Heat and mass transfer through fabric: a model for fabric drying with heated cylinders

TL;DR

This paper presents a mathematical model for fabric drying with heated cylinders, predicting drying time and moisture content, validated with real industrial data to improve energy efficiency and product quality.

Contribution

The work introduces a novel mathematical model for textile drying with heated cylinders, incorporating parameter estimation and validation with real-world data.

Findings

Model accurately predicts drying time and residual moisture.

Validated with data from an Italian textile company.

Provides insights for optimizing drying processes.

Abstract

Textile drying is a key operation in the textile production cycle as it represents one of the most energy-intensive stages and plays a critical role in determining both product quality and overall process efficiency. In this work we propose a mathematical model for the drying process of a generic textile material using heated cylinders, operating under low-pressure conditions. The model's parameters are estimated by nonlinear least squares regression. Given a specific fabric, the developed model allows to predict the drying time and the residual moisture content. The model is validated using real world data provided by a major Italian textile company.