Abstract
This paper presents the thermal modelling and experimental validation of a walk-in type solar tunnel dryer for drying of fenugreek leaves in Indian climatic conditions. The tunnel dryer is a metallic framed structure covered with a 200-μm ultraviolet stabilized plastic sheet. This dryer has a 5 × 3.75-m floor area and is 1.75 m in height. Its loading capacity of leafy vegetables is about 100 kg. The dryer works on natural convection mode, and maximum temperature attained during experiment was 58.11 °C. Fenugreek leaves were dried from moisture content of 89 % (wb) to 9 % (wb) in 17 solar hours under typical Indian climatic conditions. Experimental energy and exergy efficiency of drying chamber ranged from 2.72 to 28.01 % and 69.43 to 90.76 % respectively. The mathematical modelling was programmed in MATLAB version 2010a. The theoretical results agreed well with experiential data for drying of fenugreek leaves. Some additional parametric studies and payback period analysis are presented.
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