Abstract
This work presents verification of a mathematical model for drying of a wood stack in a greenhouse type solar dryer. A simplified heat and mass transfer numerical model has been developed with input parameters based on the actual metrological data of a Moroccan climate. For its validation, a comparative study is performed in this work; the present model is solved to simulate the solar drying of pine wood using experimental data of previous wood drying experiments. The average relative discrepancies between the model predicted and experimental data are 1,2% for wood moisture content, 1% for drying air temperature and 5% for the air relative humidity. The close agreement between the predicted and experimental results shows the ability of the model to reproduce experimental drying data for wood.
Highlights
In the past few decades, considerable work has been done on the development of new drying technologies
To confirm and quantify the validity of the modelling, we have evaluated the average relative error of the predicted results compared with the measured ones during the whole drying time
A mathematical model for wood drying process developed on the basis of heat and mass transfer within the wood and the drying air is used to describe theoretically the pine solar drying process
Summary
In the past few decades, considerable work has been done on the development of new drying technologies Many of these studies are on the use of solar dryers for wood drying. The drying time is significantly shorter than open air drying, damage of the wood during drying could be avoided, drying to a very low equilibrium moisture content is possible for most locations, operating costs are low and less skill is required to operate than for conventional dryers since neither special control equipment nor fuel is necessary. The quality of dried wood was mostly better compared to normal air drying and to conventional dryer drying. Another semi-greenhouse solar dryer was designed and constructed in Egypt to dry Casuarina (Helwa et al 2004). With the same drying time, the boards were dried inside solar dryer to moisture content lower than for air drying
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