Numerical Analysis and Preliminary Experiment of a Solar Assisted Heat Pump Drying System for Chinese Wolfberry

Zhongting Hu, Sheng Zhang, Wenfeng Chu, Wei He, Cairui Yu and Hancheng Yu
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Zhongting Hu: Department of Building Environment and Equipment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Sheng Zhang: Department of Building Environment and Equipment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Wenfeng Chu: Department of Building Environment and Equipment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Wei He: Department of Building Environment and Equipment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Cairui Yu: Department of Building Environment and Equipment, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Hancheng Yu: Department of Scientific Research and Technology, Qinghai College of Architectural Technology, Xining 810002, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: The present work investigated a solar assisted heat pump system for drying Chinese wolfberry. The kinetic characteristic was firstly analyzed through a series of lab experiments. It was concluded that the Page model was the most suitable for predicting the heat and mass transfer of the wolfberry. Based on the wolfberry kinetic model, solar collector model and chamber air model, the coupled drying system model was developed. The accuracy of the mathematic model was determined through comparing with the preliminary experimental results. The influence of operating conditions on the thermal and energy performance of the dryer for the different operating mode was discussed. The drying weight of no more than 75 kg may be preferable in the stand-alone solar drying mode, and less than 15 h was needed to be dried. The electric energy consumption in the solar assisted the heat pump drying mode was lower than that in the stand-alone heat pump mode, and it was recommended that about 50 kg of wolfberry to be dried in the solar assisted heat pump system. Compared to the autumn drying, the reduction in the electric energy consumption was around 9.1 kWh during the 11 h summer drying process. The obtained results demonstrated the feasibility of the combined system for drying wolfberry, and also can provide the basic theoretical and experimental data support for the following research.

Keywords: solar drying; heat pump; Chinese wolfberry; kinetic characteristic; electric energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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