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This paper presents a mathematical model of the heat and mass transfer processes for a rotary-spray honey dehydrator with a heat pump and a closed air circuit. An analytical calculation model, based on the energy balance equations of the dehydrator and heat pump, was used to model the transient dehydration process of honey in a dehydrator. The presented article includes a different approach to modelling both the dryer and the heat pump assisting the drying process. The novel quality of this study lies in the use of original equations to determine the heat and mass transfer coefficients between honey and air and using an actual model of a cooling unit to model the honey dehydration process. The experimentally verified calculation algorithm enables an analysis of the effects of air flow rate, mixer rotation speed, and cooling unit power on the efficiency of the drying process. The dehydrator calculation model was used to minimize the drying time by selecting the optimal evaporative temperature values of the cooling unit. For fixed mixer speed and air flow rates, optimal values of evaporation temperatures allow for 8–13% reduction in honey drying time and an increase in the specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) by 4–32%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of optimisation calculations presented in the article are related to longitudinally finned tubes of a heat pump evaporator operating under natural wind-induced flow of outdoor air conditions. The finned surface is characterised by an unusual, wavy fin shape. The article presents the methodology applied to seeking optimal geometric parameters of the finned tube in which thermal calculations were performed by modelling a mixed convection process on the finned surface using the finite volume method. In the case of maximising the heat flow with the minimum mass of the fins, the optimal solution was dominated by the minimum mass of the fins and thus geometric parameters correspond to the number of fins n = 6, fin height h = 0.065 and fin thickness s = 0.0015 m. Optimisation calculations made for maximum efficiency of the exchanger at constant mass indicated that the tube with ten fins (n = 10) with a height of h = 0.11 m and a thickness of s = 0.0018 m allowed maximum heat flow at the assumed mass of the fins in the exchanger tube model. The article proposes a simplified method of determining the optimal geometric parameters of the profile for any mass and maximum thermal efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at entropy generation during ice slurry flow in straight pipes and typical heat exchanger structures used in refrigeration and air-conditioning technology. A dimensionless relationship was proposed to determine the interdependency between flow velocity and the volume fraction of ice, for which the entropy generation rates were at the minimum level in the case of non-adiabatic ice slurry flow. For pipe flow, the correlation between the minimum entropy generation rate and the overall enhancement efficiency was analyzed. As regards heat exchange processes in heat exchangers, the authors analyzed the relationship between the minimum entropy generation rate and the heat exchange surface area and exchanger efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]