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Experimental investigation of an indirect solar dryer with PCM-integrated solar collector as a thermal energy storage medium

  • Applied Solar Energy
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Abstract

An indirect-type forced convection solar dryer implementing a phase-changing material (PCM) as the energy-storing medium was designed, fabricated, and investigated in this study. The effects of changing the mass flow rate on the valuable energy and thermal efficiencies were studied. The experimental results showed that the instantaneous and daily efficiencies of the indirect solar dryer (ISD) increased with the initial increase in mass flow rate, beyond which the change is not prominent both with and without using the PCM. The system consisted of a solar energy accumulator (solar air collector with a PCM cavity), a drying compartment, and a blower. The charging and discharging characteristics of the thermal energy storage unit were evaluated experimentally. It was found that after using PCM, drying air temperature was higher than ambient air temperature by 9–12 ℃ after sunset for 4 h. Using PCM accelerated the process by which Cymbopogon citratus was effectively dried between 42 and 59 °C of drying air. Energy and exergy analysis of the drying process was performed. The daily energy efficiency of the solar energy accumulator reached 35.8%, while the daily exergy efficiency reached 13.84%. The exergy efficiency of the drying chamber was in the range of 47–97%. A free energy source, a large reduction in drying time, a higher drying capacity, a decrease in mass losses, and improved product quality all contributed to the proposed solar dryer’s high potential.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

\(A\) :

Collection area, m2

\({C}_{p}\) :

Specific heat, kJ kg K−1

\({\dot{E}}_{id}\) :

Inlet exergy, W

\({\dot{E}}_{od}\) :

Outlet exergy, W

\({\dot{E}}_{los}\) :

Loss exergy, W

\(\dot{E}\) :

Exergy rate, W

\(g\) :

Gravitational acceleration, m s−2

\(h\) :

Enthalpy, kJ kg−1

\(f\) :

Convective heat transfer coefficient, W m−2 K−1

\(I\) :

Solar radiation, W m−2

\({L}_{F}\) :

Latent heat, J kg−1

\(m\) :

Mass, kg

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate of air, kg s−1

\(Q\) :

Heat rate, W

\(T\) :

Temperature, ℃

\({T}^{*}\) :

Apparent sun temperature,K

\({T}_{0}\) :

Outlet temperature of the solar collector,℃

\({T}_{m}\) :

Melting temperature,℃

\(t\) :

Drying time, h

\(V\) :

Velocity, m s−1

\(w\) :

Specific humidity,g g−1

\({w}_{R}\) :

Uncertainty in the result,

\({w}_{\eta }\) :

Uncertainty in the efficiency of solar collector,

\({w}_{{\eta }_{d}}\) :

Uncertainty in the efficiency of drying chamber,

\({w}_{{\eta }_{E}}\) :

Uncertainty in exergy efficiency of the drying chamber,

\({\eta }_{0}\) :

Optical yield (dimensionless)

\(\alpha \tau\) :

Absorbance-transmittance product

\({\eta }_{E}\) :

Exergetic efficiency of drying chamber %

Δt :

Difference in time

φ :

Night-time useful heat

ψ :

Exergy efficiency of solar collector (%)

o :

Outlet flow

Amb :

Ambient conditions

F :

Fusion

ch :

Charging process

dis :

Discharging process

ini_ch :

Initial charging process

ini_dis :

Initial discharging process

fin_ch :

Finish of charging process

fin_dis :

Finish of discharging process

d :

Drying chamber

r :

Reference

i :

Inlet, inflow

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly acknowledge the research facility provided by the Department of Food Processing Technology at the Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology, Malda, and Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Tezpur University, for giving the assistance required to carry out this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam, 784028, India

    Abdullah Bareen, Paragmoni Kalita & Kshirod Kumar Dash

  2. Centre for Management Studies, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, 791109, India

    Soumya Dash

  3. Department of Food Processing Technology, Ghani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology (GKCIET), Malda, West Bengal, 732141, India

    Kshirod Kumar Dash

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  1. Abdullah Bareen
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Contributions

Mohammed Abdullah Bareen: Writing original draft, reviewed, edited.

Soumya Dash: Writing original draft, reviewed, edited.

Paragmoni Kalita: Reviewed, edited.

Kshirod Kumar Dash: Conceptualized, writing original draft, reviewed, edited, supervision.

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Correspondence to Kshirod Kumar Dash.

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Bareen, A., Dash, S., Kalita, P. et al. Experimental investigation of an indirect solar dryer with PCM-integrated solar collector as a thermal energy storage medium. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 18209–18225 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26690-2

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