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Design and development of energy efficient solar tunnel dryer for industrial drying

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Abstract

A natural convection poly house walk-in type solar tunnel dryer was designed and used for drying surgical cotton on industrial scale. This article deals with the basic design criterion used for development of solar tunnel dryer and result of drying of surgical cotton in actual use. A batch of surgical cotton of 600 kg by mass, having an initial moisture content of 40% wet basis from which 210 kg of water is required to be removed to get a desired moisture content of about 5% wet basis, is used as the drying load in designing the dryer. A drying time of 7–8 h is assumed for the anticipated test location (Udaipur, 27° 42′ N, 75° 33′ E) with an expected average solar irradiance of 5.5 kW m−2. Average cost of drying one batch of surgical cotton in a solar tunnel dryer has been worked out to be approximately 4.63 USD as compared to 30.00 USD in the existing diesel fired dryer.

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Abbreviations

W :

Mass of product, kg

C p :

Specific heat of water, kJ kg−1°C−1

C a :

Specific heat of air, kJ kg−1C−1

T d :

Drying temperature, °C

T a :

Ambient temperature, °C

T e :

Temperature of moist air at chimney outlet, °C

M w :

Mass of water to be removed during drying, kg

m w :

Mass of water to be removed per hour, kg h−1

λ :

Latent heat of vaporization, kJ kg−1

m f :

Final moisture content, %

m i :

Initial moisture content, %

t d :

Assumed drying time, h

Q :

Total energy required, kJ

Q t :

Energy required per hour, kJ h−1

Q a :

Rate of air required, m3s−1

Q c :

Rate of air flow in chimney, m3s−1

r :

Radius of dryer (m)

L :

Length of dryer (m)

Rh am :

Ambient relative humidity, %

t d :

Drying period, h

I :

Incident solar radiation, MJ h−1 m−2

η:

Dryer efficiency

ρ a :

Density of air at ambient temperature, kg m−3

ρ e :

Density of exit air, kg m−3

D a :

Actual draft

D i :

Produced draft

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Dairy and Food Science Technology, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, 313 001, India

    N. S. Rathore

  2. Department of Renewable Energy Sources, College of Technology and Engineering, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan, 313 001, India

    N. L. Panwar

Authors
  1. N. S. Rathore
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  2. N. L. Panwar
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Correspondence to N. L. Panwar.

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Rathore, N.S., Panwar, N.L. Design and development of energy efficient solar tunnel dryer for industrial drying. Clean Techn Environ Policy 13, 125–132 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0279-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-010-0279-3

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