要請されてい る。特に，現状の木材乾燥において，必要エネ ルギーの約4倍が消費されているとの報告もな されている。従って，エネルギー使用の少ない木 材乾燥機の開発は，きわめて緊急で重要な課題と なっている。%In order to develop an energy-saving dry kiln of woods, air flows in a fan chamber and a drying zone of the small dry kiln were simulated with the Finite Volume Method. Most pressure drops of flows were generated in the fan chamber. Roundness of an edge of the fan deck made pressure loss of the kiln cutting down. The well-chosen width of the throat between the edge of the fan deck and a side wall of the kiln was effects on decreasing of pressure loss. However, too wider widths had wrong influences on uniform distributions of inlet flow velocities into sticker spacing (thickness) of woods. The improvements to the shape of the fan deck have possibilities to save driving energy of the fan about 7% .