Abstract: In order to strengthen the maintenance of fire hose, the closed drying device based on air source heat pump was designed, which can achieve the purpose of low energy consumption and fast drying. The effects of air supply temperature and air supply speed on the drying characteristics of two kinds of fire hose with rubber and polyurethane lining were analyzed by experimental method, and the drying models of two kinds of fire hose were established by fitting Wang and Singh drying models. When the air supply temperature increased by 10 ℃ from 30 ℃, the drying time of rubber and plastic fire hose decreased by 23.1% and 30.2% respectively, and that of polyurethane fire hose decreased by 25.1% and 43.4% respectively. Compared with the wind speed of 2 m/s, the drying time of the two materials of fire hose was not significantly reduced when the wind speed was 3 m/s, and was reduced by 9.3% and 30% respectively when the wind speed was 4 m/s. When the air supply speed was 3 m/s and the temperature was 30, 40 and 50 ℃, the drying time of the fire hose lined with polyurethane was 26.4%, 68.8% and 67.2% less than that lined with rubber and plastic respectively. When the air supply temperature was 50 ℃ and the air supply speed was 2, 3 and 4 m/s, the drying time of the fire hose lined with polyurethane was 34.8%, 40.1% and 49.8% less than that lined with rubber and plastic, respectively.

Key words: heat pump drying, fire hose, drying characteristics, drying model