Design of Enhanced Virtual Reality Training Environments for Industrial Rotary Dryers Using Mathematical Modelling

Nowadays, drying in rotary dryers still faces some issues related to their low energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness and industrial safety. Nevertheless, rotary dryers are still widely used worldwide mainly due to their capacity to handle large volumes of material continuously and their ease of operation. Consequently, training of professionals in the use of industrial rotary dryers is still required. The aim of this paper is to present the development of virtual reality training environments for industrial rotary dryers using two case studies: ammonium nitrate and low-rank coal drying. In contrast to traditional virtual reality environments, those proposed in this paper are enhanced in terms of their behavioral aspects, as they are governed by validated mathematical models whose numerical integration provides the values of temperature and moisture content of the solid.