EXPERIMENTAL FORCED SOLAR THIN LAYER GINGER DRYING

Abstract

In this research paper, the convective and the evaporative heat transfer coefficients of ginger (zingiber officinale) drying in an indirect solar cabinet dryer under the induced forced convection mode is presented. Experiments were conducted during the month of March 2015 under the climatic conditions of Hisar, India (29°5’5”N latitude and 75°45’55”E longitude). The experimental data obtained for solar drying of a constant ginger mass of 150 g has been used to determine constants ‘C’ and ‘n’ in the Nusselt number expression using linear regression analysis; consequently, the convective and the evaporative heat transfer coefficients have been evaluated. The average value of constants ‘C’ and ‘n’ were evaluated as 0.999 and 0.318, respectively. The average values of the convective and the evaporative heat transfer coefficients were found to be 3.95 W/m2 °C and 160.47 W/m2 °C, respectively, for the given mass samples of ginger. The average collector efficiency was observed to be 14.5%. The experimental error in terms of percentage uncertainty was found to be 20.87%.