Multi-scale modeling and simulation of IR radiative drying for coil coating processes

Abstract

The present work reports the development of a multi-scale model to predict and control the drying behavior of a coated substrate under infrared (IR) radiant burners. The model accounts for simultaneous heat and mass transfer in a liquid film layer, characterized by a binary polymer-solvent solution. The multi-scale model developed works with two distinguished scales, a micro(coating film)- and a macro(oven)-scale, which are connected by an iterative two-way coupling procedure. Along iterations of the coupling procedure the solution converges until it fulfills the convergence parameter prescribed. The model is widely validated with reference results and inspecting convergence criterion. Parametric studies are performed to investigate the effect of radiative over convective heating and the influence of specific oven operating conditions. It follows that drying by means of radiative energy minimizes the energy consumption, lowers the drying time, and higher drying efficiencies are achieved than with conventional convective drying.