Performance of a solar drier with and without heat storage material for copra drying

M. Mohanraj and P. Chandrasekar

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2009, vol. 31, issue 2, 112-121

Abstract: An indirect forced convection solar drier integrated with heat storage material was developed to test its performance for copra drying. The drier consists of a solar flat plate air heater integrated with a sensible heat storage unit, a drying chamber and a centrifugal blower. The experiments were carried out with and without the integration of heat storage materials. Sand mixed with aluminium scrap was used as a heat storage material in solar air heater. The moisture content (wet basis) of copra was reduced from about 52% to about 8% in 80 and 104 hour, respectively, for solar drier integrated with and without heat storage materials. The Specific Moisture Extraction Rate was estimated to be about 0.81 and 0.94 kg kW hour⁻¹ for the solar air heater with and without heat storage materials, respectively. The average solar drier thermal efficiency was estimated to be about 23% in both the drying modes.

Keywords: copra drying; heat storage materials; solar dryers; specific moisture extraction rate; SMER; indirect forced convection; solar energy; solar power; sand; aluminium scrap; solar air heaters. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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