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Numerical Study of the Spatial Profiling of Airflow in A Solar Cold Room Filled with Agricultural Products with Validation of The Model Developed

Hermann KABORE, Roger Mathurin Charles COMPAORE, Kassoum YAMBA, Kalifa PALM, Oumar SANOGO, Tamba CAMARA, N’wuitcha KOKOU
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21013/jas.v20.n1.p1
Abstract
The aim of this work is to carry out a numerical analysis of the airflow field in a 3D solar cold room in order to determine the variation in air velocity. The cold room, with external dimensions of 5.10 m×3.00 m×2.60 m, rests on concrete blocks about 40 cm above the ground, creating an empty space. Inside the storage room, crates containing tomatoes were placed on pallets occupying a large volume of this space. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation study was carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics software, version 5.3a, at constant evaporator unit diffusion airflow. The study showed inhomogeneity of air velocity distribution within the device. However, the middle (Z = 0.91 m) and lower (Z = 0.31 m) planes show a high degree of air velocity uniformity compared with the upper plane (Z = 1.51 m). The air velocity heterogeneity index calculated for the middle and lower planes is 41.64% and 102.90% respectively, compared with 222.06% for the upper plane. An experimental study was carried out to validate the results of the simulation tool. The average relative absolute error of the CFD calculation is 0.31 on the middle plane and 0.15 on the lower plane. This numerical and experimental study is essential for understanding the mechanism of air circulation in cold stores.
Keywords
cold store, air velocity distribution, CFD, velocity heterogeneity index, mean relative error
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