Development and Techno-Economic Analysis of a Tracked Indirect Forced Solar Dryer Integrated Photovoltaic System for Drying Tomatoes

Abdallah Elshawadfy Elwakeel (), Mohsen A. Gameh, Awad Ali Tayoush Oraiath, Ahmed S. Eissa, Salah Elsayed, Wael M. Elmessery, Mostafa B. Mostafa, Sadeq K. Alhag, Laila A. Al-Shuraym, Moustapha Eid Moustapha, Ahmed Elbeltagi, Ali Salem () and Aml Abubakr Tantawy
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Abdallah Elshawadfy Elwakeel: Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt
Mohsen A. Gameh: Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt
Awad Ali Tayoush Oraiath: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Omar Al Mukhtar University, Al Bayda 991, Libya
Ahmed S. Eissa: Agricultural Products Process Engineering Department, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11751, Egypt
Salah Elsayed: Agriculture Engineering, Evaluation of Natural Resources Department, Environmental Studies and Research Institute, University of Sadat City, Menoufia 32897, Egypt
Wael M. Elmessery: Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33516, Egypt
Mostafa B. Mostafa: Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt
Sadeq K. Alhag: Biology Department, College of Science and Arts, King Khalid University, Muhayl Asser 61913, Saudi Arabia
Laila A. Al-Shuraym: Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia
Moustapha Eid Moustapha: Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Elbeltagi: Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt
Ali Salem: Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt
Aml Abubakr Tantawy: Food Science and Technology Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Aswan University, Aswan 81528, Egypt

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-29

Abstract: Fresh tomato fruits (TFs) contain a high moisture content of 90–94%, which makes storage and transportation over long distances difficult. Lately, numerous investigators have employed diverse solar dryers (SDs) in conjunction with stationary solar collectors (SCs) to dry tomatoes; however, the effectiveness of this technique is limited due to the sun’s constant motion throughout the day. Consequently, the current study set out to create an SD that is outfitted with an autonomous sun tracking system and an internet of things (IoT)-based photovoltaic system connected to an SC to continually track the sun and increase the quantity of energy absorbed. Furthermore, we investigated some operating parameters that impact the SD’s performance, taking into account three tomato slice thicknesses (STs) (4.0, 6.0, and 8.0 mm) and three air velocities (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 m/s). The obtained data demonstrated a notable rise in the efficiency of the SD integrated with the automatic SC tracker throughout the course of the day when compared to the fixed SC, where the latter’s efficiency improved by 21.6%, indicating a strong degree of agreement. The results demonstrated a notable 20–25% reduction in drying time and a 4.9 °C increase in air temperature within the SC integrated with an automatic solar collector tracker (ASCT) at 2:00 p.m., as compared to the SC integrated with a fixed SC. The results of this study also demonstrated that there were no appreciable variations in the air speeds used to dry the tomatoes; however, the thickness of the tomato slices (TSs) had a significant impact; using 4 mm thick tomato slices resulted in a 50% reduction in drying time. Furthermore, the highest efficiency of the PV system was discovered to be 17.45%. Although the two solar dryers have very similar payback times, there are more dried tomatoes available in the markets.

Keywords: automatic systems; internet of things; photovoltaic cell; solar drying; solar tracking systems; tomato (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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