Temperature control of paddy bulk storage with

aeration–thermosyphon heat pipe

Natthawud Dussadee a, Tammasak Punsaensri b, Tanongkiat Kiatsiriroat b,*

a
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Production, Maejo University, Chiang Mai 50290, Thailand
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

Abstract

A technology of an aeration–thermosyphon heat pipe is developed for controlling paddy temperature in a paddy bulk silo. A proto-
type of paddy bulk storage of 1000 kg has a set of copper tubes with steel fins embedded in the paddy bed. The total heat transfer area of
the tubes with fins is 16 m2. The tubes act as the evaporator of a thermosyphon heat pipe and absorb heat resulting from the paddy
respiration. The thermosyphon has a total condenser area of 12.2 m2 that is exposed to ambient air. At the bottom of the silo, ambient
air is fed upward through the paddy bed for the aeration. The initial moisture content of the paddy is around 12.8% wet basis.
A mathematical model to predict the paddy bed temperature in the silo with the hybrid aeration–thermosyphon is developed, and the
results agree very well with the experimental data. The operating period of its blower could be found from the simulation. The blower is
on when the paddy bed temperature, Tb, is over or equal to 28 °C and the difference temperature between the bed and the ambient, Td, is
over or equal to 1 °C. The appropriate evaporator area should be over 8 m2. At the area of 8 m2, the operation time of the blower is 8–9%
of the annual period compared with 30–40% for normal aeration alone. The monthly paddy bed temperature could be maintained
between 24 and 27 °C under the climate of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Keywords: Thermosyphon heat pipe; Aeration; Paddy storage; Simulation

1. Introduction
Paddy deterioration during storage due to heat gener-
ated from the paddy respiration is normally controlled by
ventilating cooled air or ambient air throughout the bed
(aeration process) to reduce the bed temperature. Although
the aeration technique is reasonable to maintain a fairly
uniform paddy temperature throughout the storage, how-
ever, some vapor condensation on cold surfaces of the
paddy or the wall of the storage might occur and regener-
ate moisture into the paddy. Moreover, the annual fan
operating time for ventilation is rather high, sometimes
up to 30–40% of the annual period [1] for ambient air
aeration.
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 53 944144x943; fax: +66 53 944145.
E-mail address: tanong@dome.eng.cmu.ac.th (T. Kiatsiriroat).
Recently, a self heat rejecting paddy bed storage has been
firstly designed and constructed by Kiatsiriroat and Dussa-
dee [2]. The thermosyphon technique is used instead of aer-
ation. A set of evaporators of the thermosyphon is
embedded in the paddy and extracts the heat resulting from
the respiration. The heat is rejected to the ambient at the
condenser, which is at the upper part of the storage tank.
It is found that the temperature could be controlled at about
38 °C and 29 °C compared with 65 °C and 32 °C for the unit
without any temperature control for paddy of 26.9% and
13.5% moisture content (wet basis), respectively. The unit
having the thermosyphon heat pipe is also compared with
that having only aeration. The rice quality is nearly the same
for both cases, but the previous one has no electrical con-
sumption. Dussadee and Kiatsiriroat [3] also recommended
that the evaporator area of 16 m2 is suitable for the weather
data of Chiang Mai for 1000 kg of paddy.
 Nomenclature

Ac heat transfer area of copper tube, m2 Pv working pressure, kPa

Ae heat transfer area at evaporator section, m2 t storage time, h
Cpb specific heat of paddy, J/kg °C Tv working fluid temperature, °C
Cpw specific heat of water, J/kg °C Tb paddy bed temperature, °C
DML dry matter loss, ratio Tw,o outlet water temperature, °C
hi enthalpy of inlet air, J/kg Tw,i inlet water temperature, °C
ho enthalpy of outlet air, J/kg Tw average of inlet and outlet water temperature,
m_ mass flow rate, kg/s °C
m_ w water mass flow rate, kg/s Dt interval of storage time, s
m_ a air mass flow rate, kg/s Q_ heat generated due to paddy respiration, W
m_ m rate of moisture increase due to paddy respira- W humidity ratio, kg H2O/kg dry air
tion, kg-H2O/s Wi humidity ratio of inlet air, kg H2O/kg dry air
Mb mass of paddy, kg Wo humidity ratio of outlet air, kg H2O/kg dry air
Mw paddy moisture content, % wb U overall heat transfer coefficient, W/m2C
Pvs saturation vapor pressure of water, kPa / relative humidity, ratio

In this study, the benefit of the hybrid unit using the bed is recorded by a hot wire anemometer having an accu-
thermosyphon and aeration is proposed. A better heat racy of ±0.05 m/s. A set of 16 chromel–alumel (K-type)
transfer rate is obtained when there is air flowing through thermocouples connected with a data logger having an
the paddy bed. Thus, the evaporator area of the thermosy- accuracy of ±1 °C is used for measuring the working fluid
phon could be reduced and the annual fan operating time temperatures, the paddy bed temperatures and the ambient
could be less. air temperature as shown in Fig. 2. Moreover, the paddy
The research objective is to find the aeration–thermosy- bed temperature of the silo without any temperature con-
phon control strategy for maintaining the stored paddy trol is also investigated to compare the results with those
temperature at a desired temperature, including the appro- of the hybrid aeration–thermosyphon unit.
priate evaporator area. A mathematical model to predict
the paddy bed temperature of the hybrid aeration–ther- 3. Theoretical analysis
mosyphon is also developed.
3.1. Heat generated due to paddy respiration
2. Experimental setup
The rate of heat generated Q_ due to paddy respiration
The aeration–thermosyphon paddy bulk storage, as can be expressed by the chemical reaction as [4]
shown in Fig. 1, consists of a steel cylinder with diameter C6 H12 O6 þ 6O2 ! 6CO2 þ 6H2 O þ 2:831 ðMJÞ: ð1Þ
of 1250 mm and length of 1500 mm. A set of copper tubes
with steel rectangular fins having a total heat transfer area
of 16 m2 is used as the evaporator of the thermosyphon and
is embedded in the paddy bed of 1000 kg. The experiments
are performed with the paddy moisture content of 12.8%
wet basis (the paddy moisture content is determined by
drying 50 g of paddy sample at the temperature of 103 °C
for 72 h in a hot air oven). Two sets of finned tube heat
exchangers with a total area of 12.2 m2 are used as the con-
denser section, and R22 is the working fluid in the ther-
mosyphon. The fluid absorbs heat from the paddy bed,
then vaporizes and finally condenses in the condenser sec-
tion which is cooled by ambient air. After condensation,
the liquid returns to the bottom end of the thermosyphon
by gravity. The dimensions of the thermosyphon paddy
bed storage are summarized in Table 1. Ambient air of
0.11 m3/min is ventilated upward throughout the paddy
bed with a blower of 1/8 hp, which is the smallest size in Fig. 1. The experimental setup: (a) thermosyphon and (b) aeration–
practice. The ventilating air velocity through the paddy thermosyphon paddy bulk storage.
Table 1 15; 778ðDMLÞ
Summary of the thermosyphon paddy bulk storage specification DT ¼ : ð3Þ
C pb
System components Dimensions
Bin diameter (mm) 1250
Bin length (mm) 1500 3.2. Paddy bed temperature
Evaporator area (m2) 16
Condenser area (m2) 12.7 The mathematical model used for the hybrid unit is
Working fluid (mm) R22 developed from a lumped capacity analysis that assumes
Working fluid volume (100% of evaporator) (kg) 22.54 a uniform temperature distribution throughout the paddy
Paddy capacities (kg) 1000
Blower power (hp) 1/8 bed. If the heat loss through the wall surface is neglected,
the energy balance of the paddy bed for a time interval
can be expressed as follows:
When 1 kg of dry matter is oxidized by 1.07 kg of oxygen,
1.47 kg of carbon dioxide, 0.6 kg of water and 15.78 MJ of increase in energy of paddy bed during time interval
heat are liberated. When the paddy respires, carbohydrate dt = heat generated in paddy bed + enthalpy change of
in the paddy is consumed and causes dry matter loss air stream  net heat transfer between paddy bed and
(DML). The DML could also indicate the amount of heat working fluid in the thermosyphon.
generated from the paddy respiration.
Dry matter loss (DML) is a function of time, tempera-
ture and moisture content. It is written in empirical form dT b
as [5] M b C pb ¼ Q_ þ mðh
_ i  ho Þ  UAe ðT b  T v Þ: ð4Þ
dt
DML ¼ 1  expðTERMÞ; ð2Þ The temperature after a time increment Dt can be rewritten
where in numerical form as
t

C Mw



TERM ¼ A 1000
expðDð1:8T b  28ÞÞ exp E 100
 0:14 . Dt
T tþDt
b ¼ ttb þ ðQ_ þ mðh
_ i  ho Þ  UAe ðT b  T v ÞÞ: ð5Þ
A ¼ 0:000914; C ¼ 0:654; D ¼ 0:03756; E ¼ 33:61: M b C pb
t, Tb and Mw are time lapse, bed temperature and moisture The term DtQ=M_ p C pb is the temperature increment
content, respectively. The temperature increment due to due to the heat generation in the paddy and could be
heat generated in the paddy could be calculated from the calculated from the equation developed by Seib et al.
equation developed by Seib et al. [5] as (1980) as

Airflow direction

Heat sink
Condenser Heatflow direction
section

Paddy bed temperature sensor

Copper tube

Storage bin
Evaporator
section
Heat Paddy bed
source
Working fluid temperature sensor

T
V Blower

On-off blower

Paddy bed temperature (Tb) Different

temperature
controller

Ambient air
temperature (Ta)

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the measuring points.

 DtQ_ 15; 778ðDMLÞ U ¼ 13:4883 expð0:0083M w Þ: ð14Þ
¼ : ð6Þ
M p C pb C pb The maximum uncertainty of the experimental values of
The temperature of the working fluid in the heat pipe, Tv, is the heat transfer coefficient is ±6%, and the model in
assumed to be the average value of the bed temperature Tb Eq. (14) could fit the experimental data within ±5%
and ambient temperature Ta, i.e., error.
Ta þ Tb 3.4. Air property equations
Tv ¼ : ð7Þ
2
By directly measuring, the working fluid temperature, Tv, The air property equation used for simulating the paddy
agrees very well with the result from Eq. (7). bed temperature is given as
The enthalpy of the inlet air and the outlet air could be Pv 101:325W
evaluated as /¼ ¼ ; ð15Þ
P vs ð0:622P vs þ WP vs Þ
hi ¼ 1:006T i þ W i ð2502  1:775T i Þ; ð8Þ Pvs is the saturation vapor pressure of water, which is cal-
ho ¼ 1:006T o þ W o ð2502  1:775T o Þ: ð9Þ culated by Wilheim [6] as
7511:52
Assume that the humidity change in the air stream is lnðP vs Þ ¼  þ 89:63121 þ 0:023998979T abs
caused only by the moisture liberated from the paddy res- T abs
piration. Therefore, the mass balance of the air could be  1:1654551  105 T 2abs  1:2810336
written as  108 T 3abs þ 2:0998405  1011 T 4abs
m_ a w1 þ m_ m ¼ m_ a wo : ð10Þ  12:150799T abs ; 273:16 K
Thus, the humidity ratio of the outlet air can be rewritten < T abs < 393:16 K; ð16Þ
as
Tabs is absolute temperature and W is the humidity ratio,
m_ m which is given by
wo ¼ wi þ : ð11Þ
m_ a 0:622/P vs
W ¼ : ð17Þ
The humidity increase in the air due to paddy respiration P v  /P vs
during time interval Dt can be calculated from

0:6ðDMLÞðM b Þ 3.5. On–off blower control strategy for aeration–

m_ m ¼ : ð12Þ
Dt
3.3. Overall heat transfer coefficient at the evaporator section
The overall heat transfer coefficient between the paddy
bed and the working fluid inside the evaporator section
has been experimentally determined by feeding cooling
water in a set of copper tubes similar to those of the exper-
iment in Section 2 and extracting heat from the paddy bed.
The inlet and outlet water temperatures, the paddy bed
temperature, the water mass flow rate and the air mass flow
rate are recorded with the same measuring instruments as
thermosyphon paddy silo
To find the on–off blower control strategy and the
appropriate evaporator area for the aeration–thermosy-
phon paddy storage, the following strategy is used.
The blower is on when the bed temperature, Tb, is higher
than the ambient temperature, Ta, and the difference
(Tb  Ta) is more than a set difference value, Td. The unit
25
Heat transfer coefficient (W/sq.m-C)

indicated in the previous section. The term of heat transfer

rate can be calculated by 20

m_ w C pw ðT w;o  T w;i Þ ¼ UAc ðT b  T w Þ;

T w ¼ 0:5ðT w;o  T w;i Þ: ð13Þ 15

A paddy of 100 kg with moisture contents of 12%, 20% and

29% wet basis have been tested to evaluate the overall heat 10
transfer coefficient at the evaporator of the thermosyphon
heat pipe.
It is found that higher moisture content gives higher 5
heat transfer coefficient as shown in Fig. 3. The empirical 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
correlation for estimating the overall heat transfer coeffi- Moisture content (%, wb)

cient could be Fig. 3. Heat transfer coefficient at the evaporator section.

is also on when the bed temperature, Tb, is higher than its 4. Results and discussion
set temperature, Ts. Thus, the blower is on when
Tb  Ta P Td 4.1. Paddy bed temperature

and Fig. 5 shows the paddy bed temperature with various

T b > T s; conditions: (a) without any temperature control, (b) the
bed with thermosyphon, (c) the bed with continuous ambi-
T b > T a:
ent air aeration, (d) the bed with continuous aeration–ther-
Otherwise, the blower is off. mosyphon and (e) the bed with intermittent aeration–
The computer flow chart for predicting the paddy bed thermosyphon. The experimental data are examined when
temperature is shown in Fig. 4. the moisture content of the bed is 12.8% wet basis in the

start

Input data
moisture content, air flow rate,
padd weight, evaporator weight,
wheather data, paddy bed temperature

cal. spacific heat of paddy

cal. Term
cal. DML

cal. temperature increment due paddy respiration

cal. saturating vapor pressur, Pvs
cal. humidity ratio of inlet air, w i
cal. enthalpy of inlet air, h i

cal.moisture increased rate due to paddy respiration

cal. humidity ratio of outlet air, wo
cal. enthalpy of outlet air, h o

no, blower off yes, blower on

(Tb-Ta ) ≥ T d and (Tb >Ts )
no, blower off

case: hybrid aeration-thermosyphon

yes, blower off paddy bulk storage
(Tb-Ta<Td ) and (T b>Ts ) cal. overall heat transfer coefficient, U
cal. sum fan oerating time

case : only thermosyphon paddy bulk

no, blower off storage
cal. overall heat transfer coefficient, U
ma =0
case : without any tempeatue
controls
cal. U=0, ma =0

cal. paddy bed temperature, Tb at next time

ma=m ai

end of data

stop

Fig. 4. Flow chart of the paddy bed temperature simulation.

winter season (November–December, 2003). It is found and therefore, the bed temperature will be up when the
that the temperature of the bed of case (a) is slightly warm air during the daytime is fed to the bed. Therefore,
increased from its initial temperature because of the heat both continuous ambient air ventilations in cases (c) and
accumulated in the bed due to paddy respiration. In cases (d) may not be appropriate to control the paddy bed tem-
(b)–(d), the paddy bed temperatures are decreased since perature. For case (e), the paddy storage having the ther-
there are heat rejections by either the thermosyphon or aer- mosyphon is intermittently aerated when the ambient air
ation. Moreover, it is seen that the paddy bed temperature temperature is lower than the paddy bed temperature. It
in cases (c) and (d) are close to the ambient air temperature, is found that the average paddy bed temperature is nearly

50 50

Tpaddy
Tpaddy

Paddy bed temperature (°C)

Paddy bed temperature (°C)

40 40 Tambient
Tambient

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
(a) Storage time (h) (b) Storage time (h)

50 50

Tpaddy Tpaddy
Paddy bed temperature (°C)
Paddy bed temperature (°C)

40 Tambient 40 Tambient

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
(c) Storage time (h) (d) Storage time (h)

50

Tpaddy
Paddy bed temperature (°C)

40 Tambient

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50
(e) Storage time (h)

Fig. 5. Experimental data of paddy bed temperature for various paddy storage control strategies. Paddy moisture content is about 12.8% wet basis. (a)
Paddy bed temperature without any control, (b) paddy bed temperature with thermosyphon paddy bulk storage, (c) paddy bed temperature with
continuous aeration, (d) paddy bed temperature with continuous aeration–thermosyphon and (e) paddy bed temperature with continuous and intermittent
aeration–thermosyphon.
at the lowest level of the ambient air temperature, as shown 36

Average paddy bed temperarure (°C)

in Fig. 5(e). This means that the aeration–thermosyphon
paddy storage has a potential to reduce the paddy bed tem- 34 Td=1
perature to a desired temperature. Td=5
32
In this paper, the on–off control strategy of the blower
and the appropriate evaporator area of the paddy storage
30
are also considered.
28
4.2. Comparison of paddy bed temperature from
mathematical model and experimental data 26

Fig. 6 shows the comparison of the paddy bed tempera- 24

ture from the model developed and the experimental data 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
for the silo with continuous aeration–thermosyphon. It is Heat transfer area (m2)
found that the simulated results agree very well with the Fig. 7. Simulated annual paddy bed temperature at various evaporator
experimental data. Thus, the mathematical model devel- areas. (Hybrid unit with aeration–thermosyphon with temperature
oped is a good approach to predict the paddy bed temper- control.)
ature in silo with aeration–thermosyphon and is used to
investigate the on–off blower control strategy. 80
The case of hybrid unit having aeration–thermosyphon
with continuous ventilating ambient air. The maximum 70
Td=1
Annual fan operating time (%)

uncertainty of the experimental paddy temperature is ±6%. 60 Td=5

50
4.3. On–off blower control strategies for aeration–
thermosyphon 40

30
4.3.1. Effect of evaporator area
20
Fig. 7 shows the simulated annual paddy bed tempera-
ture with various evaporator areas of the paddy silo with 10
intermittent aeration–thermosyphon paddy bulk storage. 0
It is found that the evaporator area and the difference 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
between the temperature of the paddy and the ambient air Heat transfer area (m2)
(Td) strongly affect the paddy bed temperature. The paddy Fig. 8. Simulated annual fan operating time at various evaporator areas.
bed needs a temperature for the whole year to be below (Hybrid unit with aeration–thermosyphon with temperature control.)
28 °C (Ts), which is the recommended temperature to delay
paddy deterioration due to the heat liberated from respira-
tion [7]. The minimum evaporator area required should be 40
over 4 and 6 m2 at temperature differences, Td, of 1 and 36
Paddy bed temperature (°C)

5 °C, respectively, and the annual fan operating time is 32

35.7% and 14.1%, respectively, as shown in Fig. 8. It is 28
24
20
40
16
35 12
Paddy bed temperature (°C)

8
30
4

25 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
20 Month
Tpaddy,model
Tpaddy,exp Fig. 9. Simulated annual paddy bed temperature with selected aeration
15
Tambient condition. (Hybrid unit with aeration–thermosyphon with temperature
control.)
10
0 10 20 30 40 50
Storage time (h) found that the temperature difference, Td, affects the annual
Fig. 6. Comparison of paddy bed temperature from mathematical model fan operating time insignificantly when the evaporator area
and experimental data. is over 8 m2. Therefore, the evaporator area should be over
8 m2. At the area of 8 m2, the annual fan operating time is
8–9%. Fig. 9 also shows the paddy bed temperature when
the evaporator area is 8 m2, which could be maintained
between 24 and 27 °C for the whole year round.
5. Conclusions
A mathematical model to predict the paddy bed temper-
ature of a hybrid aeration–thermosyphon paddy bulk stor-
age is developed and validated with experimental results. It
is then utilized as a tool to find the blower control strategy
and the evaporator area for maintaining the stored paddy
temperature at the desired value. It could be found that
1. The evaporator area should be over 8 m2 for 1000 kg
paddy.
2. The on–off blower control strategy is Ts 28 °C and Td
1 °C.
3. The annual fan operating time is 8–9% when the evapo-
rator area is 8 m2 for which the monthly paddy bed tem-
perature is maintained between 24 and 27 °C at the
climate of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to
the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) for financial support
of this project.
References
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