Thermal Performance Analysis of Solar Dryer Integrated with Heat Energy Storage System and a Low-Cost Parabolic Solar Dish Concentrator for Food Preservation

Abstract

Solar energy has become a viable alternative energy because it is a clean type of energy that converts solar radiation into heat energy for various applications such as heating water, power generation, cooking, and food drying. The solar dryer, integrated with the heat energy storage system, uses nitrate salt as a heat storage medium which was designed and tested by drying 1000 grams of red pepper at 19.6 to 62.4°C. The average ambient temperature ranged from 19.3 to 37.4°C, and the maximum temperature of the heat storage media ranged from 87.8 to 125°C. The solar drying process was compared to open sun drying system loaded with 1000 grams of red pepper. The findings showed that the solar dryer maintained color and flavor and lowered the original moisture content from 86% to 10% for 24 hours compared to 36 hours of drying in open air. In this study, nitrate salt is shown to be the perfect heat storage medium for drying food products; it preserved heat for about 4 hours when there is no active sunlight.

Evaluation of the Performance of the ATESTA Forced Convection Dryer when Drying Pineapples

“…Measuring instruments have ranges of accuracy in data measurements (6) . The accuracy ranges of measuring devices 3 and 4 in Table 1 are very close to the data used to calculate measurement errors in the work of (6,8) . They are below the accepted precision values (6) .…”

“…In these countries, dryers are developed according to products and energy sources available (5) . In order to remove energy barriers in southern countries, a number of projects have developed energy-saving solutions for solar dryers (6)(7)(8) . In West Africa, solar dryers are generally used for drying legumes and cereals (9) .…”

Analysis of Solar Irradiance Variation on Heat Flux and Temperature Distribution for a Dish Concentrator Receiver

“…A parabolic dish is a two-axis tracking collector that concentrates solar energy into a receiver situated at the dish's focal point [27]. The incoming solar radiation focused on the single focal point, i.e., all sun rays are parallel to the parabola axis directed toward the receiver, as shown in Fig.…”

Review of recent advancement in performance, and thermal energy storage studies on indirect solar dryers for agricultural products.

“…This growth poses significant challenges to global sustainability, with food supply and security emerging as major concerns alongside energy and water [1]. The rising energy consumption worldwide necessitates the prioritization of reliable, affordable, environmentally friendly, and renewable energy sources [2][3][4]. In both developed and developing countries, a significant portion of food production (around 30-40%) is lost during post-harvest and processing stages.…”