Rotary dryer is a unit in which drying is done by forced draft action created by hot air. The set-up consists of a long revolving cylindrical shell slightly inclined towards the outlet. The shell is fitted with two brackets for support. Air from a blower passes through a heating chamber serves the purpose of drying agent. An arrangement for rotating the dryer shell at low RPM is provided by means of an electrical motor and a reduction gearbox. Wet feed enters from one end of the cylinder and dry material discharges from the other end. As the shell rotates internal flights lift the solids and shower them down through the interior of the shell. This action increases the contact of wet solid against hot air making the dryer very effective. The flow of hot air is counter-current to solids. Flow control and by-pass valve are fitted to regulate the airflow. The present set-up has a facility to interface the system with computer which enables to log the experimental data using computer. The educational software and data-logging package has been developed for unit. The software environment base is of Labview This software is compatible to interfacing unit designed by Engineers. This software package provides a comprehensive educational software environment within which the investigations can be performed. This software is capable to tabulate the sample readings according to the requirement of experiment under study and results obtained can be compared. The real time data acquisition can be done by interfacing the set-up with computer using software. Software allows the user to have control on data logging, printing the stored data, preparing spread sheets in Excel etc.
Heating will be controlled by computer system.