Physics‐based numerical simulation of heat and moisture transport in red chili subjected to mix‐mode solar drying with phase change energy storage

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, a coupled heat and mass transfer model was developed using a finite element (FE) simulation approach to describe solar drying of red chili integrated with Na2SO4∙10H2O as phase change material thermal storage. The coupled heat and mass transfer equation solution was achieved by using COMSOL multiphysics with three‐dimensional (3D) axisymmetric geometry mesh generation. The Lagrange triangular FEs of very fine size were employed in obtaining the geometry of the mesh. This study adopts a time‐dependent study that shows the variation of time within 0, 2, 3, 4, and 5 hours, respectively, for continuous drying of red chili in the solar dryer. The effect of air temperature and thermal storage on temperature and moisture distribution on drying of red chili was investigated. The temperature distribution was not uniform and heat transfer at the base was higher than the tip while there is a clear moisture gradient for different drying times, though this moisture moves from the base to the tip and more uniform distribution was obtained after 4 hours of drying. Drying temperature increased from a side to the core of the sample as the drying progresses. Although thermal storage accelerated the drying process, solar radiation showed a greater influence on the drying process. The developed numerical model with the experimental results showed the same trend with the values of MAE and SE for temperature found to be 0.48132 and 0.000842 for the without thermal storage (NTS) sample, 0.2266 and 30.000551 for thermal storage (TS). Also, the values of MAE and SE are 0.0051 and 0.006048 for NTS, 0.00212 and 0.00538 for TS, respectively for moisture profile. The lower values of these errors specify a better prediction capability of the model code.