Efficient solar drying techniques: a review
2022
Jangde, Prashant Kumar | Singh, Anurag | Arjunan, Thottipalayam Vellingri
In the absence of effective drying techniques, a lot of food gets wasted as there is a lack of post-harvest processes. In India, most of the agricultural produces like paddy, maize, wheat, corn, oil seeds, pulses, chillies, etc. require a temperature range of 50–80 °C for effective drying. Hence, in these conditions, solar drying techniques seem to be the most economical; also, it is safe and eco-friendly. Various types of solar dryers are used across India and worldwide; these are direct solar dryer, green house dryer and indirect solar dryer. Nowadays, indirect type solar dryers are most commonly used because of their several advantages over direct solar dryers. In case of indirect type solar dryers, the products to be dried are kept inside a separate compartment known as drying chamber. Hot air is obtained from the solar collectors either by direct heating method or by using a secondary heating medium and then supplied to the drying chamber for heating of the products. This paper presents a detailed review of various innovative designs of indirect type solar dryers and compares the performance of different types of dryer configuration in terms of collector efficiency, dryer efficiency, drying time and maximum air temperature. Also, the effects of various operating parameters on the thermal performance of such dryers have been discussed.
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