Analytical Solutions to the Drying of Textile Materials with Microwave Heating

An analytical model of internal transport characteristics of a textile material during drying using microwave heating is developed. The model is simplified for each period of drying (initial adjustment, liquid movement, constant rate, and falling rate) using existing experimental data and certain known characteristics of microwave heating. Solutions to these reduced modeling equations are obtained for the initial adjustment period and the constant rate period, which are the drying periods comprising the majority of the drying processes of most textile materials of interest. The analytical results are compared to the available experimental data, and a correlation is obtained in the prediction of drying rates, internal temperature profiles, and internal pressure distribution.