Experimental analysis and thermal performance of evacuated tube solar collector assisted solar dryer

Abstract

The solar drying of agricultural products is considered the most excellent green and sustainable agricultural product conservation method. The advancement of effective drying system design and agricultural products drying characteristics will increase product conservation. The current research work focuses on the investigation analysis of evacuated tube assisted solar dryer in eliminating the moisture ratio present in the crops. The temperature can be controlled and maintained by regulating the flow rate of flowing hot water inside the drying chamber with heat exchanger. The thermal performance of evacuated tube solar collector assisted solar dryer and open sun drying method were compared. Due to advancements in solar dryers, its drying cabin temperature increased. Consequences indicated that using a hybrid greenhouse solar dryer decreased the drying period while equating to open sun drying. All the experiments are performed under the environmental condition of Gwalior-India (26.2183° N, 78.1828° E) during the days of February 25, 2021 and February 26, 2021. The temperature difference between drying methods during the experiment was recorded 14.35℃ and 13.95℃ on the first day and second day of experiments, respectively. Also the relative humidity of open sun drying method is more in comparison to hybrid greenhouse solar drying. Time need to reduce moisture by using advanced solar dry systems recorded 7 h, while in open sun drying 10 h. The results show that drying time is 30% more in open sun drying.