CFD modeling and experimental study of solar conduction dryer
2021
Chavan, Anand | Vitankar, Vivek | Thorat, Bhaskar
Solar conduction dryer is a unique technology that uses conduction, convection, and radiation mechanism of heat transfer, making it one of the most efficient drying systems. Quantitative analysis shows that the mode of conduction and radiation was found to be more predominant as compared to convective drying. It is the most cost-effective dryer, which runs on no electricity, has already made inroads in the global market. In this study, computational fluid dynamics studies were carried out for a given geometry and the corresponding boundary conditions. The simulation study was carried out within the confined region to obtain the temperature profile and compare them with the experimental data. The results encouraged to look into certain modifications and carry out simulation studies. Few pragmatic modifications in the solar conduction dryer were tested using the same mathematical model, and the results were encouraging in boosting further the energy efficiency of the dryer. The proposed modifications were found to be superior leading to higher operating parameters such as outlet air velocity, outlet air temperature, intermediate plate temperature, and material handling capacity. The use of groove absorber in place of flat absorber provided slightly large surface area for heat transfer with further increase in convective heat transfer.
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