An Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Different Ultrasonic Powers and Temperatures on Convective Drying of Fabric

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of ultrasonic power and temperature on fabric drying kinetics, energy consumption, and heat and mass transfer coefficients experimentally. The results indicated that the ultrasonic power and temperature could significantly improve the drying efficiency as the enhancement of moisture diffusion. The combination of 90 W ultrasonic power and 60 °C drying temperature yielded the best drying performance, which reduced drying time by 33.3% and increased effective moisture diffusivity by 48.8%. Meanwhile, the energy consumption was significantly decreased. The activation energy was also presented in this work. Additionally, the heat transfer coefficient remained relatively stable across different ultrasonic powers, while the mass transfer coefficient showed a noticeable increase. At the constant ultrasonic power, rising temperature led to a slight intensification of the heat transfer coefficient and a more pronounced increasement of the mass transfer coefficient. These findings highlight the synergistic interplay between elevated drying temperatures and ultrasonic powers in intensifying both heat and mass transfer during the fabric drying process.