120004050_DRT_020_005_R1.

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DRYING TECHNOLOGY, 20(5), 1239–1267 (2002)

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DESIGN AND TESTING OF A NEW
9 SOLAR TRAY DRYER
10
11
12 N. A. Vlachos,1 T. D. Karapantsios,1,2,*
13 A. I. Balouktsis,3 and D. Chassapis3
14
1
15 Department of Food Technology,
16 Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki,
17 P.O. Box 14561, 541 01, Thessaloniki, Greece
2
18 Department of Chemistry, Chemical Technology
19 Division, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
20 (Box 116), 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece
3
21 Department of Mechanical Engineering,
22 Technological Educational Institution of Serres,
23 End of Magnesia’s str., GR-62 100 Serres, Greece
24
25
26
27 ABSTRACT
28
29 A novel low cost tray dryer equipped with a solar air collec-
30 tor, a heat storage cabinet and a solar chimney is designed and
31 tested. The design is based on energy balances and on an
32 hourly-averaged radiation data reduction procedure for
33 tilted surfaces. Measurements of total solar radiation on an
34 horizontal plane, ambient temperature and humidity, air
35 speed, temperature and relative humidity inside the dryer as
36 well as solids moisture loss-in-weight data are employed as a
37 means to study the performance of the dryer. First, detailed
38
39
40
*Corresponding author. Fax: þ30-310-99 7759; E-mail: karapant@chem.auth.gr
41
42
1239

Copyright & 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. www.dekker.com

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1240 VLACHOS ET AL.

43 diagnostic experiments are carried out with no drying material

44 on the trays. Next, a number of experiments is conducted
45 using a controlled reference material whose reproducible
46 dehydration pattern allows comparisons among runs.
47 Drying is also tested during night operation and under
48 adverse weather conditions. For all the employed conditions,
49 the material gets completely dehydrated at a satisfactory rate
50 and with an encouraging system’s efficiency.
51
52 Key Words: Heat storage; Night operation; Solar air collec-
53 tor; Solar chimney; Solar drying; Weather conditions
54
55
56 INTRODUCTION
57
58 Solar drying refers to a technique that utilizes incident solar radiation to
59 convert it into thermal energy required for drying purposes. According to
60 Ratti and Mujumdar (1997), solar-energy drying, where feasible, often pro-
61 vides the most cost-effective drying technique. Ekechukwu and Norton
62 (1999), in reviewing the various designs of solar-energy drying systems, clas-
63 sified them with respect to their operating temperature ranges, heat supply
64 modes and sources, operational modes and structural modes as well. Natural-
65 circulation and forced-convection solar dryers are the two main groups that
66 were identified. As regards their structural arrangement three generic sub-
67 classes were also identified: direct-modes (the solar-energy collection unit is
68 an integral part of the entire drying system), indirect-modes (the solar collec-
69 tor and the drying chamber are separate units) and mixed-modes solar dryers.
70 For many agricultural products an abrupt drying process is completely
71 undesirable, since it demotes the product’s quality and the final drying result
72 seems to be uncontrollable. This is due to the fact that quite often an
73 external over-dried layer is formed which prohibits the process of drying
74 at the material’s inner layers. On the other hand, the rather slow process of
75 direct (also called open) sun drying, a traditional drying technique in
76 Mediterranean climates where high solar irradiation occurs, can have a
77 negative impact on dried products’ quality mainly due to contamination,
78 e.g. by windborne dirt and dust, insects etc. The resulting decrease in quality
79 renders the product less marketable (Tiris et al., 1994). In addition to this,
80 rainfall can even destroy the whole drying process. However, the main draw-
81 back of direct sun drying is the lack of process control and treatment uni-
82 formity (e.g. Bansal and Garg, 1987; Garg, 1987; Barbosa-Canovas and
83 Vega-Mercado, 1996 etc.). In such conditions, indirect solar dryers appear
84 to be an appropriate alternative proposition.

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1241

85 Several types of indirect solar dryers were realized and built in the
86 past, aiming to products of higher quality in terms of color, texture or
87 taste, reduced drying times and greater efficiencies compared to the tradi-
88 tional open sun drying (e.g. Imre, 1987; Das and Kumar, 1989; Tsamparlis,
89 1990; Imre et al., 1990; Tiris et al., 1994; Pratoto et al., 1997; Esper and
90 Muhlbauer, 1998; Arinze et al., 1999; Bala and Mondal, 2001). When
91 designing such dryers, the cost of construction and the range of applicability
92 are two additional factors that pose an even greater challenge in developing
93 an economically viable drying system. Therefore, for a Mediterranean coun-
94 try like Greece where solar radiation is abundant, the idea of designing a low
95 cost and high performance drying system appears tempting.
96 The primary objective of this study is to design, construct and evaluate
97 a small-scale tray dryer furnished with a solar air heater, a solar chimney
98 and a heat storage cabinet. The dryer is built up in the city of Serres (latitude
99 41
070 , longitude 23
340 , altitude 32 m), the capital of a large rural prefecture
100 of Greece. Initial tests with popular agricultural products of the area (rice
101 and tobacco) as drying materials did not permit the accurate depiction of the
102 dryer’s performance due to variations of product conditions (moisture con-
103 tent, bed porosity etc.). For this reason a reference drying material is
104 employed instead.
105 The performance of the dryer is tested also under adverse weather
106 conditions (i.e. cloudy and rainy) and during night operation. In this
107 respect, the recent studies by Ekechukwu and Norton (1998) and Aboul-
108 Enein et al. (2000) are of particular interest to the present work. The former
109 authors studied the effect of seasonal weather variations on a solar-assisted
110 crop dryer and concluded that wet season drying conditions were consider-
111 ably more unpredictable and resulted in poorer drying compared to drying
112 under dry season conditions. Aboul-Enein et al., studied the operation of a
113 solar-assisted dryer extended through the night hours and found that thermal
114 storage during the day can be used as a heat source during the night for
115 continuing the drying of agricultural products and also preventing their
116 re-hydration from the surrounding air.
117 In the following section, a comprehensive design scenario for the dryer
118 is presented. Subsequently, the dryer set-up and its operation are outlined.
119 Finally, the experiments carried out in this work and the main results are
120 presented and discussed.
121
122
123 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
124
125 An indirect solar dryer consists of three major components. The solar
126 collector where the ambient air preheats, the drying chamber where the

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1242 VLACHOS ET AL.

127 material to be dried comes in direct contact with the hot air from the
128 collector and reduces its moisture and, finally, the solar chimney which
129 promotes the air lift through the dryer. In the analysis below, we assume
130 that the incident solar radiation is sufficient to bring the dryer’s body to its
131 steady state temperature and also to counterbalance heat losses. Then, the
132 batch energy balance in the drying chamber becomes (e.g. Jansen, 1985; Das
133 and Kumar, 1989):
134
135 Va
a ½cpa ðToc  Tod Þ þ ð yoc  yod Þ
136 W
137 ¼ fðmi  mf Þ½ þ cpw ðTod  Tam Þ þ cps ðTod  Tam Þg ð1Þ
t
138
139 V is the volumetric flow rate (m3/h),
is the average density (kg/m3), cp
140 is the average heat capacity (kJ/kgK),  is the average latent heat of water
141 (kJ/kg), y is the absolute humidity of air (kg H2O/kg dry air), T is the
142 temperature (
C), W is the weight of dry solid (kg), m is the solid’s moisture
143 content (kg H2O/kg dry solid) and t is the drying period (h). Accordingly,
144 subscripts denote the following; a: air, w: water, s: solid, oc: exit from
145 collector, od: exit from drying chamber, am: ambient, i: initial, f: final.
146 The air density is related to air temperature and absolute humidity
147 according to the following (Oosthuizen, 1987):
148


149 1

a ¼
o ð1 þ yÞ ð2Þ
150 ð1 þ T=273Þ
151
152 where
o the air density at T ¼ 273 K (¼1.293 kg/m3). The second term of the
153 LHS of Eq. (1) describes the change of the air energy associated with the
154 moisture uptake. In most usual cases this term is small and can be safely
155 ignored.
156 Neglecting any parasitic energy delivered to the dryer, e.g., from an
157 electrical fan, the solar air collector operation is described by:
158
159 ½IT ðÞe  UL ðTp  Tam ÞAc ¼ ðVa
a cpa ÞðToc  Ti Þ ð3Þ
160
161 where Ac is the collector area (m2), IT is the insolation rate per unit area on
162 the collector’s tilted plane (W/m2), ()c is the effective absorbance-trans-
163 mittance product (dim/less), UL is the collector’s overall heat loss coefficient
164 (W/m2
C), T
is the average temperature of the collector’s plate and Ti is the
165 temperature of the air entering the collector. The transmittance of the glaz-
166 ing, , has a value around 0.85 and the absorbance of the black painted
167 plate, , is around 0.95, while in most usual situations UL is close to
168 5 W/m2
C (Garg, 1987).

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1243

169 To overcome the difficulty of accurately determining T
in Eq. (3), the

170 collector heat removal factor, FR, is introduced and we end up with the
171 Hottel-Whillier-Bliss equation:
172
173
FR ½IT ðÞe  UL ðTi  Tam ÞAc ¼ ðVa
a cpa ÞðToc  Ti Þ ð4Þ
174
For air heating collectors, FR, is around 0.7 (Garg, 1987). Since the
175
collector is fed directly with ambient air, Ti equals Tam and so the second
176
term on the left-hand side vanishes and the rate of energy collection is
177
simply:
178
179 Ac FR IT ðÞe ¼ ðVa
a cpa ÞðToc  Tam Þ ð5Þ
180
181 The major problem in the design of solar-assisted dryers is that IT is
182 not known for most sites. Instead, what is traditionally recorded in meteo-
183 rological stations is I, the solar radiation received on an horizontal plane.
184 Lalas et al. (1982) presented extended tabulations with their model predic- AQ1
185 tions of solar radiation on tilted surfaces, for many sites in Greece, based on
186 measurements of horizontal radiation. These predictions, however, are ver-
187 ified only by comparison against data from a single site (Athens, Greece)
188 and furthermore, are over twenty years old. In the last decade, the meteo-
189 climatic conditions in the region of Greece have changed considerably
190 (Karapantsios et al., 1999). Therefore, in order to deduce IT from available
191 local measurements of solar radiation on an horizontal plane, a general
192 procedure is employed. The relations below, unless differently stated, are
193 taken from Duffie and Beckman (1991).
194 The total solar radiation on an horizontal plane, I, is customary
195 expressed as the sum of two components: the beam (or direct) radiation
196 and the diffuse radiation from the sky:
197
I ¼ Ib þ Id ð6Þ
198
199 Assuming hourly average radiation values, the clearness index kT is
200 defined:
201
202 I
kT ¼ ð7Þ
203 Io
204
205 where Io is the extraterrestrial radiation on an horizontal plane given as:
206  
12  3600 360n
207 Io ¼ Gsc 1 þ 0:033 cos
 365
208

209
ð!2  !1 Þ
 cos  cos ðsin !2  sin !1 Þ þ sin  sin ð8Þ
210 180

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1244 VLACHOS ET AL.

211 where Gsc is the solar constant (1367 W/m2), n is the day of the year (1 to
212 365),  is the latitude of the site (angular location from the equator), is the AQ2
213 declination (angular position of the sun at solar noon) and ! is the hour
214 angle (angular displacement of the sun east or west from the local meridian).
215 The declination is found from the equation of Cooper as cited by
216 Duffie and Beckman (1991):
217  
218
284 þ n
¼ 23:45 sin 360 ð9Þ
219 365
220
whereas ! is given in degrees (negative before noon and positive after noon)
221
by the relation:
222
223 ! ¼ 0:25 ðminutes of the hour from local meridian) ð10Þ
224
225 and the solar time, Sot (in min), is related to the standard time, Stt
226 (in min), by:
227
Sot  Stt ¼ 229:2ð0:000075 þ 0:001868 cos X  0:032077 sin X
228
229
 0:014615 cos 2X  0:04089 sin 2XÞ ð11Þ
230
where X ¼ (n  1) (360/365).
231
The diffuse radiation component is evaluated next from the following
232
correlation:
233
8
234 > 1:0  0:09 kT for kT  0:22
>
>
235 Id < 2
0:9511  0:1604 kT þ 4:388 kT
236 ¼ 3 4 ð12Þ
I >
237 > 16:638 kT þ 12:336 kT
>
:
for 0:22 < kT  0:80
238 0:165 for kT > 0:80
239 and from that the direct radiation component is computed as:
240
241 Ib ¼ I  Id ð13Þ
242
A customary approach for radiation estimations on sloped surfaces is
243
to consider an isotropic model for the diffuse radiation (Liu and Jordan,
244
1963) and also assume that the reflecting surfaces are diffuse and not spec-
245
ular reflectors. In this case, the radiation on the collector’s surface tilted at
246
slope , is given by (Sukhatme, 1984): AQ3
247
248
   
1 þ cos 1  cos
249 IT ¼ Ib Rb þ Id þ Irg ð14Þ
2 2
250
251 where the last term on the RHS describes the radiation reflected from the
252 various surfaces ‘‘seen’’ by the collector, rg is the diffuse reflectance of the

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1245

253 surroundings (usually around 0.20) and Rb is the ratio of beam radiation on
254 the tilted surface to that on the horizontal plane. Rb for the northern hemi-
255 sphere is given by (Sukhatme, 1984): AQ3
256
cosð  Þ cos cos ! þ sinð  Þ sin
257 Rb ¼ ð15Þ
258
cos  cos cos ! þ sin  sin
259
Table 1 presents calculated results of monthly average hourly values of T1
260
IT/I for August and September 2000 (the period of the tests) and for certain
261
collector inclinations of practical interest based on horizontal radiation data
262
recorded at the meteorological station in TEI. The table also includes
263
monthly average daily values, HT/H, of the same quantity throughout the
264
years 1997–2000. The small discrepancy between the average daily HT/H
265
values for August and September 1997–2000 and those summed up from
266
hourly IT/I values in 2000 is due to the variance of solar radiation even
267
among neighboring years.
268
Given the IT values and for prescribed values of t, W, mi and mf, the
269
usual design variables of the dryer are Ac, Va and Tod, since Toc is normally
270
defined a priori not to exceed a certain temperature in order to avoid dete-
271
rioration of the material’s quality. Assuming the dryer’s body has reached a
272
steady state temperature before the material is introduced and also neglect-
273
ing heat losses, then the minimum collector area required to evaporate the
274
certain amount of moisture is given by equating the LHS of Eq. (5)
275
to the RHS of Eq. (1), where also Tod  Tam . In this case, Ac can be calcu-
276
lated as:
277
278 Wðmi  mf Þ
279 Ac ¼ Zt ð16Þ
280 FR ðÞe IT dt
0
281
282 where the collector’s area is estimated not instantaneously but as a function
283 of the long-term system performance by integrating over a period of time.
284 For the needs of the present simulation, we set t ¼ 8 h, which warrants an
285 adequate duration of daylight even in wintertime. As soon as Ac is in hand,
286 one can determine, Va from Eq. (5):
287
Zt
288
Ac FR ðÞe IT dt
289 0
Va ¼ ð17Þ
290
a cpa ðToc  Tam Þ
291
max
292 Here it is taken Toc ¼ 50
C in order to ascertain slow drying.
293 Figure 1 displays the results of the simulation for 30
, 45
and 60
collector F1
294 inclination and for all the months of the year. Calculations employ monthly

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1246

[10.4.2002–8:15am]
Table 1. Monthly Average Hourly Values of IT/I for August and September 2000 and Monthly Average
Daily Values of HT/H Throughout the Years 1997–2000 for 30 , 45 and 60 Collector Inclination, Calculated
from Meteorological Data Measured in TEI (Serres)

[1239–1268]
IT/I, Monthly Average Hourly Values
HT/H, Monthly Average Daily
Hours of the August 2000 September 2000 Values (1997–2000)
Day, Standard
Time 30
45
60
30
45
60
Month 30
45
60

[Page No. 1246]

Jan 1.51 1.66 1.71
7–8 0.91 0.86 0.73 1.04 1.00 0.97 Feb 1.32 1.38 1.38
8–9 0.98 0.89 0.76 1.10 1.04 0.98 Mar 1.17 1.16 1.11
9–10 1.03 0.96 0.84 1.13 1.10 1.01 Apr 1.03 0.96 0.87
10–11 1.05 1.00 0.89 1.15 1.13 1.05 May 0.94 0.84 0.72
11–12 1.08 1.02 0.92 1.16 1.15 1.08 June 0.90 0.79 0.66
12–13 1.08 1.03 0.93 1.16 1.15 1.08 July 0.92 0.81 0.68
13–14 1.07 1.02 0.91 1.16 1.15 1.07 Aug 1.00 0.92 0.81
14–15 1.05 0.99 0.88 1.15 1.14 1.06 Sept 1.13 1.11 1.03
120004050_DRT_020_005_R1.pdf

15–16 1.02 0.96 0.84 1.13 1.10 1.03 Oct 1.30 1.35 1.33
16–17 0.93 0.89 0.74 1.10 1.06 0.97 Nov 1.48 1.60 1.65
17–18 0.86 0.77 0.61 1.04 0.95 0.90 Dec 1.55 1.70 1.77

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1247

295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312 Figure 1. Simulation results regarding the collector’s area, Ac, and the air volu-
313 metric flow rate, Va, for 30
, 45
and 60
collector inclination, employing meteor-
314 ological data measured in TEI (Serres).
315
316
317 average hourly values of solar radiation and ambient temperature recorded
318 in TEI. The simulation is performed for a 5 kg load of material
319 dehydrated from 85% to 0% (w.b.) moisture content. It can be seen
320 that Ac varies approximately between 1.2 and 2.6 m2 whereas Va
321 between 30 and 100 m3/h, depending on the climatic conditions. The vari-
322 ation of Va actually reflects the different average ambient temperatures
323 among months.
324 In a real application, however, the diurnal variation of solar radiation
325 (within the 8 h of drying) leads to a particularly time dependent Va, a fact
326 that greatly complicates the evaluation of the dryer’s performance.
327 Moreover, Va depends significantly on the hydrodynamics of air flow and
328 is actually dictated by the pressure drop through the dryer (collector-drying
329 chamber-chimney). Thus, a more elaborate analysis would involve the
330 momentum equation across different sections of the dryer but this requires
331 an accurate knowledge of the geometrical details of the whole setup and is
332 beyond the scope of the present work. Therefore, for the experimental test-
333 ing of the dryer, Va is maintained constant (by employing an electrical fan)
334 at a sufficient level (200 m3/h) which, even during peak insolation, maintains
335 the collector outlet temperature below the maximum drying temperature,
max
336 Toc ¼ 50
C.

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1248 VLACHOS ET AL.

337 Finally, the collector’s efficiency is determined by:

338 Zt
339 Va
a cpa ðToc  Tam Þ dt
0
340 Ec ¼ Zt ð18Þ
341 Ac IT dt
342 0
343 A measure of the drying efficiency (after the collector) is the ratio of
344 the energy required to evaporate moisture from the product to the energy
345 supplied to the dryer:
346
347 Wðmi  mf Þ
Ed ¼ Zt ð19Þ
348
Ac FR ðÞe IT dt
349 0
350
351
In most real situations, the air leaving the drying chamber is moist and
352
close to ambient temperature (Sodha et al., 1987; Akachuku, 1986). So, a
353
solar chimney would not have an effect on dryer’s performance unless the
354
solar heating of the air within the chimney is significant, capable of inducing
355
upward flow of air through the chimney. In this work the role of the solar
356
chimney is suppressed because a constant airflow is induced by an electrical
357
fan. However, the chimney has been designed for natural air flow, too,
358
following the simple considerations below.
359 FR ½IT ðÞe  ULch ðToch  Tod Þ ¼ Va
a cpa =ðS HÞðToch  Tod Þ ð20Þ
360
361 where ULch is the chimney’s overall heat loss coefficient (for the same thick-
362 ness of insulation: ULch  UL ), Toch is the temperature of the air exiting
363 from the chimney, S is the width of the chimney (m) and H is the height of
364 the chimney (m). Applying the momentum equation along the chimney yields:
365
B
366
P ¼ Hð
a 
ch Þg  w ½2ðS þ PÞH=ðS PÞ ð21Þ
760
367
368 where
P is the required suction pressure (N/m2; usually 0.5 mm of water
369 for solar chimneys, Das and Kumar, 1989), g is the acceleration of gravity
370 (m/s2),
ch is the average air density in the chimney, B is the barometric
371 pressure (mm Hg), P is the depth of the chimney (m) and w is the shear
372 stress acting on the air in contact with the chimney surface (N/m2). The
373 latter is given by:
374
1
375 w ¼
ch u2ch fch ð22Þ
2
376
377 where uch is the average air velocity in the chimney ðVa =½S PÞ while
378 the friction factor fch can be found using either Eq. (23) for laminar flow

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1249

379 or Eq. (24) for turbulent flow as:

380
64
381 fch ¼ ð23Þ
382
Re
0:079
383 fch ¼ 0:25 ð24Þ
384 Re
385 with the Reynolds number given as:
386
387
Dh
ch uch
Re ¼ ð25Þ
388 ch
389 where Dh is the hydraulic mean diameter of the chimney defined as:
390
391 2S P
Dh ¼ ð26Þ
392 SþP
393
and ch is the average air viscosity in the chimney.
394
Pasumarthi and Sherif (1998) have presented a similar analysis in
395
designing a large scale chimney for an energy plant. Ekechukwu and
396
Norton (1995), communicated a simplified version of Eq. (21) by assuming
397
that the pressure difference due to the buoyant pressure heat inside the
398
chimney fully counterbalances the pressure drop due to friction losses.
399
Putting fch ¼ 0.003 (for turbulent flow), the volumetric air flow rate inside
400
the chimney is given as follows:
401

0:5
402 D g
403 Va ¼ 0:113D2h h ðTch  Tam Þ ð27Þ

a
404
405 where Tch is the average temperature of the chimney; Tch ¼ (Tod þ Toch)/2.
406 For given Va, S and P, Toch and H can be determined solving
407 Eqs. (20–26) or Eqs. (20), (26) and (27).
408 The aforementioned theoretical considerations as well as preliminary
409 tests under certain operating conditions enabled the successful design of the
410 novel solar dryer.
411
412
413
414 MATERIALS AND METHODS
415
416 Dryer Set-Up
417
418 The solar assisted indirect dryer discussed here, consists of a solar air
419 collector, a heat storage cabinet, a drying chamber and a solar chimney. An
420 outlay of the solar dryer is given in Figure 2. Black painted aluminum F2

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1250 VLACHOS ET AL.

421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436 Figure 2. An outlay of the solar dryer (1. centrifugal fan 2. solar collector 3.
storage cabinet 4. drying chamber 5. solar chimney). The two corrugated sheets in
437
the solar collector with the characteristic ‘‘reverse Z’’ air flow path as well as the
438
relative position of the three drawers in the drying chamber are also shown.
439
440
441
442 sheet 1.5 mm thick is used for the construction of the metallic body and
443 walls. These walls are meant to reduce radiation heat losses due to their high
444 solar absorptivity (0.95) and low long wave emissivity (0.05) (Garg,
445 1987). A 2.5 cm thick fiberglass layer is the insulation material wherever
446 mentioned.
447 The solar collector has a parallelpiped shape with dimensions
448 2  1  0.27 m. For the present study its longitudinal axis is oriented along
449 the N–S direction. The collector is inclined to an angle of 37
with its back
450 insulated. The absorbing plate consists of two aluminum corrugated sheets,
451 1.25 mm in thickness, placed on top of each other (Figure 2). The clearance
452 between the sheets is 50 mm. The cover material of the collector is commercial
453 glass 3 mm thick. A centrifugal fan (S&P, CBM-240, 0.25 kW) is connected to
454 the lower facing end (1  0.27 m) of the collector whereas two flexible air
455 ducts (120 mm in diameter) are connected to its higher facing end.
456 The heat storage cabinet has outer dimensions 1.3  1  0.5 m and has
457 insulation on the inside walls. The flexible air ducts coming out from the
458 collector enter the cabinet and after running its interior are finally edge-
459 pinned at the base of the drying chamber. Inside this cabinet, there are
460 twenty-five sealed metallic containers (5 L each) filled with water and
461 painted black to facilitate heat storage. Two hatches covered with special
462 removable lids are constructed one at the top and the other at the bottom of

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1251

463 the storage cabinet. These hatches are to be left open during the night
464 operation of the dryer.
465 The drying chamber has 1.3  1  0.7 m outer dimensions with insula-
466 tion at the inside walls. Inside the drying chamber three drawers are
467 inserted, upon which the products to be dried are placed. The relative posi-
468 tion of these drawers is depicted in Figure 2. The bottom drawer (drawer
469 D1) is placed 0.18 m above the drying chamber’s base (hot air’s entry point).
470 The middle drawer (drawer D2) is located 0.32 m and the top drawer (drawer
471 D3) 0.46 m above the chamber’s base, respectively. The bottom of each
472 drawer comprises of two screens—a plastic one and a very thin metallic
473 one—placed on top of each other. Along and across each side wall of the
474 drying chamber, 9 holes (d ¼ 2 cm) are drilled to accommodate rod-shaped
475 measuring probes.
476 The solar chimney comprises of two parts; a trapezoid base placed
477 right on top of the drying chamber and the chimney duct that has the
478 shape of a narrow parallelpiped. The chimney’s duct measures externally
479 0.73  1  0.12 m, and its front side is a commercial glass 3 mm thick. The
480 interior of the trapezoid section is insulated, whereas the chimney duct has
481 insulation at the outer surfaces (rear and sides). Along the two vertical
482 narrow sides of the parallelpiped’s section (1  0.12 m), five holes
483 (d ¼ 12 cm) are opened, at equal distances from each other, to facilitate
484 the insertion of measuring probes. A V-shaped aluminum cap (34 cm
485 wide) is placed at the top of the chimney to protect the dryer from rain
486 and other foreign objects. Between the chimney and the cap there is a
487 clearance of 19 cm to allow warm humid air to exit freely from the dryer.
488 The chimney duct is capable to stand at various inclinations between 90

489 (vertical) and 30
. In this study only the vertical position is used.
490
491
492 Method of Operation
493
494 Ambient air is sucked by the centrifugal fan through an intermediate
495 funnel and enters the solar collector where it preheats. The funnel has
496 internal guiding fins to uniformly distribute the air over the width of the
497 collector. Air runs three passes inside the solar collector in a ‘‘reverse Z’’
498 flow path, Figure 2. The air leaving the collector is pre-heated to approx.
499 10–20
C above ambient temperature and after running through the heat
500 storage cabinet it emerges at the base of the drying chamber. The section
501 of the ducts connecting the solar collector to the heat storage cabinet is
502 thermally insulated. On the other hand, the ducts section running the inte-
503 rior of the storage cabinet is left bare (without insulation). Thus, an appreci-
504 able amount of heat is transferred (and stored) from the hot surface of the

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1252 VLACHOS ET AL.

505 bare ducts to the metallic containers in the storage cabinet. The hot air
506 exiting from the flexible ducts at the bottom of the drying chamber, dis-
507 perses over the available space of the chamber and as a result its velocity is
508 drastically reduced. This is important if uniform and slow drying of a wet
509 product must be achieved. After traveling inside the drying chamber
510 (around and through the drawers) air enters the solar chimney from
511 where it eventually escapes to the environment.
512 During the night, when the solar collector and the fan are out of
513 operation, it is imperative to avoid raising of the humidity inside the
514 drying chamber since products already dried to some extent are much
515 more susceptible to re-hydration. For this, the top and bottom hatches of
516 the heat storage cabinet remain open throughout the night until the collector
517 is put in operation again the next day. During these hours, the fresh air that
518 enters from the bottom hatch (base of storage cabinet) allows the dryer’s
519 aeration by natural convection along the dryer. This rising air absorbs heat
520 from the water containers in the storage cabinet and as it warms up its
521 relative humidity goes down allowing the dehydration of the products to
522 continue even at a much slower pace.
523 It must be mentioned that in this work the air flow inside the dryer is
524 always dictated by the centrifugal fan in an effort to maintain a constant
525 flow rate for all runs. This was done in order to reduce the experimental
526 variables and so simplify the assessment of the dryer’s performance. In
527 addition, the use of the fan suppresses the role of the solar chimney in
528 assisting airlift. However, in rural applications it may be preferable not to
529 use an electrical fan but let the solar chimney alone drag the hot air through
530 the dryer. In such a case, the solar collector will have to stand at a lower
531 position than the rest of the dryer so as to create a positive head with respect
532 to the dryer.
533
534
535 Materials and Measurements
536
537 Carpentry sponge made of polyurethane foam (MultiFoam Inc.) 1 cm
538 thick is used as a reference drying material. This sponge has a spatially
539 uniform porosity ð"ave  0:85Þ with narrow pores ðdave  0:5 mmÞ which
540 upon hydration produces a uniform moisture content across the material.
541 Yet, it is a non-hygroscopic material and so it can be dried completely (i.e.
542 zero moisture content) which is clearly not the case with most agricultural
543 products. However, the use of carpentry sponge facilitates the evaluation of
544 the dryer’s performance because it allows highly reproducible initial hydra-
545 tion and subsequent dehydration patterns. In order to get the sponge
546 initially saturated with water it is necessary to soak it in water and then

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1253

547 squeeze-dry it at least twice prior to its final wetting and placement in the
548 drying chamber. The experiments are divided into three categories: (a) with
549 no material inside the drying chamber (empty trays) (b) with a single large
550 sponge piece covering the entire surface area of each drawer and (c) with
551 eighteen individual small sponge pieces (150  215 mm) placed next to each
552 other to cover the area of each drawer. The air flow rate is maintained
553 essentially constant in all runs at 200 m3/h.
554 In addition to loss-in-moisture measurements, the velocity, tempera-
555 ture and relative humidity of the air inside the dryer are also measured. For
556 this, a Tri-Sense electronic microprocessor (Cole-Parmer) is employed. The
557 microprocessor is equipped with separate probes for measuring: (1) tem-
558 perature (1
) and air velocity (0.1 m/s), (2) temperature (1.5
) and
559 relative humidity (2%) and (3) two simultaneous temperatures at two
560 different locations (0.4
). Values in parentheses denote the claimed accu-
561 racy of measurements while the resolution is an order of magnitude better.
562 For measurements in the interior of the drying chamber, the measuring
563 probes are inserted through the holes opened at the two side walls of the
564 chamber. The position of these holes divides the drying chamber into three
565 horizontal, (A), (B), (C) and three vertical virtual planes, (a), (b), (c). These
566 virtual planes are shown in Figure 3. It must be mentioned that plane (A) is F3
567 just below drawer D1, plane (B) is between drawers D2 and D3 and plane (C)
568 is just above drawer D3.
569 The experiments are carried out during selected days in August and
570 September 2000. Total solar radiation on a horizontal plane is measured
571 simultaneously with ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed
572 and wind direction at the meteorological station in TEI. Irradiation data
573 are collected using an Eppley Precision Pyranometer (model PSP), which
574 was calibrated at the beginning of the measuring period. The estimated
575 overall error in solar irradiance measurements—including calibration, mea-
576 surement, digitization and data handling—is less than 3%. All data are
577 integrated over 1 h intervals. The experiments reported are mainly per-
578 formed during clear sky days but a few runs are also conducted during
579 the days that were cloudy or even rainy.
580
581
582 RESULTS
583
584 Three separate full day tests are carried out with an empty drying
585 chamber, i.e. without the presence of sponge on the trays. Here, data of
586 just one test (August 23rd) are presented since all runs showed an essentially
587 similar behavior. Temperature variation inside the empty drying chamber is
588 depicted in Figure 4 regarding the horizontal plane (A). The temperatures F4

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1254 VLACHOS ET AL.

589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619 Figure 3. A layout of the virtual measuring planes inside the drying chamber.
620
621
622
623 at the other two horizontal planes vary in a similar manner. In this figure,
624 the three vertical planes (a), (b), (c), are shown as a parameter. To show the
625 effect of the temporal variation of solar irradiance, measurements obtained
626 between 14:30–15:00 are presented for the left side of the chamber and
627 between 17:00–17:30 for the right side of the chamber. Higher temperature
628 values are presented for the left side of the drying chamber, which is attrib-
629 uted to the relative position of the sun at the time of measurements
630 (14:30–15:00). The temperatures at the right side of the chamber interior

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1255

631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647 Figure 4. Temperature variation at the horizontal plane (A) inside the empty
648 drying chamber (run on August 23rd).
649
650
651 are lower by 5–10
C since they are measured at a later time of the day
652 (17:00–17:30). Thus, the temperature distribution inside the drying chamber
653 is a function of the hour of the day (in fact, of the relative position of the sun
654 in the sky).
655 Typical air velocity charts for the same run, obtained at the three
656 horizontal planes, i.e. (A), (B), (C), are shown in Figure 5. As one might F5
657 have expected, at the lower horizontal plane (A) and just above the exit of
658 the two air ducts (plane (b)), air velocity attains higher values, while for all
659 other positions it is substantially less. Moving towards the solar chimney,
660 i.e. planes (B) & (C) (Figures 5b and c respectively), the high velocity values
661 at plane (b) drop drastically and become gradually more uniform across the
662 drying chamber.
663 Three experiments are carried out with pre-wetted large sponges
664 placed inside the drying chamber, one for every drawer. Again, results
665 from one run are presented (September 11th) since the other runs exhibit
666 similar trends. For this particular run the sponge is introduced in the dryer
667 at noon (12:00). Table 2 presents hourly average values of total radiation on T2
668 a horizontal plane, ambient temperature and relative humidity during the
669 hours of this test.
670 With regard to temperature variation, at the level of plane (A) rela-
671 tively higher temperatures are observed compared to planes (B) and (C)
672 (Figure 6, measurements are obtained around 14:00). Moreover, the F6

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1256 VLACHOS ET AL.

673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713 Figure 5. Typical air velocity distribution charts at there horizontal planes (A), (B),
714 and (C), in an empty drying chamber (run on August 23rd).

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1257

715 Table 2. Hourly Average Total Radiation on a Horizontal Plane, Ambient

716 Temperature and Relative Humidity During one Representative Experimental Day
717 (Run of September 11th)
718
Hourly Average
719
Total Radiation Ambient Ambient
720 Hour of on Horizontal Temperature Relative
721 Day Plane kW/m2

C Humidity %
722
723 September 11th 12:00 0.727 24.4 62
724
14:00 0.894 27.4 48
16:00 0.606 29.0 44
725
18:00 0.091 27.8 47
726
20:00 0.015 26.4 51
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746 Figure 6. Temperature distribution at the vertical plane (b) inside the drying
747 chamber (run on September 11th).
748
749
750 values of planes (B) and (C) appear to be roughly constant across the
751 chamber. Figure 6 refers only to vertical plane (b). However, a qualitatively
752 similar trend is also observed at the other two vertical planes. Comparing
753 Figure 6 with Figure 4 shows that the temperature of the air inside the
754 drying chamber is lower under drying conditions, as expected.
755 Air velocity variation inside the drying chamber at the horizontal
756 planes (A) and (C) is given in Figure 7 ( plane (B) displayed a similar F7

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1258 VLACHOS ET AL.

757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790 Figure 7. Air velocity distribution at the horizontal planes (A) and (C), inside the
791 drying chamber bearing pre-wetted large sponges, one for every drawer (run on
792 September 11th).
793
794
795 behavior with plane (C)). Air velocity at the lower horizontal plane (A) is
796 relatively higher compared to values obtained at plane (C) (i.e. near the
797 chamber top). As in Figure 5, air velocity at the vertical plane (b), attains
798 its higher values just above the two air ducts while in most other measuring

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1259

799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
Figure 8. Air humidity and temperature variation with respect to vertical distance
820
from the drying chamber bottom.
821
822
823 spots the velocity values are significantly lower and comparable with each
824 other. It is noteworthy, though, that these lower values are in general higher
825 than the respective values in Figure 5. Thus, it is apparent that the presence
826 of solid material on the trays enhances the dispersion and uniformity of air
827 flow inside the drying chamber.
828 Figure 8 displays the variation of air humidity and temperature with F8
829 respect to vertical distance from the bottom of the drying chamber. Ambient
830 humidity is included in the graph for comparison. Measurements are taken
831 3 h after the introduction of the wet sponges to the dryer. It is apparent that
832 humidity increases while temperature decreases with vertical distance, owing
833 to evaporation of water from the wet material.
834 The drying curves obtained during the run of September 11th are
835 shown in Figure 9. The shape of the curves for all drawers is typical of F9
836 drying a non-hygroscopic material (Garg, 1987). As one might have
837 expected, drawer D1, i.e. the one placed nearer to the two air ducts, exhibits
838 the most rapid drying. After only a 4-h period, the product at this drawer is
839 almost completely dried, in contrast to drawers D2 and D3 where 6 and 7-h
840 periods are needed respectively for a complete drying.

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1260 VLACHOS ET AL.

841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858 Figure 9. Drying curves plotted as moisture content on a dry basis vs. time (run on
September 11th).
859
860
861
862 Employing Eq. (19), the drying efficiency for the first two hours is
863 estimated around 45% 5% for all runs while for the subsequent two
864 hours of drying it falls approximately at half of this value. As the water
865 content of the material reduces and drying likely moves from the constant
866 rate to the falling rate period, the efficiency of the dryer drops in spite of the
867 fact that the heat offered by the collector does not vary markedly. This is so
868 because during the falling rate period the moisture movement inside the
869 solid dictates the drying rate. In practice, one way to circumvent the prob-
870 lem and increase the efficiency during the falling rate period is by increasing
871 the temperature of the air entering the drying chamber. This can be done by
872 e.g., lowering the air-flow rate (Perry and Chilton, 1973). Yet, care should be
873 taken in real applications not to increase the temperature of the air beyond a
874 certain value in order to avoid the product’s quality degradation.
875 The performance of the dryer is checked also under adverse weather
876 conditions. At a Mediterranean climate it is quite usual to encounter sporadic
877 cloudy sky conditions with chances of a rainfall of short duration. Herein, the
878 results of such a run performed on September 26th are presented. For this run
879 the material was introduced in the dryer at 10:30 a.m. At around 12:00 dense
880 clouds begun to cover the sky and the weather climaxed at 13:00 with a mild
881 shower. At 13:30 the rain stopped but the sky was intermittently covered until
882 14:30 when the sky became clear again.

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1261

883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898 Figure 10. Drying curves under adverse weather conditions (run on
899 September 26th).
900
901
902 The effect of the weather conditions is clearly depicted in Figure 10 F10
903 where an anomaly (leveling-off ) in the drying curve is detected during the
904 overcast period and which delayed the drying process. It is noteworthy that
905 despite the adverse conditions during this period, the moisture content of
906 the solid continues to decrease even though at a much lower rate. Perhaps
907 this is partly due to the increased heat capacity of the dryer’s metallic body
908 which, for a short period of time, can provide heat to compensate for the
909 absence of solar radiation. Furthermore, the drying rates and drying effi-
910 ciencies calculated for the three drawers are quite similar to the clear sky
911 experiment on September 11th.
912 Finally, an experiment (starting September 8th—ending September
913 9th) is presented where individual small sponge pieces are used to cover
914 the trays of the dryer. The aim for this test is to identify favorable and
915 unfavorable spots on the drawers as regards drying efficiency and also
916 investigate the performance of the dryer during the night operation.
917 During the night hours the electrical fan is turned off and the hatches at
918 the top and bottom of the heat storage cabinet are left open to allow air
919 natural convection inside the dryer.
920 Similar results with the single sponges’ experiment are obtained
921 regarding temperature, air velocity and relative humidity (Figures 6–8).
922 What is perhaps of greater significance is the drying performance. The
923 drying curves for two opposing limiting spots (as regards drying rate) on
924 the trays of the drawers are given in Figure 11. In particular, Figure 11a F11

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1262 VLACHOS ET AL.

925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959 Figure 11. Drying curves for two opposing limiting spots on the drawers: (a) favor-
960 able drying and (b) unfavorable drying.
961
962
963 displays curves for all three drawers measured at the spot right above the air
964 ducts, where the conditions are among the most favorable ones (fast drying).
965 On the other hand, Figure 11b presents curves obtained near the front wall
966 of the drying chamber which is among the least favorable ones. In fact, only

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1263

967 the spots right above the exit of the ducts (for drawer D1) exhibit a markedly
968 higher drying rate. The rest behave more or less like the spot in Figure 11b.
969 This means that, with the exception of the spots above the air ducts (for
970 drawer D1), there is an appreciable uniformity inside the dryer but also
971 suggests that a modification of the exit section of the ducts must be imparted
972 to prevent the direct ejection of hot air to the bottom of drawer D1. Of
973 particular interest, is the behavior of the system over the night. It is clearly
974 seen that not only the sponges’ moisture content does not increase but
975 continues to decrease even though at a slower rate. The benefit from the
976 use of the heat storage cabinet is evident. A similar finding was also
977 obtained by Aboul-Enein et al. (2000) when studying the night operation
978 of a solar-assisted drying system.
979
980
981 CONCLUSIONS
982
983 In this study, the performance of a prototype tray dryer equipped with
984 a solar air collector, a heat storage cabinet and a solar chimney is described.
985 The dryer is easy to construct and operate and can be implemented at low
986 cost. Considering the different weather conditions tested (sunny, cloudy or
987 rainy), the drying process reached full completion in all tests at a reasonable
988 rate of dehydration. Experimentation over the night, without the use of the
989 centrifugal fan, confirmed the system’s good performance regarding the
990 usefulness of the heat storage cabinet since the products’ water content
991 continued to decrease although at a lower rate. Fairly promising results
992 were obtained regarding the solar dryer’s efficiency. The latter can be
993 improved by properly adjusting the flowrate and temperature of the air
994 entering the drying chamber. With regard to drying uniformity throughout
995 the drying chamber special attention should be given to products placed at
996 the lower drawer just above the entry points of the two flexible air ducts
997 where excessively faster drying occurs. Periodic agitation of the solids in the
998 lower drawer, exchange of drawer’s position or a new design of the air exit
999 section from the ducts may alleviate this problem.
1000
1001
1002 NOMENCLATURE
1003
1004 A Area (m2)
1005 B Barometric pressure (mm Hg)
1006 cp Average heat capacity (kJ/kgK)
1007 Dh Hydraulic mean diameter of the chimney (m)
1008 f Friction factor

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1264 VLACHOS ET AL.

1009 FR Collector heat removal factor

1010 g Acceleration of gravity (m/s2)
1011 Gsc Solar constant (1367 W/m2)
1012 H Chimney height (m)
1013 I Total solar radiation on horizontal plane (kJ/hrm2)
1014 Ib Beam (or direct) radiation (kJ/hrm2)
1015 Id Diffuse radiation from the sky (kJ/hrm2)
1016 Io Extraterrestrial radiation on an horizontal plane (kJ/hrm2)
1017 It Insolation rate per unit area on the collector’s tilted plane
1018 (kJ/hrm2)
1019 kT Clearness index
1020 m Solid’s moisture content (kg H2O/kg dry solid)
1021 n Day of the year (1 to 365)
1022 P Chimney depth (m)
1023 Rb Ratio of beam radiation on the tilted surface to that on the
1024 horizontal plane
1025 Re Reynolds number
1026 rg Diffuse reflection of the surroundings
1027 S Chimney width (m)
1028 Sot Solar time (min)
1029 Stt Standard time (min)
1030 t Drying period (h)
1031 T Temperature (
C)
1032 u Average air velocity (m/s)
1033 UL Collector’s overall heat loss coefficient (kJ/hrm2K)
1034 ULch Chimney’s overall heat loss coefficient (kJ/hrm2K)
1035 V Volumetric flow rate (m3/h)
1036 W Weight of dry solid (kg)
1037 y Absolute humidity of air (kg H2O/kg dry air)
1038
1039 Greek Letters
1040
1041  Absorbance
1042 Declination (angular position of the sun at solar noon)
1043
P Suction pressure (kg/ms2)
1044  Average latent heat of water (kJ/kg)
1045  Average air viscosity (kg/ms)
1046
Average density (kg/m3)
1047
o Air density T ¼ 273 K (¼1.293 kg/m3)
1048  Transmittance
1049 w Shear stress acting on the air in contact with the chimney
1050 surface (kg/ms2)

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SOLAR TRAY DRYER DESIGN AND TESTING 1265

1051  Latitude of the site (angular location from the equator) AQ2
1052 ! Hour angle (angular displacement of the sun east or west from
1053 local meridian, in deg)
1054
1055 Subscripts
1056
1057 a Air
1058 am Ambient
1059 c Collector
1060 ch Chimney
1061 f Final
1062 i Initial
1063 od Exit from drying chamber
1064 oc Exit from collector
1065 och Exit from chimney
1066 p Collector’s plate
1067 s Solid
1068 w Water
1069
1070
1071 REFERENCES
1072
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1266 VLACHOS ET AL.

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1148
1149
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1155
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