ANN and mathematical modelling for moisture evaporation with thermal modelling of bitter gourd flakes drying in SPVT solar dryer

The objective of this research work is to design and develop a forced convection solar dryer using evacuated tube air collector and study its performance on bitter gourd in Thanjavur District, Tamilnadu, India. The designed solar dryer consists of a drying chamber, evacuated tube air collector, a blower, and a chimney. Drying parameters, moisture ratio and drying rates, are calculated and their performance is compared with natural sun drying. The results of the present study show that the proposed solar dryer has greater efficiency, and the moisture content of bitter gourd is reduced from 91% to 6.25% in 6 hours as compared to 10 hours in natural sun drying. In this solar dryer, the products are uniformly dried, and the moisture content of the sample is controlled. It is found that the quality of the dried bitter gourd using solar dryer is higher than the natural sun-dried bitter gourd.

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EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON DRYING OF BLANCHED BITTER GOURD SLICES IN A TRIPLE PASS SOLAR DRYER

JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY ◽

10.24297/jac.v13i7.5796 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 6369-6375

Author(s):

S. Kesavan ◽

T.V. Arjunan ◽

S. Vijayan

Keyword(s):

Energy Storage ◽

Flat Plate ◽

Thermal Energy ◽

Thermal Energy Storage ◽

Thermal Storage ◽

Bitter Gourd ◽

Storage Medium ◽

Sun Drying ◽

Solar Dryer ◽

Flat Plate Collector

This paper involves with the experimental performance study of a triple pass solar flat plate collector integrated withÂ thermal energy storage medium for drying of blanched bitter gourd slices. The experimental setup consists of a blower, triple pass flat plate collector and a drying chamber. The experimets were carried out in the meterological conditions of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. The mass flow rate of air through the system was set as 0.06 kgs-1. From the results, it could be comprehended that, (i) triple pass arrangement of air improves the performance of flat plate collector (ii) thermal energy storage medium played an important role in consistent outlet air temperature and the thermal efficiency (iii) triple pass solar dryer took 5 hours to reach the final moisture content of bitter gourd (9% on wet basis) which is 29 % and 37.5% faster than without thermal storage and open sun drying system. It could be concluded that triple pass solar air collector performs better than without thermal storage and open sun drying.

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Experimental investigation of the performance of a solar dryer integrated with solid desiccant coloums using water based solar collector for medicinal herb

International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS) ◽

10.11591/ijpeds.v12.i2.pp1024-1033 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 1024

Author(s):

M. Yahya ◽

R. Hasibuan ◽

R. Sundari ◽

K. Sopian

Keyword(s):

Solar Collector ◽

Evaporation Rate ◽

Centella Asiatica ◽

Moisture Evaporation ◽

Water Storage Tank ◽

Average Value ◽

Average Temperature ◽

Solar Dryer ◽

Water Based ◽

Water Collector

This study is concerned with the analyses of performance on a solar dryer integrated with solid desiccant coloums using water based solar collector. The dryer consists of a solar water collector, two solid desiccant coloums, a water storage tank, two heat exchangers, an air heater, and a drying chamber. The dryer decreased the <em>Centella asiatica</em> L moisture content from 88.3% (wb) to 15.9% (wb) within 12 hours, with an average temperature and relative humidity of 45.4°C and 25.8%, respectively. The rate of moisture evaporation and the specific moisture evaporation rate were in the range of 0.001-1.762kg/h and 0.02-0.482 kg/kWh, with 0.594kg/h and 0.169kg/kWh in average values, respectively. The dryer efficiency was in the range of 0.62%-30.4%, with 15.4% in average value. The energy required for moisture evaporation and total energy input to the dryer were in the range of 26.9-1132.2W and 3638.0-4329.7W, with 601.8 W and 3967.4 W in average values, respectively. The efficiency of collector and the heat exchanger effectiveness were in the range of 38.1-50.5% and 65.1-79.7%, with 45.0% and 73.0% in average values, respectively. The result shows that the dryer is suitable for drying <em>Centella asiatica </em>L, this is due to the low temperature of drying air and high moisture evaporation rate.

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