Thesis Paper On Performance of Enhanced Solar Dryer Integrated With Heat Storage System For Fruits & Vegetables Drying

PERFORMANCE OF AN ENHANCED SOLAR DRIER
INTEGRATED WITH HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM

FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES DRYING

Atkilt Mulu Gebrekidan

Advisors: Ftwi Yohanness (Assistant Professor)
Meseret Tesfay (M.Tech.)

M.Sc. Thesis in Energy Technology
Mekelle University

Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle
Department of Mechanical Engineering
September 12, 2013

i

PERFORMANCE OF AN ENHANCED SOLAR DRIER
INTEGRATED WITH HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM
FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES DRYING

By

ATKILT MULU GEBREKIDAN

FOR A THESIS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

September 12, 2013

2013 Atkilt Mulu. All Rights Reserved.

ii

CERTIFICATION
The undersigned certify that they have read and hereby recommend for acceptance by
Mekelle University a thesis entitled: Performance of an Enhanced Solar Drier Integrated
with Heat Storage System for Fruits and Vegetables Drying, in fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Energy Technology of Mekelle University.

Ftwi Yohanness, Assistant Professor
Advisor
Date:
And
Meseret Tesfay, M.Tech.
Co-Advisor
Date:

iii

DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT
I, ATKILT MULU GEBREKIDAN, declare that this thesis is my own original work and
that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar
or any other degree award.

Signature

This thesis is copyright material protected under the Berne Convention, the Copyright Act
1999 and other international and national enactments, in that behalf, on intellectual property.
It may not be reproduced by any means, in full or in part, except for short extracts in fair
dealings, for research or private study, critical scholarly review or discourse with an
acknowledgement, without the written permission of the School of Graduate Studies, on
behalf of both the author and the EiT M.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and for most I would like to praise the Almighty God for the courage and endurance
that He inhabits on me. And my countless admiration goes to my advisors Ato Ftwi
Yohanness and Ato Meseret Tesfay for all of their supervision, understanding and guidance
from the beginning to the end of the thesis work. Then deep from my heart I would like to
appreciate Ato Solomon Tsegay, Civil engineering Deprtment Head, Ato Samuel Estifanos
and Ato Birhane Gebremedhin from Geology Department and Ato Asfafaw From
Mechanical Engineering Department for their support in providing materials and documents
during the thesis work.
I would also like to extend my gratefulness to my all family, especially to my dear brother
Doctor Ing. Berhanu Mulu and my wife Lily Arega their continuous financial and moral
encouragements are truly inspiring and remarkable.
My appreciation also goes to NORAD Masters Program within Energy and Petroleum
sector (EnPe) project for sponsoring the Masters in Energy Technology hosted at the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mekelle University.
Finaly I would like thank you to all of those helped me during the experiment and
construction of the dryer in workshop.

v

ABSTRACT
Fruits and vegetables play an essential role in human nutrition. Apart from providing flavor
and variety to human diet, they serve as important sources of vitamins and minerals which
will prevent diseases and promoting health. Most fruits and vegetables contain more water
and therefore highly perishable. And water loss and decay account for most of their post-
harvest losses and short storage life. Therefore, preserving fruits and vegetables is necessary
for keeping them for a long time without further deterioration in their quality in order to
utilize their nutritional value efficiently.
Drying is one of the best method of preserving fruits and vegetables. Natural convection
indirect solar dryer is common drying method applied for drying fruits and vegetables. To
improve the quality of the product and the performance of the natural convection indirect
solar dryer designed at Mekelle university, the solar dryer is integrated with rock bed heat
storage system and its thermal performance was experimentally analysed and compared with
dryer without heat storage system. Sandston with a size of 2 - 4 cm is used as heat storage
directly below the absorber plate.
The solar dryer without heat storage system has maximum drying air temperature of 63-68
o
C
during peak solar radiation, and the maximum daily drying efficiency of 21 %.
The solar dryer heat storage system can have a maximum drying air temperature up to 55-58

o
C at peak solar radiation. The maximum daily drying efficiency of the system is 27 %. The
heat storage system temperature gradually increases from ambient temperature and attains
temperature of 38
o
C. Since the temperature of the heat storage system decreases gradually, it
can keep the minimum drying air temperature variation at high and low radiations. This helps
to maintain the product quality as well.
The quality of product dried without heat storage dryer has less quality than dried with heat
storage dryer. In terms of color quality pre-treated dried fruits and vegetables have better
quality, which is more close to the raw fruits and vegetables color.

Key words: Natural convection dryer; Fruits and Vegetables; Heat Storage; Pre-treatment

vi

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1. BACKGROUND........................................................................................................ 1
1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................................ 3
1.3. JUSTIFICATION ....................................................................................................... 4
1.4. SCOPE OF THESIS ................................................................................................... 4
1.5. OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 4
1.5.1. General Objective .................................................................................................. 4
1.5.2. Specific Objectives ................................................................................................ 4
1.6. LIMITATION OF THE THESIS ............................................................................... 5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 6
2. 1. WORKING PRINCIPLE OF PASSIVE SOLAR DRYER ....................................... 6
2. 2. PREVIOUS WORK ON PASSIVE SOLAR DRYER .............................................. 6
2. 3. EFFECT OF HEAT STORAGE ON SOLAR DRYER PERFORMANCE .............. 7
3. METHODS AND MATERIALS .................................................................................... 9
3. 1. HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM DESIGN ..................................................................... 9
3.1.1 Heat storage rock selection .................................................................................... 9
3.1.2 Heat storage volume and thickness calculations ................................................... 9
3. 2. EVALUATION OF DEHYDRATED PRODUCTS QUALITY ............................. 10
3. 3. MATHEMATICAL MODELING ........................................................................... 10
3.3.1 Dryer cabinet ....................................................................................................... 10
3.3.2 Energy storage solar collector component .......................................................... 13
3.3.3 Weather data preparation ..................................................................................... 14
3. 4. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ...................................................................................... 15
3.4.1 Description of the solar dryer .............................................................................. 15
3.4.2 Setup without heat storage .................................................................................. 15
3.4.3 Setup with heat storage ........................................................................................ 16
3.4.4 Experimental procedure ...................................................................................... 17
3.4.5 Instrumentations .................................................................................................. 18
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................... 21
4.1 RESULTS OF HEAT STORAGE DESIGN............................................................ 21
4.1.1 Heat storage rock selection .................................................................................. 21

vii

4.1.2 Heat storage volume and thickness calculations ................................................. 21
4.2 RESULTS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELINGS ................................................ 22
4.2.1 Component creating and FORTRAN programing flow chart ............................. 22
4.2.2 FORTRAN programing of the mathematical modeling ...................................... 23
4.3 TRNSYS SIMULATION AND RESULTS............................................................. 24
4.4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION............................................... 26
4.4.1 Drying with dryer without heat storage ............................................................... 26
4.4.2 Drying with heat storage integrated dryer ........................................................... 34
4.5 COMPARING THE DRYER PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCT QUALITY .... 45
4.3.1. Dryer performance comparison ........................................................................... 45
4.3.2. Product quality comparison ................................................................................. 45
4.6 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. 47
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................... 48
5.1. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 48
5.2. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................... 48
6. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 49
7. APPENDIXES .............................................................................................................. 51
A. APPENDIX 1: .......................................................................................................... 51
B. APPENDIX 2: .......................................................................................................... 59
C. APPENDIX 3: .......................................................................................................... 60
D. APPENDIX 4: .......................................................................................................... 63
E. APPENDIX 5: .......................................................................................................... 65

viii

LISTS OF FIGURES
Figure 3-1: Sectional view of the dryer cabinet ..................................................................... 11
Figure 3-2: Sectional view of the solar collector and heat storage system ............................ 14
Figure 3-3: Schematic view of Solar dryer without heat storage ........................................... 16
Figure 3-4: Schematic view of solar dryer with rock storage ................................................ 17
Figure 3-5: K-type thermocouples .......................................................................................... 18
Figure 3-6: METEON Pyranometer ....................................................................................... 19
Figure 3-7: National Instrument data logger ......................................................................... 19
Figure 3-8: Thermometer ....................................................................................................... 20
Figure 3-9: Moisture balance ................................................................................................. 20
Figure 4-1: New component proforma creating flow chart .................................................... 22
Figure 4-2: Flow chart of FORTRAN programing ................................................................. 23
Figure 4-3: Creating TRNSYS project for simulation ............................................................ 24
Figure 4-4 Moisture content and weight loss of tomato with time ......................................... 25
Figure 4-5 Heat gain and drying air predictions ................................................................... 25
Figure 4-6: Day 1 drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution .......................... 27
Figure 4-7: Day 2 dryinf air temperature and solar radiation distribution ........................... 27
Figure 4-8: Day 3 drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution .......................... 28
Figure 4-9: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoe slices for three drying days .................... 28
Figure 4-10: Useful heat gain of the solar collector .............................................................. 29
Figure 4-11: Daily mango drying efficiency of the system ..................................................... 30
Figure 4-12: Day 1 tomato drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution ............ 31
Figure 4-15: Instantaneous weight loss of tomato slices for the three drying days ............... 33
Figure 4-16: Useful heat gain of the solar collector .............................................................. 33
Figure 4-17: Daily drying efficiency of the solar dryer system .............................................. 34
Figure 4-20: Day 1 heat storage and collector temperatures distribution ............................ 36
Figure 4-22: Instantaneous weight loss of tomatoes slices for two days drying ................... 37
Figure 4-23: Useful heat gain of the collector at the first drying day .................................... 38
Figure 4-24: Useful heat gain of the collector for the second drying day ............................. 38
Figure 4-25: Day 1 mango drying air temperature and solar radiation distributions .......... 39

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Figure 4-31: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoes slices on the first day ........................... 42
Figure 4-32: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoes slices on day 2 and 3 ............................ 43
Figure 4-33: Useful heat gain of the collector during the first day ........................................ 43
Figure 4-34: Useful heat gain of the collector for the 2
nd
and 3
rd
days ................................. 44
Figure 4-35: Daily drying efficiency of the solar dryer system .............................................. 45
Figure 4-36: Dried mangoes slices by dryer with heat storage system. ................................. 46
Figure 4-37: Dried mangoes slices by dryer without heat storage system ............................. 46
Figure 4-38: Dried tomatoes slices by dryer with heat storage system ................................. 46
Figure 4-39: Dried tomatoes slices by dryer without heat storage system ............................ 46

Figure A 1: Samples slices preparation .................................................................................. 59
Figure A 2: Samples distribution on trays and drying cabinet ............................................... 59
Figure A 3: Experimental setup .............................................................................................. 59
Figure A 4: Construction of dryer with heat storage rock ..................................................... 60
Figure A 5: Creating new component proforma ..................................................................... 60
Figure A 6: Generating FORTRAN code skeleton and a compiler project ............................ 61
Figure A 7:Writing Mathematical equations on microsoft visual stidio ................................ 61
Figure A 8: Component selection from TRNSYS studio ......................................................... 62
Figure A 9: Connecting components inputs and outputs ........................................................ 62
Figure A 10: Configuring connections for simulation ............................................................ 62
Figure A 11: Typical meteorological year format weather data of Mekelle .......................... 63
Figure A 12: Graphical representations of the prepared data ............................................... 64

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 4-1: Thermo-Physical properties of Rocks for sensible heat storage
[25]
.................... 21

Table A 1: Drying without heat storage on 16/06/13 ............................................................. 65
Table A 4: Drying with heat storage on 03/07/13 .................................................................. 65
Table A 10: Drying without heat storage on 28/06/13 ........................................................... 68
Table A 11: Drying without heat storage on 29/06/13 ........................................................... 68

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NOMENCLATURES
coll
Surface area of solar collector (m
2
)
Surface area of drying tray (m

2
)
Solar intensity on horizontal surface (W/m
2
)
Drying constant (s
-1
)
fg
Latent heat of vaporization (KJ/kg. k)
_ Thermal conductivity of insulation (W/m. K)
Total water content to be removed (kg)
Instantaneous mass of water (kg)
Equilibrium moisture content (%)
Final moisture content (%)
Initial moisture content (%)
Instantaneous moisture content on dry basis (%)
Moisture content at sunrise (%)
Moisture content at sunset (%)
The estimated relative humidity at time (%)
Daily maximum humidity (%)
Daily minimum humidity (%)

Nocturnal moisture re-absorption or losses (%)
Temperature drying air (

o
C)
Temperature crop to dried (

o
C)
Dry bulb temperature at time (

o
C)
Daily mean maximum temperature (

o
C)
Daily mean minimum temperature (

o
C)
Desired time period (s)

Weight of dried product (kg)
Initial weight of dried product (kg)
_
Thickness of the bottom insulation (m)
_
Thickness of the side insulation (m)

GREEK LETTERS
d
Daily drying eciency (%)
n
Normalized daily drying eciency (%)
Efficiency of limestone (%)
Limestone density

1

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND
Fruits and vegetables play an essential role in human nutrition. Apart from providing flavor
and variety to human diet, they serve as important sources of vitamins and minerals which
will prevent diseases and promoting health. Most fruits and vegetables contain more water
and therefore highly perishable. And water loss and decay account for most of their post-
harvest losses and short storage life. But, serious losses will arise in the availability of the
essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals constituted in them. Therefore, preserving fruits
and vegetables is necessary for keeping them for a long time without further deterioration in
their quality in order to utilize their nutritional value efficiently
[1]
.
The post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables are estimated to be more than 30% in the
developing countries due to their perishable nature, poor storage facility, poor marketing
conditions and shortage of low-cost and appropriate post-harvest technologies
[1]
. The
problems related to short storage life of fruits and vegetables in developing countries like
Ethiopia are blown up more by the poor transportation and marketing system
[2]
.
The development of agro-industries and food processing sectors can play a vital role in
reducing the post-harvest losses by processing and value addition of fruits and vegetables
which will ensure better remuneration to the growers. Therefore, to enhance the shelf life of
fruits and vegetables and minimizes post-harvest loss much effort have to be done in
developing efficient and low-cost local post-harvest technologies. Drying is one of such
preservation methods of fruits and vegetables that can enhance their shelf life
[2, 3]
.
Drying using solar energy is one of oldest and world widely known method of agricultural
products preservation practiced by humankind. Drying will help fruits and vegetables to
extending their shelf life by reducing the moisture content to optimum level below which
deterioration does not occur. Apart from extending the shelf life, it can also improve quality
of dehydrated products, to sustain constant price, lower storage and transportation costs and
reduces post-harvest losses highly, since most of the water is taken out during the drying
process
[3, 4]
.
Open sun drying is the oldest and widely known traditional method for drying crops in
developing countries. Open sun drying is the simplest and cheapest method of drying
agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, grains, tobacco, timber, etc. by
spreading on the ground and turned regularly until sufficiently dried so that they can be
stored safely. In Ethiopia the traditional open sun drying methods have also commonly used
for drying crops, but little attempts have been made for drying of fruits and vegetables. Even
if, open sun drying requires little capital and work force, it also associated with many
problems and short comings. Open sun drying requires large drying space and long drying
period. The short comings of open sun drying are; crops damaged because of the hostile
weather conditions, contamination of crops from the foreign materials, degradation by
overheating, and infestation by insect, rodents, birds and other animals. It may result in

2

physical and structural changes in the product such as shrinkage, case hardening, loss of
nutrient and volatiles components and lower water reabsorption during rehydration. And
there is no control on the drying process of open sun drying, and this could lead to slow
drying rate, poor quality and contamination of dried products, and losses in production
[3, 4]
.
To overcome the drawbacks of open sun drying various types of drying devices like solar
dryer, electric dryers, wood-fuel driers and oil-burned driers are adopted and used widely.
However, the high cost of oil and electricity and their scarcity in the rural areas of most
developing countries have made these driers to be unattractive and expensive. Therefore,
interest has been focused mainly on the development of driers using solar energy as heat
source
[2, 3 and 5]
.
Solar assisted drying system is one of the most attractive and promising applications of solar
energy systems. For drying applications solar energy can easily provide low heating
temperature required for fruits and vegetables drying
[6]
.
Solar energy is inexhaustible and abundantly found renewable energy sources. And its
intensity is relatively high near the equator. The introduction of dryers powered by solar
energy for drying fruits and vegetables will be feasible to countries located near the equator
like Ethiopia since they are endowed to high solar radiation intensity and long sunshine
duration. Now a day, due to atmospheric pollution related issues and increasing price of
fossil fuels the application of solar thermal technologies have gaining rapid acceptance in
agriculture application as an energy saving mechanism.
Since the solar intensity varies from region to region the type and method of solar energy
conversion technologies also varies. Solar drying can be considered as an elaboration of sun
drying and is an efficient system of utilizing solar energy. The purpose of a solar dryer is to
supply the product with heat by conduction and convection from the surrounding air more
than that available under ambient conditions at temperatures above that of the product, or
conduction from heated surfaces in contact with the product
[7]
. The introduction of solar
drying system seems to be one of the most promising alternatives to reduce post-harvest
losses. As compared to open sun dried products, solar dried products have much better color
and texture. The justification for solar dryers is that they dry products rapidly, uniformly and
hygienically, the traits inevitable for industrial food drying processes. Since, they are more
effective than open sun drying method
[3]
.
According to the method of drying, Duffle and Beckman
[8]
classified solar dryers in to three
namely;
1. Direct solar dryer
2. Indirect solar dryer
3. Mixed solar dryer
Direct solar dryer, the crop is placing on top of the absorber plate dried using both direct
solar radiation and air which enters by natural convection to collector through the opening
between absorber and glass cover. The construction of direct solar dryer is simple and low-
cost compare to the other types of solar dryers. Since the product have direct contact with

3

sunlight drying of fruits and vegetables with this type of dryer will expose them to ultraviolet
radiation which accounts for color change and losses of some minerals and vitamins of fruits
and vegetables.
An indirect solar dryer uses pre-heated air in the solar collector to dry the product in the
drying chamber. Here it is possible to control the temperature in the dryer. Since the products
have no direct contact with sunlight they are not exposed to ultraviolet radiation which
accounts for the damage of color and nutrients of the dehydrated product
[5]
. According to
the mode of air flow indirect solar dryers are further classified into natural convection and
forced convection solar dryers
[8]
.
Natural convection indirect solar dryers do not require a fan to pump the air through the
dryer. However, its low air flow rate and longer drying time result in low drying capacity
and restricts its application to small scale level. Forced convection solar dryer are used for
commercial production of agricultural products. Forced convection solar dryer provides a
better control of drying air and require additional energy for drying operation. Natural
convection solar dryer is highly preferred for drying food products especially when a thin
layer drying is considered
[3]
. And also due to its zero electricity consumption, natural
convection solar dryers are widely used in rural areas to dry agricultural products where
electricity is not accessible.
For commercial applications, the ability of the drier to process continuously throughout the
day is very important to dry the fruits and vegetables to their safe storage level and to
maintain the quality. Thermal storage systems are employed with the dryer to store thermal
energy, which includes sensible heat and latent heat storage. The most commonly known
sensible heat storage materials used to store the sensible heat are water, gravel bed, sand, clay
and concrete
[9]
.
Therefore in this study the performance of indirect natural convection solar dryer will be
improved by designing heat storage system to using the sensible heat storage material to
integrate with it. The performance of the solar dryer will be evaluated and compared with
other types of solar dryer without heat storage system.
1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
To prevent the post-harvest losses of agricultural products Natural Convection Indirect
Solar Dryer was designed and manufactured at Mekelle University, Mechanical Engineering
Department. However, continuous operation of the dryers is limited due to absence of heat
storage mechanism and intermittent energy supply due to climatic conditions variation (like
solar intensity, sunshine hour, and cloud cover) and this makes the dryers unsuitable to dry
fruits and vegetables. If drying of fruits and vegetables continues with these solar dryers the
quality of dehydrated product will be degraded, sometimes beyond edibility, and also due to
limited drying capacity incompetent for commercial applications. Therefore, it is critically
important to integrating thermal storage system with the solar collector to improve the dryer
performance and also maintain the desired quality of dehydrated product. In this study, the

4

design and construction of improved solar dryer integrated with heat storage system for
drying fruits and vegetables will be the major emphasis. Besides, performance test will be
conducted using simulation softwares and models encountered in literatures to determine the
drying characteristics of the products by considering the gaps identified from previous study.
1.3. JUSTIFICATION
Natural convection indirect solar dryer for crop drying was designed in Mekelle University,
Mechanical Engineering Department, and this research is continuation to that. These types of
dryer are the most appropriate for drying agricultural products especially for third world
countries. But the drying air temperature of these dryers is not constant due to variation of
solar intensity and cloud cover. The drying air temperature is the most important parameter
need to be controlled in drying of fruits and vegetables since its variation can affect the
quality of dehydrated product. Therefore, to use these types of dryers to dry fruits and
vegetables, it is necessary to store the surplus solar energy appearing at the radiation peaks
using locally available heat storage materials to control this temperature and to avoid local
over drying. Storing of the solar energy also reduces drying time and moisture re-absorption
of the product from the surrounding air during night and improves the dryer efficiency by
extending the drying period. These all circumstances can justify the importance of integrating
heat storage system with solar dryer to dry fruits and vegetables in order to have better
quality of dehydrated product and dryer efficiency.
1.4. SCOPE OF THESIS
The scopes of the thesis was analyzing the performance of the existing solar dryer to
optimize and upgrade, designing the thermal storage system to integrate with it and selecting
the heat storage material. The experiment has been conducted at Mekelle University, main
campus. The thermal performance of the dryer with heat storage system has been evaluated
for selected fruits and vegetables drying in relation to weather parameters. These highly
variable environmental conditions make the characterization of the drying process difcult
because parameters such as air temperature and airow are constantly varying. Therefore,
this study does not attempt to derive a drying model for the particular dryer design. The study
experimentally compares the differences in dryer performance and product quality between
natural convection solar dryer with and without heat storage system.
1.5. OBJECTIVES
1.5.1. General Objective
To design, construct and analyze the thermal performance of natural convection indirect solar
dryer integrated with heat storage system for fruits and vegetables drying.
1.5.2. Specific Objectives
1. To design a solar dryer with rock as heat storage material.
2. To simulate the solar dryer to optimize and upgrade the design for better
performance.

5

3. To analyze the drying kinetics of natural convection solar drying of mangoes and
tomatoes slices in relation to weather parameters, and to evaluate quality of
dehydrated products.
4. To compare the dryer performance and product quality with natural convection
indirect solar drier for drying mangoes and tomatoes slices.
1.6. LIMITATION OF THE THESIS
To create the new component for simulation TRNSYS require compiler to write and
synchronize the mathematical modeling with the new component. Simulation part of the
thesis was delayed for long time due to lack of the FORTRAN compiler software. Since the
FORTRAN compiler used for this thesis was the second option for TRNSYS, compiling with
this software requires good FORTRAN programing language. These all things and the time
constraint were the major limitation of the thesis.

6

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
To preserve fruits and vegetables for a longer time without any deterioration in their quality
and nutritional value the moisture content should be reduced to the optimum level. Generally,
many fruits and vegetables have large quantity moisture, usually above 70% on wet basis. In
order to lower this large quantity of moisture to optimum level of 715% requires large
amount of energy
[10]
. Normally fruits and vegetables are very sensitive at high temperature,
which might affect their composition and damage the quality. So to have good quality of
dried fruits and vegetables the drying temperature should be kept between the recommended
ranges of 3563
o
C
[10]
.
Drying of fruits and vegetables using different types of solar dryers have been conducted by
a number of researchers to reduce the moisture content, and which can be prepared further to
value added products
[11]
. Among the vast types of dryers passive dryers become most
appropriate for drying these products to minimize damage (decolonization and surface
cracking) when exposed to direct solar radiation
[11]
. Hence, natural convection indirect
solar dryers are best suitable for drying of fruits and vegetables, and only these types of
dryers with and without heat storage system performance are reviewed in this study.
2. 1. WORKING PRINCIPLE OF PASSIVE SOLAR DRYER
Heat and mass transfer are the two fundamental processes which govern the drying process.
The indirect type solar dryer basically consists of solar collector and drying chamber. The air
which dries the product first heated by absorbing heat from the heated absorber plate in the
collector and this absorbed heat will transfer to moist product in the drying chamber when
the hot air flows from the collector to drying chamber and then moisture will be removed
from the product to attain the required moisture level
[12]
.
2. 2. PREVIOUS WORK ON PASSIVE SOLAR DRYER
The natural convection indirect solar crop dryer without heat storage system was designed,
manufactured and tested its performance by Dawit
[13]
at Mekelle University, Mechanical
Engineering Department. The solar dryer was designed basically by considering fixed drying
time from the sunshine hour data to dry 10kg of tomato. During design of the chimney only
its height was considered but its position has needed to be considered. For the performance
test it was not clearly stated whether thin or thick layer drying was used. The thermal
performance of the dryer was tested for drying a single type of crop by determining the
drying rate. The moisture re-absorption or loss of the product during off sunshine from the
surrounding air and the quality of dehydrated crop were not considered during the test. The
study concluded that, since it dried high moisture content tomato it could also dry other types
of crops efficiently.
Forced convection solar dryer with heat storage system was designed and constructed by
Anteneh and Assab
[14]
at Mekelle University, Mechanical Engineering Department for final
year project of undergraduate program. The dryer was designed to dry 5kg of maize in 11hrs

7

using the drying temperature of 70
o
C to lower the moisture content from 65% to 3%. For the
heat storage material black stone was selected by considering its thermal conductivity and it
was integrated with drying chamber. In this dryer type the air was first heated by the
collector and pumped to the storage material using fan and then the air out from the storage
system was passed through the drying chamber to dry the product. In this project work the
performance of the dryer was not evaluated but some performance parameters were
calculated with some assumptions and were used as input for the design process.
2. 3. EFFECT OF HEAT STORAGE ON SOLAR DRYER PERFORMANCE
The effects of size and types of different thermal energy storage materials on the thermal
performance of natural convection indirect solar dryers have been studied by researchers and
they are able to achieve some critical results.
Passive type solar crop dryer integrated with heat storage and with shallow bed and reflector
on chimney was designed and tested its performance analytically by Tiwari et al
[15]
. During
analysis the reflector effect on the collector and the effect of thermal storage and crop
properties on outlet air temperature of the collector were considered. The energy balance
equations were analytically expressed in terms of the design and climatic parameters. The
analytical result showed increased collector and heat storage efficiency due to the reflector
effect which in turn increases the drying period and significantly reduces drying time.
A solar air heater with tube as solar energy absorber and energy storage was designed and
experimentally studied its performance. The tube was used to replace the corrugated absorber
plate in conventional solar air heaters and to create turbulence near the collector surface
which increased the heat transfer coefficient. The sensible and latent heat storage materials
used for test were sand, paraffin wax and Glauber's salt. From the experimental results it was
observed that the system heat losses were reduced because of reduced absorber temperature
due to incorporated thermal energy storage materials. The temperature of outlet air from the
collector also increased due to increased heat transfer coefficient. The effective heat gain and
overall efficiency also improved due to introduction of thermal storage materials. The daily
average efficiency obtained with paraffin wax was higher as compared to sand as the storage
material. The effective heat transfer rate increased with air flow rate for a shorter effective
period
[16]
.
The performance and heat transfer characteristics of flat plate solar air heater with and
without thermal storage material was studied theoretically and experimentally by Saravana
Kumar
[17]
. Mathematical model was developed based on convective heat transfer
correlations and some assumptions to predict the thermal conductivity effect of heat storage
material on the collector. The implicit method of finite difference scheme was employed to
solve the model. The model predicted higher collector efficiency for solar air heater with
thermal storage than without thermal storage material, and the thermal conductivity of the
storage material had significant effect on the thermal performance of the solar air heater. The
model was validated by comparing with the experimental data.

8

The effect of thermal energy storage materials on the performance of air collector was
studied by Goyal
[18]
for Delhi climatic conditions. The air collector constructed on the
ground and consisted of two regions, the top region was the absorber made of the energy
storage material itself and covered with glass, the second region is was the ground filled with
soil, and the air was heated up when it flowed between the two regions. Energy storage
materials used for the study were concrete, brick, sand, and ground and phase change
material. The energy balance equations were developed by considering different
assumptions. Ambient temperature and solar intensity were expressed periodically to analyze
the temperature of the storage at different depth and flowing air temperature. The energy
balance equations were computed numerically to study optimum length and thickness of
storage material and the effect of air flow rate on collector thermal performance. From the
results better performance was observed when using brick and concrete as energy storage
materials compared to the others. Due to its simplicity in preparation concrete was chosen to
investigate further to get optimum thickness.
The solar air heater with and without storage materials for drying application was
investigated experimentally. Transient analytical model was developed by assuming the
owing air temperature to vary with time and space coordinates, the effects of design
parameters of the air heater such as length, width, spacing between the absorber plate and
glass cover, mass ow rate and the storage material (sand, granite and water) type and
thickness on the outlet and average temperatures of the owing air were studied. Increased
heater performance with storage system were achieved at the optimum thickness (0.12 m) of
the storage material that enabled continues drying process during night, to prevent products
from re-absorption of moisture from the surrounding air, and this makes the air heater
promising heat source for drying fruits and vegetables
[19]
.
From the literatures reviewed above the thermal performance of the solar dryers can be
greatly improved simply by integrating the thermal storage system with it. In this research
modeling and simulation of the existing work and integrating it with a heat storage system to
optimize and upgrade the design will be the major priority. Evaluating the performance of the
dryer by considering the major evaluation parameters drying time, drying rate and drying
efficiency and also effect of the moisture re-absorption or loss of the product during night for
thin layer drying of fruits and vegetables.

9

3. METHODS AND MATERIALS
3. 1. HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM DESIGN
3.1.1 Heat storage rock selection
The data for available types of rocks around Mekelle would be collected and identified from
the geological map of Mekelle prepared by Mekelle University, Geology Department. The
heat storage rock bed which integrated with the solar collector would be selected based on
their thermo-physical properties, availabilities and accessibilities. For better temperature
distribution along the storage volume the rock bed would be prepared with the dimension of
2 4 cm
[20]
.
3.1.2 Heat storage volume and thickness calculations
To design the heat storage size the following assumptions were considered.
For design purpose the dryer was expected to dry tomatoes because of its high
moisture content.
Maximum initial moisture content of tomato (M
o
) was taken as 92%.
Final moisture content in the dried tomatoes (M
f
) was 15%.
10kg of sliced tomatoes would be dry per batch.
The initial temperature of crop (
_
) equal to ambient temperature
The tomatoes are dried at night by the stored energy
The efficiency of the storage material to release the stored energy to absorber was
assumed to be 70% due to good thermal conductivities of sandstone.

i. The amount of water need to be removed from tomato would be calculated as
follow;
)
1
(3.1)
ii. The total energy required by the air to evaporate the water from the tomatoes
would be calculated from the following relations;

(3.2)
iii. Heat content of water vapor would be calculated from the initial temperature of the
crop.

= 2501 +1.84
_
(3.3)
iv. The total heat loss (U
L
) is calculated as follow;

(3.4)
Where;
_
and
_

v. The volume of the storage material would be calculated from the total energy
required by the storage material to heat up the flowing air.
(3.5)

10

Where;

And,

(3.6)
vi. The thickness of the rock storage material could be calculated from the collector
area and volume of the rock;

(3.7)
3. 2. EVALUATION OF DEHYDRATED PRODUCTS QUALITY
Drying processes might affect the color and texture of fruits and vegetables. Fast drying leads
to surface cracking, resulting in final rigid products with more volume and a crust on the
surface. On the other hand, uniform and denser products with reduced re-hydration rate and
capacity can be achieved with slow drying rates
[23]
.
The quality of dehydrated product would be evaluated based on the sensory attributes of
fruits and vegetables like color, texture and flavor. Texture can be considered an external
reflection of micro and macro-structural characteristics of a food product that directly
influences its sensory perceived features. Sensations as hardness, softness, crispness,
juiciness, and toughness are considered as texture.
Mechanical tests can be applied to quantify textural attributes of dried foods; dynamic tests,
such as compression, relaxation and creep are the most used ones
[23]
. The visual appearance
of raw, dry and rehydrated fruits and vegetables slices would be evaluated by eye inspection.
3. 3. MATHEMATICAL MODELING
3.3.1 Dryer cabinet
To simulate the complete process of the drying, the whole components of the drying system
should necessarily be modeled. Therefore, new dryer component is created using FORTRAN
programing language to formulate the mathematical models. To develop the new component
it is necessary to identify the parameters, inputs and outputs of the simulation, and their
mathematical relationships are also described. Figure 3-1 shows the sectional view of the
dryer component and the position of thermocouples.

11

Figure 3-1: Sectional view of the dryer cabinet
The energy balance equations for the drying chamber were written based on the following
assumptions;
Constant thermal properties of the products within the operating temperature
Uniform thickness of the drying product
Negligible volume shrinkage of the dried product
No temperature gradient in the individual drying particle
No variation of temperature and moisture along the thickness of the product
The inner and outer wall temperatures of the dryer are assumed to be equal to
the drying air and ambient temperature respectively.
The mathematical equations that are used to estimate the outputs of the simulation are
described below.
i. Drying air temperature (
)
The T
OUT
is the collector outlet temperature which is equal to air temperature entering the
tray 1. The other drying air temperatures are calculated from the energy balance equations on
each tray.
Energy balance on tray 1
) =
(
1

2
) +
1

(
1

1
) (3.8)
2
=
+

1

(
1

1
) (3.9)

(
1

2
) =
(
2

3
) +
2

(
2

2
) (3.10)
3
=
2
2 +

2

2
(3.11)
(
2

3
) =
(
3

4
) +
3

(
3

3
) (3.12)
4
=
3
2 +

3

3
(3.13)

12

ii. Crop temperature ((
)
The crop temperatures are also calculated from the energy balance equation on each tray as
follow;
(
1

1
) =
+
1

(
1

2
) (3.14)
Equating Eqn. (3.9) in to (3-14) and rearranging it to get the differential equation

+
1
=
1
() (3.15)
Where; A
1
=

1

(2 +

1

)

1
(t) =

1

(
1
1 +

1

)
(
2

2
) =
+
2

(
2

3
) (3.16)
Equating Eqn. (3.11) in to (3-16) and rearranging it to get the differential equation

dT
c2
dt
+A
2
T
c
= F
2
(t) (3.17)
Where; A
2
=

2

(2 +
)

2
(t) =

2

(
2
3 +

2

1
)
(
3

3
) =
+
3

(
3

4
) (3.18)
Equating Eqn. (3-13) in to (3-18) and rearranging it to get the differential equation

+
3
=
3
() (3.19)
Where; A
3
=

3

(2 +
)

3
(t) =

3

(
3
3 +

3

2
)
iii. Moisture removed from the crop
The drying rate can be expressed as the thin layer drying equation;
= (
) (3.20)
The moisture content on the dry basis (M
o
) is the weight of moisture present in the
product per unit weight of the dry matter in the product.
(3.21)
The instantaneous moisture content (M
t
) at any time can be calculated from the
following equation;
=
(
+1)
1 (3.22)
The instantaneous weight of crop (
) could be calculated from the following

equation;

(3.23)

13

The instantaneous mass of water (
) would be calculated from the energy balance

equation;

(3.24)
(3.25)
The total mass of water to be removed from the crop (
);

) (3.26)
The nocturnal moisture re-absorption or loss (R
n
) is dened as the ratio of the rise in
moisture content over the night period to the moisture content value at sunset of the
preceding day, and expressed as a percentage.
100% (3.27)
The daily drying eciency (
d
) is the ratio of the energy required to evaporate the
moisture from the crop to the insolation received over the area of the air heaters
horizontal projection.

+1
100% (3.28)
Drying eciencies (
n
) to isolate the eect of the initial crop mass, the drying
eciencies are normalized against the total weight to obtain the corresponding
normalized drying eciencies.
(%
1
) (3.29)
3.3.2 Energy storage solar collector component
To simulate the existing solar dryer which was integrated with heat storage system using the
pre-defined components in TRNSYS library may lead to error, because in the pre-defined
components the energy from the collector to storage is transferred by convection from the
flowing air. Whereas in this dryer, since both collector and storage components are stationary
and there is no moving part in between, heat is transferred by conduction from the collector
to the storage and vice versa. Therefore it was necessary to create new component in order to
simulate the existing solar dryer system in TRNSYS.
The new combined collector storage component was created in TRNSYS using FORTRAN
programing language to formulate the mathematical models for the combined collector
storage system. Like the dryer component the parameters, inputs and outputs of the
simulation were identified in order to develop the new combined component, and their
mathematical relationships were also described.

14

Figure 3-2: Sectional view of the solar collector and heat storage system
The mathematical equations used to determine the outputs of the component are derived from
the energy balance equations on each part. According to S. Aboul-Enein et al
[19]
the outlet
and average temperature of air from the collector and storage temperature are described as
follow;
The air temperature at the collector outlet;
= ((
4
())
2
) (1 ((
+(

1
)) (
2
2
))) +
((
+(

1
))
(
2
2
)) (3.30)
Average air temperature of the collector;
= ((
4
())
2
) +(2 (
4
()
2
2
)) (
(
2
)
2
1
) ((
2
) 1) +(2
) (
(
2
)
2
1
)(1(
2
)) (3.31)
The heat storage temperature;

= ( (
5
())
2
) (1 ((
2
))) +
_
((
2
)) (3.32)
3.3.3 Weather data preparation
The weather data of Mekelle for the year 2011 was obtained from Ethiopian Meteorology
Agency, Mekelle station. The temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and sunshine hour
recorded on daily basis are collected from the station. But the solar radiation was not
recorded on this station, and the solar radiation measured at Mekelle University, main
campus in the year 2011, 2012 and January 2013 was used for the simulation.
The hourly weather data (like average solar intensity, temperature and humidity), design and
operational parameters of the dryer and the properties of product are the input parameters for
the analysis in TRNSYS.
a. Temperature
Since the collected weather data are not on hourly basis this data will not be directly used for
the simulation in TRNSYS. Hence estimation of hourly dry-bulb temperature from the daily
mean maximum and daily mean minimum temperatures will give a reasonable result. It is

15

then good assumption to take a sinusoidal variation of the dry-bulb temperature through the
day.

()
=
2
)[1 sin (
9
12
) (3.33)
b. Relative humidity
The relative humidity also assumed to vary sinusoidal with time, and the daily minimum and
maximum relative humidity are used to estimate the hourly data with the following equation.

()
=
+(
2
)[1 sin (
9
12
) (3.34)

c. Solar radiation and wind speed
The solar intensity, wind speed and ambient air temperature data recorded at 10minute
interval for the year 2012 January 2013 was collected from Mekelle University main campus
Meteorology station. To prepare the hourly data as input for TRNSYS the 10minute average
data was averaged in to hourly basis using Matlab and Excel soft wares.
3. 4. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
3.4.1 Description of the solar dryer
The schematic diagram of the solar dryer system which is shown in Figure 3-4 consists of the
solar collector, the drying cabinet and the heat storage. The solar collector has a
parallelepiped shape with dimension of 2 m length by 1 m width and 0.13 m gap between the
absorber plate and glass, and consists of a 4 mm thick glass cover and corrugated iron sheet
absorber plate with its upper surface painted black to increase the absorptivity of the system.
The drying cabinet consists of three drying trays having a size of 0.92 m length by 0.64 m
width and manufactured from plastic screen to prevent contamination, and also 0.80 m long
chimney above the cabinet. The cabinet wall was well insulated by Styrofoam and the outer
part was painted black to reduce heat loss through the walls. The heat storage material has
0.20 m thickness and placed directly under the absorber plate. The system was insulated from
all sides and bottom by fiber glass to reduce the heat losses to ambient air.
The drying air flows between the glass cover and absorber plate, where it gains thermal
energy from the absorber plate, and then it flows through the chamber to the drying trays
where it releases the heat to dry the product. Part of the heat energy from the absorber plate
was stored in the heat storage material. Further, the solar collector was oriented to face south
and tilted 15
o
with respect to the horizontal. The solar dryer was tested outdoors with and
without heat storage to dry fruits and vegetables under the natural convection mode of
operation.
3.4.2 Setup without heat storage
The experimental setup for solar dryer without heat storage system was arranged to conduct
the first experiment. Pyranometer, K-type thermocouples and thermometers arranged at
different place of the dryer cabinet and solar collector shown in the Figure 3-3, were
connected to National Instrument data logger.

16

Figure 3-3: Schematic view of Solar dryer without heat storage
3.4.3 Setup with heat storage
To conduct an experiment with heat storage dryer the sensors were positioned as shown
below in the Figure 3-4. The K-type thermocouples were used to measure the temperatures of
various elements of the solar dryer as functions of time with the help of National Instrument
data logger and Lab VIEW software. The ambient air temperature, the total solar radiation
incident on the solar collector and wet bulb temperature at the dryer inlet and chimney outlet
are measured.

17

Figure 3-4: Schematic view of solar dryer with rock storage
3.4.4 Experimental procedure
The drying test experiment was conducted in two rounds, and the experiment in the first
round was conducted to dry fruits and vegetables on solar dryer without heat storage, and in
the second round experiment with heat storage. Before starting the experiment these fruits
and vegetables were washed to remove dirt and prepared by peeling and slicing thinly, then
to prevent oxidation that damage the flavor and vitamin content the slices were pretreated by
blanching and dipping in to citric acid or ascorbic acid solutions. Every new experiment was
started at 9:30AM, and the general procedure adopted for these experiments were;
1) First empty trays were weighted individually.
2) The treated slices were placed on the trays by giving space between slices as shown
in Figure A-2(a).
3) The loaded trays were again weighted individually.
4) The loaded trays were placed in the drying chamber as shown in Figure A-2(b).
5) The thermocouples were positioned on the trays and connect all thermocouples with
data logger which connected with computer as shown in Figure A-3, then configure
and start logging data every second.
6) The solar radiation logging instrument METEON was programed by computer that
have installed software METEON and start recording data every ten seconds because
of low memory capacity of the instrument.

18

7) The wet bulb temperature data also collected at 10minute interval using the
thermometers at the dryer inlet and chimney outlet.
8) The daily recorded data are exported in to excel format from the Lab VIEW software
for analysis at 6:00PM.
9) To estimate daily drying rate by the weight loss of the product the loaded trays were
weighted at the end of every day.
10) The experiment was performed until the desired final moisture of the product attains.
3.4.5 Instrumentations
Drying experiments was conducted outdoor at Mekelle University main campus for the
duration of 15 days for drying of selected sliced fruits and vegetables to study the eects of
the climatic conditions, operational parameters and the heat storage system on the dryer
performance. The instruments required to collect the data for experiment were;
1) Thermocouples
The K-type thermocouples connected with data logger will be used to measure
the dry bulb temperature at different locations of the solar collector, heat
storage and the drying chamber during experiment.

Figure 3-5: K-type thermocouples
2) Pyranometer
METEON irradiation meter type Pyranometer was used to measure the global
solar radiation. The device displays an output reading in W/m
2
which is the
sum of the beam and diffused solar radiation. The sensitivity of the device is
71.00V/W/m
2
. The total solar radiation was logged by METEON device on
its memory and converts the data to computer using METEON software.

19

Figure 3-6: METEON Pyranometer
3) Data Logger
The NIDAQ-9172 type data logger was used to record and store the different
measurements made by thermocouples and it has 15 ports to measure
temperatures including the ambient.

Figure 3-7: National Instrument data logger
4) Digital Weighing Balance
PT-600 type digital weighing balance was used to weigh the drying product to
determine the weight lost.
5) Thermometers
Wet wicks laboratory bulb thermometers were used to measure the wet bulb
temperature in the inlet and outlet of the solar dryer. The thermometers have
0.5
o
C accuracy.

20

Figure 3-8: Thermometer
6) Moisture Balance
MB-200 OHAUS Model moisture balance instrument was used to determine
the amount of moisture content in the product before and after drying. The
instrument has a precision of + 0.007 in gram.

Figure 3-9: Moisture balance
7) Computer interface and analogue to digital converter
The Lab VIEW Signal Express program software was used to convert the data
collected by the data logger in to digital form for analysis.

21

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 RESULTS OF HEAT STORAGE DESIGN
4.1.1 Heat storage rock selection
A rock bed was used as solar energy storing material which can be integrated with the solar
dryer to improve the performance. The rock bed was heated during the day directly from
collectors absorber and released the stored energy to the collector whenever there was a
temperature difference between the absorber plate and storage material.
The geological map profile of the rock types around Mekelle city was found from Mekelle
University, Geology Department
[24]
. The identified rock types were;
1. Limestone
2. Sandstone
3. Dolerite
4. Gypsum
5. Marl
6. Shale
Since no experiments was done by the department to identify the thermal properties of these
rocks, the thermo-physical properties (conductivity, density and specific heat capacity) were
found from literatures. Based on their thermo-physical properties, availabilities and
accessibilities the sandstone was selected as sensible heat storage material for this research
work. For better temperature distribution along the storage volume the rock bed was prepared
from sandstone having dimension 2 4 cm.

The Thermo- physical properties of different rock types identified around Mekelle area are
summarized below in Table 4-1.
Table 4-1: Thermo-Physical properties of Rocks for sensible heat storage
[25]

Rock Type

Density
[] kg/m
3

Specific heat
[Cp] J/kg. K

Volumetric Heat
Capacity
( Cp)x10
-6
J/m
3
.K

Thermal conductivity
[k] W/m. K

Thermal Diffusivity
[], (k/ Cp)x10
6

m
2
/s
Limestone

2500 900 2.25 1.26 1.33 0.56-0.59
Sandstone 2350 775 1.821 1.83 1.01
4.1.2 Heat storage volume and thickness calculations
i. The amount of water need to be removed from 10kg of tomatoes was calculated from
Eqn. (3-1).

=
10(0.920.15)
10.15

= 9.1
ii. The total energy required by the air to evaporate 9.1kg of water from the tomatoes
was calculated using Eqn. (3-2) and (3-3).

= 2537/

= 9.1 2537/

22

= 23093.98
iii. Fiber glass was used as insulation material. Its thermal conductivity, the bottom and
side thickness were 0.0519W/m. K, 0.03m and 0.025m respectively. The total heat
loss (U
L
) was calculated from Eqn. (3-4).

= 1.73 +2.076

= 3.806 /
The energy equivalent to 3.806W power in 24hr operation was about 328.84KJ.
iv. The volume of the storage material was calculated using Eqn. (3-5) and (3-6).

=
23093.98+328.84
0.7182120

= 0.91
3

v. The thickness of the rock storage material was determined from Eqn. (3-7).

=
0.91
2

= 0.459
Since most of the crop moisture would be evaporated during day time directly by the solar
energy the optimized thickness of the storage was taken as 40% of calculated bed thickness.

= 0.20
4.2 RESULTS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELINGS
4.2.1 Component creating and FORTRAN programing flow chart
To study the solar dryer performance using transient analysis the dryer component proforma
was created from TRNSYS simulation studio. The input, output and the parameter variables
needed for this component were properly declared. The new component proforma was saved
on %TRNSYS%\studio\proformas in order to be accessed for simulation and exported as
FORTRAN to Microsoft visual studio (MsVS) which integrated with Intel(R) Visual
FORTRAN compiler to create the dynamic link library (DLL). Figure 4-1 shows the flow
chart how the proforma of new component is created in TRNSYS studio. The FORTRAN
programing flow chart used to create the new component is shown on Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-1: New component proforma creating flow chart
Export proforma
as FORTRAN
Create new
component proforma
Declaring Type
number
Declaring variables
Inputs
Parameters
output
Save proforma
%TRNSYS%\studio\proformas
Open TRNSYS
studio

23

Figure 4-2: Flow chart of FORTRAN programing
4.2.2 FORTRAN programing of the mathematical modeling
Once the proforma is exported in can be opened on Microsoft visual studio and become
ready to write the mathematical modeling equations needed to the component. The inputs
required by the component were the weather data (temperature, solar radiation, wind speed
and relative humidity) of Mekelle prepared on hourly basis. The outputs were the
combination of the parameters and inputs variables. The inputs and parameters were arranged
according to the formulas described in methodology part from Eqn. (3-20) to (3-29) to
predict the outputs of the component.
The mathematical modeling equations needed to the component were written using the
FORTRAN programing language on Microsoft visual studio FORTRAN compiler
environment as shown on Figure A-7. Since the TRNSYS studio requires the release
configuration the new component was configured to release, then build and compile the
dynamic link library (DLL). The component used the TRNS solver from the TRNSYS library
No
No
Yes
Yes
Any run-time
error
Configure to release
Build
Compile
1. Describing variables
2. Declaring outputs initial values
3. Writing formulas
(Output= Input + Parameter)

Open MsVS
SOURCE FILE
DLL
Compile-time
error
Done
Use TRNS solver
Object File

24

to solve the mathematical equations described by the component. The full FORTRAN
programing code used to develop the new component is attached on Appendix 1.
4.3 TRNSYS SIMULATION AND RESULTS
Once the mathematical equations were written properly and imported to TRNSYS the
simulation project were created by selecting the component required for complete system.

Figure 4-3: Creating TRNSYS project for simulation
For this simulation purpose the weather, collector and the new dryer Type 214 components
were selected and connected as shown on Figure 4-3. The weather component output was
connected with the collector input and the collector output is connected with the dryer
component input, since the dryer need the weather data the some of the dryer inputs were
connected with the weather component, the step to create new TRNSYS project is shown in
Appendix 3-(b).

25

Figure 4-4 Moisture content and weight loss of tomato with time

Figure 4-5 Heat gain and drying air predictions
The simulation result shown in Figure 4-4 one can observe that drying of tomatoes slices on
the rainy season takes about four days to reach the desired dried moisture content of the
slices dried with dryer integrated with heat storage system.

26

4.4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The new solar dryer was constructed with some modifications on the system. Experiment
was conducted to analyze the performance of the dryer. To evaluate the performance of the
storage system, experiment was conducted on a dryer without storage and a dried with a
storage system integrated. The results obtained from both cases will be present follows.
4.4.1 Drying with dryer without heat storage
A. Mangoes Slices Drying
The first drying experiment was conducted for 3days. The mangoes slices were prepared
from 10kg of mango fruit with uniform pattern and size.
From 10kg of mango fruit 4.41 kg of slices were prepared. To analyze the effect of pre-
treatment on the quality of dried product, half of the slices were pre-treated by using citric
acid solution in warm water for 4 5 minutes. The prepared slices were laid on thin layer on
each of the three drying trays made from plastic screen to prevent contamination as shown in
Figure A-2(a). The pre-treated slices were laid on the first tray and the untreated slices were
placed on the other two trays.
The trays were placed on the dryer cabinet and connected with the thermocouples. The dryer
cabinet door was closed during data logging. During the test the initial moisture content of
mango slices was determined using moisture balance instrument. This typical mango variety
presented an initial moisture content of 87%. The required final moisture content was 13%.
The amount of moisture to be removed was calculated using Eqn. (3-20), and 3.742 kg of
moisture needed be removed from the mango slices.
i. Drying Air Temperature and Solar Radiation Distribution
Figure 4- 6 to 4-8 show drying air temperature from collector outlet and on the drying trays,
absorber plate temperature, ambient air temperature and solar radiation intensity from the
mango slice drying experiment.

27

Figure 4-6: Day 1 drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution

Figure 4-7: Day 2 dryinf air temperature and solar radiation distribution
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
G
l
o
b
a
l

R
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
W
/
m
2
)

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Temperature and Solar Radiation Distribution
Tplate Tout Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Radation
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
G
l
o
b
a
l

R
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
W
/
m
2
)

T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Temprature and Solar radiation distribution

28

Figure 4-8: Day 3 drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution
From the graphs of drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution results on Figure 4-
6 to 4-8, the maximum of 67.8
o
C average drying air temperature from the collector outlet
was obtained on day 2 at average solar radiation of 872W/m
2
. On the same day good drying
air temperature was achieved for relatively longer time than day 1 and 3. This was due to
longer sunshine hour on that day.
ii. Instantaneous Weight Loss of Mangoes Slices
Figure 4-9 summarizes the instantaneous weight loss of mangoes slices resulted from the
experiment on day 1, 2 and 3.

Figure 4-9: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoe slices for three drying days
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00
G
l
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)

Time (hr)
Temperature and solar radiation distribution
0
500
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1500
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2500
3000
3500
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09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
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e
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h
t

(
g
r
a
m
s
)

Time (hr)
Weight loss of mango slices
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

29

The instantaneous weight loss of the mangoes slices summarized result graphs on Figure 4-9
shows that most of the moisture content of mangoes slices about 2221.98 g was removed on
day 2, and also the weight of the slices at the end day 1 and 2 was lower that the weight of
the slices at the beginning of day 2 and 3 respectively. These overlaps of the graphs clearly
show there was moisture re-absorption.
iii. Useful Heat Gain of the Solar Collector
Figure 4-10 presents the hourly useful heat gain obtained from the collector on days 1 to 3.

Figure 4-10: Useful heat gain of the solar collector
The graphs on Figure 4-10 shows that 227.39 , 328.09 and 315.8W maximum average
hourly useful heat gain of the solar collector was obtained around mid-day for days 1, 2 and 3
respectively.
iv. Nocturnal Moisture Re-absorption or Loss of Mangoes Slices
Moisture re-absorption or loss of the slices at the second day was calculated from the weight
differences between the end of the first day and the beginning of the second day. The weight
of the slice at the first day was 3193.95 g and at beginning of the next day the weight of slice
was 3328.17 g. Therefore, the nocturnal moisture re-absorption of the slices was calculated
using Eqn. (3-21);
=
3328.17 3193.95
3193.95
100%
= 4.2%
The nocturnal moisture re-absorption or loss from the second to the third day was also
calculated in the same way. The weight at the end of the second day 1106.02 g and at the
beginning of the third day was 1166.527g.
=
1166.527 1106.02
1106.02
100%
= 5.47%
Since the nocturnal moisture calculation results have positive values the mango slices had
moisture re-absorption of 4.2% and 5.47% during the first and second nights respectively.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
H
e
a
t

g
a
i
n

(
W
)

Time (hr)
Useful heat gain of the collector
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

30

v. Daily Drying Efficiency
The daily drying efficiency of the dryer is calculated from Eqns. 3-15, 3-19 and 3-22. Figure
4-11 shows the daily efficiency of the solar dryer system.

Figure 4-11: Daily mango drying efficiency of the system
And from Figure 4-11 graph it is clearly seen that maximum of 27.4% daily drying efficiency
of the system was obtained on day 3 for drying mangoes slices. The lower average daily solar
radiation and longer drying time at lower solar radiation were the reasons for lower daily
drying efficiency of the system on day 2 than day 3.
B. Tomatoes Slices Drying
Drying tomatoes slices experiment was conducted for 3 days. Like the mangoes slices the
tomatoes slices were prepared from 10 kg of tomato in uniform pattern and size. The
tomatoes slices were prepared first boiling the tomatoes by water in order to remove the skin
and cut in to half to remove the seeds and uniform pattern thin slices were made as shown in
the Figure A- 1(b).
3.56 kg of tomatoes slices were prepared. Out of this, to analyze the effect of pre-treatment
on the quality of dried tomato half of the prepared slice was pre-treated by using ascorbic
acid solution in cold water for 10 minutes. The pre-treated slices were laid on the first tray
and the untreated slices were equally laid on each of the other two trays. The trays were
placed on the dryer cabinet and connected with thermocouples. The dryer cabinet door was
closed and data logging was started. The initial moisture content of tomato was measured
using the moisture balance instrument and this typical tomato variety presented 95% initial
moisture content. The required final moisture content is 13%. The amount of water to be
removed was calculated using Eqn. (3-20), and 3.357 kg of water needed be removed from
the tomatoes slices.
Figure 4-12 to 4-14 show the distribution of solar radiation intensity, absorber plate
temperature, ambient air temperatures and drying air temperature from the collector outlet
and on drying trays.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
1 2 3
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

Time (Day)
Daily Drying efficiency
Daily
efficiency

31

Figure 4-12: Day 1 tomato drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution

0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
20
40
60
80
100
G
l
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(
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Time (min)
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600
800
1000
1200
0
10
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50
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90
100
G
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Time (min)

32

The linear line fitted to the collector outlet temperatures on the drying air temperature and
solar radiation distribution graphs on Figure 4-12 to 4-14 show the average drying air
temperature of 51.5, 49.8 and 49.9
o
C was obtained on days 1, 2 and 3 respectively. It is also
shows more than half of the collector outlet temperature on day 1 drying is above the average
temperature.
ii. Instantaneous Weight Loss of Tomatoes Slices
Figure 4-15 shows the instantaneous weight loss of the tomatoes slices resulted from
experiments on days 1, 2 and 3.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1
0
:
0
0
1
0
:
1
0
1
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:
2
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:
3
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:
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:
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:
2
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:
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4
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2
:
5
0
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:
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3
:
1
0
1
3
:
2
0
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:
3
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:
4
0
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3
:
5
0
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r
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(
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/
m
2
)

T
e
m
p
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a
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(
o
C
)

Time(min)
Temperature and Solar radiation distribution

33

Figure 4-15: Instantaneous weight loss of tomato slices for the three drying days
The instantaneous weight loss of the tomatoes slices graphs on Figure 4-15 shows most of
the moisture content of the tomatoes slices was removed during the first drying day and it
was about 2242.22 g. From the daily weight of tomato slices it is clearly seen that there was
an overlap at the end of day 1 and 2 and at the beginning of day 2 and 3.
iii. Useful Heat Gain of the Solar Collector
The instantaneous useful heat gain results of the solar collector during the experiment days of
drying tomatoes slices were summarized in Figure 4-16.

Figure 4-16: Useful heat gain of the solar collector
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
W
e
i
g
h
t

(
g
r
a
m
s
)

Time (min)
Weight loss of tomatoes slices
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
H
e
a
t

G
a
i
n

(
W
)

Time (min)
Useful heat gain of the collector
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

34

Figure 4-22 shows that the average useful heat gain of 210.7, 128.14 and 139.62W were
obtained by collector on days 1, 2 and 3 respectively. This variation of useful heat gain was
mainly due to fluctuation of solar radiation intensity on these days.
iv. Nocturnal Moisture Re-absorption or Loss of Tomatoes Slices
of the slice at the first day was 1283.67 g and at beginning of the other day the weight of
slice was 1412.54 g. Therefore, the nocturnal moisture re-absorption the tomato slices was
calculated using Eqn. (3-21);
=
1412.54 1283.67
1283.67
100%

= 10.04%
calculated in the same way. The weight at the end of the second day was 551.84 g and at the
beginning of the third day was 575.78 g.
=
575.78 551.84
551.84
100%

= 4.34%
The nocturnal moisture calculation results have positive values, and these result shows that
the tomato slices had moisture re-absorption of 10.04% and 4.34% respectively during day 1
and 2 nights.
v. Daily Drying Efficiency

Figure 4-17: Daily drying efficiency of the solar dryer system
As shown on the Figure 4-17 daily drying efficiency graph the maximum efficiency of the
system 19.33% was obtained on day 1.
4.4.2 Drying with heat storage integrated dryer
To conduct the second phase of the experiment, the solar dryer used for the first phase
experiment was rebuild by integrating heat storage rock system with the collector as shown
in the Figure A-4. The new system also arranged for experiment by connecting with
Pyranometer and thermocouples at different place of the dryer cabinet, solar collector and
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
1 2 3
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

Time (day)
Daily drying efficiency
Daily
efficiency

35

heat storage system. The global radiation and temperature distribution were measured during
the drying.
A. Tomatoes slices drying
Drying tomatoes slices with dryer integrated with rock bed was conducted for two days. The
tomatoes slices were prepared with the same method used for the first phase experiment. 3.4
kg of tomatoes slices were prepared from 10kg of tomato. To evaluate the effect of pre-
treatment on the quality of dried tomato one third of the prepared slice was pre-treated by
using ascorbic acid solution in cold water for 10 minutes. The pre-treated slices were laid on
the first tray and the untreated slices were equally laid on each of the other two trays. The
trays were placed on the dryer cabinet and connected with thermocouples. The dryer cabinet
door was closed during data logging. The initial moisture content of tomato was measured
using the moisture balance instrument. This typical tomato variety used for this experiment
presented 94% initial moisture content. The required final moisture content of dry tomato
was 13%. The amount of moisture to be removed from the tomato slices was calculated using
Eqn. (3-20), and 3.166 kg of moisture needed be removed.
i. Drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution
Figure 4-18 and 4-19 summarizes the results of the solar radiation intensity, drying air
temperature from the collector outlet and on each drying trays distribution, absorber plate and
ambient air temperatures for drying experiment on day 1 and 2.

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
G
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(
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/
m
2
)

T
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m
p
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a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)

36

The linear fitted curve to the collector outlet temperatures on the drying air temperature and
solar radiation distribution graphs on Figure 4-18, and 4-19 show the maximum average
drying air temperature of 42.86 and 48.26
o
C was obtained on days 1 and 2 respectively. The
linear fit line also shows most of the drying air temperature distributions were above the line
on day 1.
ii. Heat Storage Temperature Distribution
Figure 4-20 and 4-21 show the summarized graphs of heat storage, absorber plate, collector
outlet and ambient air temperature distributions.

Figure 4-20: Day 1 heat storage and collector temperatures distribution
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
G
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(
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C
)

Time (hr)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
10:0011:0012:0013:0014:0015:0016:0017:00
T
e
m
p
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a
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e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Temperature Vs Time Distribution
Tplate
Trock
Tout
Tamb

37

The heat storage rock temperature distributions are clearly shown by the graphs on Figure 4-
20 and 4-21. From these graphs it is possible to see that the maximum temperature achieved
by the heat storage rock was 35
o
C on day 1 and 2. Since the available solar radiation duration
was limited due to bad weather the storage could not able to store sufficient energy.
iii. Instantaneous Weight Loss of Tomatoes Slices
Figure 4-22 shows the tomatoes slices instantaneous weight loss with time during the drying
experiment on days 1 and 2.

Figure 4-22: Instantaneous weight loss of tomatoes slices for two days drying
The instantaneous weight loss of the tomatoes slices graphs on Figure 4-22 shows most of
the moisture content of the tomatoes slices was removed during the first drying day and it
was about 1994.18 g. The daily weight loss graphs of tomato slices had shown some overlap
at the end of the first day and beginning of the second day. Which means the moisture
content of the tomato slices at the beginning of the second day was slightly higher than the
moisture content of the slices at the end of previous day.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00
T
e
m
p
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r
a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Tplate
Trock
Tout
Tamb
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
W
e
i
g
h
t

(
g
r
a
m
s
)

Time (hr)
Tomato Weight Loss With Time
Day 1
Day 2

38

iv. Useful Heat Gain of the Solar Collector
The graphs on Figure 4-23 and 4-24 describe the hourly useful heat gain of the solar collector
and solar radiation intensity measured from the experiment.

Figure 4-23: Useful heat gain of the collector at the first drying day

Figure 4-24: Useful heat gain of the collector for the second drying day
From Figure 4-23 and 4-24 graphs linear fit lines shows minimum average useful heat gain
of 104.59W on day 1 and 120.78W maximum average useful heat gain on day 2.
v. Nocturnal Moisture Re-Absorption or Loss of Tomatoes Slices
of the slice at the first day was 1343.15 g and at beginning of the next day the weight of slice
was 1452.65 g. The nocturnal moisture re-absorption of tomato slices was calculated using
Eqn. (3-21);

y = 7.035x + 104.59
0
200
400
600
800
1000
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00
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l
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m
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H
e
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G
a
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n

(
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)

Time (hr)
Useful Heat Gain and Solar Radiation Distributio
Qcoll Radation Linear (Qcoll )
y = -3.464x + 120.78
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 G
l
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(
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T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

(
W
)

Time (hr)
Useful Heat Gain and Solar Radiarion Distribution
Qcoll Radation Linear (Qcoll )

39

=
1452. .65 1343.15
1343.15
100%

= 8.15%
The positive values of nocturnal moisture calculation result shows that the tomato slices had
moisture re-absorption of 8.15% at night. The maximum daily drying efficiency of the
system was 21.55% during the first day.
B. Mangoes Slices Drying
The mangoes slices for the experiment were prepared from 10 kg of mango fruit in the same
method of preparation as the first phase experiment, and 3.91 kg of mangoes slices were
prepared. To examine the effect of pre-treatment on the quality of dried product, one third of
the prepared slices were pre-treated using citric acid solution in warmed water for 5 minutes,
and laid on the trays for thin layer drying.
The trays were placed on the dryer cabinet and connected with thermocouples. The dryer
cabinet door was closed during data logging. The initial moisture content of mango slice was
determined using moisture balance instrument. This typical mango fruit variety used for this
experiment presented an initial moisture content of 85.7%. The required final moisture
content was 13%. The amount of moisture to be removed was calculated using Eqn. (3-20),
and 3.267 kg of moisture needed be removed from the slices.
The intensity of global radiation, drying air temperature from the collector outlet and drying
trays, absorber plate temperature and ambient air temperature measured from day 1, 2 and 3
experiment were summarized in Figure 4-25 to 4-27 respectively.

Figure 4-25: Day 1 mango drying air temperature and solar radiation distributions
y = -0.6775x + 55.405
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
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a
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e

(
o
C
)

Time (min)
Tplate Tout Tray 1 Tray 2
Tray 3 Tamb Radation Linear (Tout)

40


The graphs of drying air temperature and solar radiation distribution results on Figure 4-25 to
4-27, the maximum of 58 and 59
o
C average drying air temperature from the collector outlet
were obtained on day 1 and 3. The linear fit curve to the collector outlet temperature on day 1
and 3 shows most of the collector outlet temperatures were above the line, and this means on
these days better drying air temperature was achieved for relatively longer time.

y = 1.4417x + 38.164
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
09:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00
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(
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)

Time (min)
y = -1.922x + 56.908
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00
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(
o
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)

Time (min)
Temprature and solar radiation distribution

41

ii. Heat Storage Temperature Distribution
The graphs of the following three figures show the absorber plate, collector outlet, heat
storage and ambient air temperatures distribution.


0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1
0
:
4
0
1
0
:
5
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
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1
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3
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:
0
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m
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(
o
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)

Time (hr)
Tplate
Trock
Tout
Tamb
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
T
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m
p
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r
a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Tplate
Trock
Tout
Tamb

42

The heat storage rock temperature distributions shown on Figure 4-28 to 4-30, the maximum
possible temperature of the heat storage achieved on day 1, 2 and 3 were 34.6
o
C, 38
o
C and
38
o
C respectively. These temperatures of the storage were not sufficient to the dryer to work
at night.
iii. Instantaneous Weight Loss of Mangoes Slices
Figure 4-31 shows the weight loss of the mangoes slices versus time on day 1 and the other
two days day 2 and 3 weight loss was summarized by the graph in Figure 4-32.

Figure 4-31: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoes slices on the first day
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

(
o
C
)

Time (hr)
Tplate
Trock
Tout
Tamb
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
1
0
:
4
0
1
0
:
5
0
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1
:
0
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1
1
:
1
0
1
1
:
3
0
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4
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5
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:
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5
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:
0
0
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e
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(
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r
a
m
s
)

Time (min)
Weight loss of mangoes slices
Day 1

43

Figure 4-32: Instantaneous weight loss of mangoes slices on day 2 and 3
The instantaneous weight loss of the mangoes slices graphs on Figure 4-31 and 4-32 shows
that the daily maximum of 1415.5 g and 1021 g of the moisture content of mangoes slices
were removed on day 2 and 3. The daily weight loss graphs of mango slices have shown
some overlap. Which means the moisture content of the tomato slices at the beginning of the
day 2 and 3 were slightly higher than the moisture of the slices at the end of day 1 and 2.
iv. Useful Heat Gain of the Solar Collector
Figure 4-33 and 4-34 show the instantaneous useful heat gain distribution of the collector and
solar radiation intensity measured during the drying.

Figure 4-33: Useful heat gain of the collector during the first day
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
0
9
:
0
0
0
9
:
3
0
1
0
:
0
0
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0
:
3
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1
1
:
0
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1
:
3
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
2
:
3
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
3
:
3
0
1
4
:
0
0
1
4
:
3
0
1
5
:
0
0
1
5
:
3
0
W
e
i
g
h
t

(
g
r
a
m
s
)

Time (min)
Weight loss of mangoes slices
Day 2
Day 3
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
G
l
o
b
a
l

r
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n

(
W
/
m
2
)

H
e
a
t

T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

(
W
)

Time (min)
Useful heat gain and solar radiation distribution
Qcoll Radation

44

Figure 4-34: Useful heat gain of the collector for the 2
nd
and 3
rd
days
From Figure 4-33 the maximum hourly useful heat gain of the collector 183.7W was
obtained before noon and after noon on day 1 drying. Figure 4-34 shows the maximum
hourly useful heat gain of 347W was obtained at mid-day on day 2.
v. Nocturnal Moisture Re-absorption or Loss of Mangoes Slices
of the slice at end of the first day was 3054.38 g and at beginning of the next day the weight
of slice was 2946.24 g. The nocturnal moisture re-absorption of mango slices was calculated
using Eqn. (3-21);
=
3054.38 2946.24
2946.24
100%

= 3.67%
calculated in the same way. The weight at the end of the second day 1662.64 g and at the
beginning of the third day was 1638.52 g.
=
1662.64 1638.52
1638.52
100%

= 1.47%
Since the nocturnal moisture content calculation results have positive values, the mango
slices were exposed moisture re-absorption of 3.67% and 1.47% during the first and second
nights respectively.

0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
H
e
a
t

T
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

(
W
)

Time (min)
Useful heat gain distribution
Day 2
Day 3

45

vi. Daily Drying Efficiency

Figure 4-35: Daily drying efficiency of the solar dryer system
Figure 4-35 shows the daily drying efficiency of the system. The maximum daily drying
efficiency of the system was 21.9, 19 and 24.7 % on days 1, 2 and 3.
4.5 COMPARING THE DRYER PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCT QUALITY
4.3.1. Dryer performance comparison
Since the performances of the dryers were tested at season that have lower sunshine hour
duration the performance of the dryers were compared by considering the worst cases
scenario. The average performance of the solar dryer system without heat storage material for
drying mango slices was 27.4 % and for tomato slices was 19.33 %. Even if the drying
efficiency of the system for drying tomato slices was lower than mango slices, the drying
time for tomato was less than mango. The daily drying performances of the solar dryer
integrated with heat storage system for drying tomato slices was 21.55 % and drying of
mango slices was 24.7 %. Here also the tomato drying time was less than the mango drying
time.
The performance of the dryer with heat storage for drying tomato slices slightly increases
than without heat storage system. The performance of the dryer without heat storage for
drying mango slices was better than dryer with heat storage system. Even if the bad weather
condition affects both types of dryer but the performance of the dryer with heat storage
system was affected more. Since there was lower global radiation intensity and shorter hour
sunshine duration during this season the collector doesnt get sufficient energy to store rather
than drying.
4.3.2. Product quality comparison
Pre-treatment of fruits and vegetables using pre-treatment chemicals helps them not to
undertake oxidation process with oxygen which leads them to color change. Figure 4-36 and
4-37 shows the pre-treated and untreated dried mango slices with and without heat storage
dryer respectively. The products labeled 1 are pre-treated and those labeled 2 are untreated
mangoes slices. And from the figures it is clear that the natural color of the untreated dried
products is changed on both drying methods. The color quality of both pre-treated and
untreated dried products have also slight quality difference with and without heat storage
dried products as shown in Figure 4-36 and 4-37.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
1 2 3
E
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
c
y

Time (day)
Daily drying efficiency
Daily
efficiency

46

Figure 4-36: Dried mangoes slices by dryer with heat storage system.

Figure 4-37: Dried mangoes slices by dryer without heat storage system

Figure 4-38: Dried tomatoes slices by dryer with heat storage system

Figure 4-39: Dried tomatoes slices by dryer without heat storage system
1
2
2
1
2 1
2 1

47

Figure 4-38 and 4-39 shows the pre-treated and untreated dried tomato slices respectively.
The products labeled 1 are pre-treated and those labeled 2 are untreated tomatoes slices.
From these figures one can easily observe that the natural color of the untreated dried product
is changed on both drying methods. The color quality of both pre-treated and untreated dried
products have also slight quality difference with and without heat storage dried products as
shown in Figure 4-38 and 4-39.
The products textural quality also checked by mechanical crushing, and both pre-treated and
untreated products of mango and tomato have the same quality.
4.6 SUMMARY
Due to the rain and cloud cover it was not possible to get consistent drying time with good
solar radiation. This fluctuation of solar radiation availability affects the dryer performance,
and it was the main reason for the dryer daily drying efficiency difference for drying the
same product. Since the dryers were not able to operate with their full potential, comparison
of these two types dryer performance was difficult. But it is clearly seen that the quality of
product dried with dryer with heat storage system have better quality in terms color quality.
Even if tomato has slightly more moisture content than mango, the experimental results show
that the drying time of tomato was lower than the drying time required to mango. From the
result of product quality comparison, it is possible to see the color quality of dried fruits and
vegetables can be maintained by applying pre-treatment.

48

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. CONCLUSION
The Natural convection indirect solar dryer manufactured without heat storage system has
maximum drying air temperature of 63-68
o
C during peak solar radiation, and the daily
drying efficiency of 19 %.
The solar dryer with rock bed heat storage system integrated with the collector can have a
maximum drying air temperature of 55-58
o
C at peak solar radiation. This is the preferable
drying air temperature for fruits and vegetables drying. The daily drying efficiency of the
system is 21 %. The heat storage system temperature gradually increases from ambient
temperature and attains temperature of 38
o
C. Since the temperature of the heat storage
system decreases gradually, it can keep the minimum drying air temperature variation at high
and low radiations. This helps to maintain the product quality as well.
The pre-treated or untreated product dried without heat storage dryer has less quality than
dried with heat storage dryer. Pre-treated dried fruits and vegetables have better quality in
terms of color and it is more similar to the raw fruits and vegetables color.
5.2. RECOMMENDATIONS
The following areas of interest can be looked to extend the research work on natural
convection solar dryers.
Since the new created solar dryer is the first version it can be upgrade by considering
additional parametric to integrate with psychometric chart in addition to the mathematical
manipulation for better predictions and comparison of the simulation.
The re-circulation of the drying air temperature from chimney outlet can be considered for
further study to improve the dryer efficiency.

49

6. REFERENCES
1. D. Tark (2007) Determination of Effective Parameters for Drying of Apples, Thesis
Paper, zmir Institute of Technology, zmir Turkey.
2. W. Mulatu (2010) Solar Drying of Fruits and Windows of Opportunities in Ethiopia,
African Journal of Food Science Vol. 4. No.13. pp. 790 802.
3. P. Rajkumar (2007) Comparative Performance of Solar Cabinet, Vacuum Assisted
Solar and Open Sun Drying Methods, Thesis Paper, McGill University, Montreal,
Canada.
4. S. Kamaruzzaman, Y. O. Mohd and H. Z. Saleem, (2010) Advances In Solar Assisted
Drying Systems for Marine and Agricultural Products, Solar Energy Research Institute
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia.
5. T. Aklilu, (2009) Experimental Analysis for Performance Evaluation of Solar Dryer,
Thesis Paper, AAU, Addis Ababa.
6. S. Singh and S. Kumar (2012) Testing method for thermal performance based rating of
various solar dryer designs, Solar Energy Vol.86. pp. 8798.
7. W. Aissa, M. El-Sallak and A. Elhake, (2011) Performance of Solar Dryer Chamber
used for Convective Drying of Sponge-Cotton, Thesis Paper, Cairo University, Cairo,
Egypt.
8. J.A Duffle and, W.A Beckman (1991) Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, New
York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
9. M. Mohanraj1, P. Chandrasekar (2009) Performance of A Forced Convection Solar
Drier Integrated with Gravel as Heat Storage Material for Chili Drying, Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 4. No. 3. pp. 305 314.
10. K. Muazu, I.M Bugaje and I.A Mohammed (2012) Performance Evaluation of Forced
Air-Convection Vegetable Drying System, Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., Vol.2. No. 3. pp.
2562-2568.
11. A. Sharma, C.R. Chen and Nguyen Vu Lan (2009) Solar-energy drying systems: A
review, Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Vol. 13. pp. 11851210.
12. M. Subarna and others (2011) Performance evaluation of a small scale indirect solar
dryer with static reectors during non-summer months in the Saurashtra region of
western India, Solar Energy, Vol. 85. pp. 26862696
13. T.A. Dawit (2012) Design, Manufacturing and Performance Testing of Solar Crop
Dryer for Rural Application, Thesis Paper, Mekelle, Mechanical Engineering
Department, Mekelle University.
14. T. Anteneh and G. Assab (2010) Design and Prototype of Seed Dryer, Final year
Project, Mekelle, Mechanical Engineering Department, Mekelle University.
15. S. V. VenkataRaman, S. Iniyan and R. Goic (2012) A review of solar drying
technologies, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 16. pp. 2652 2670.
16. Hassan E. and S. Fath (1995) Thermal Performance of A Simple Design Solar Air
Heater with Built-in Thermal Energy Storage System, Energy Convers. Mgmt. Vol.
36. No. 10. pp. 989-997.
17. P. T. Saravana kumar, K. Mayilsamy, and M. Mohanraj (2012) Numerical Study and
Thermal Performance of the Flat Plate Solar Air Heaters with and without Thermal
Storage, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vol. 7. No. 4. pp. 467-471.

50

18. R. K. Goyal, G. N. Tiwari and H. P. Garg (1998) Effect of Thermal Storage on the
Performance of an Air Collector: A Periodic Analysis, Energy Convers. Mgmt. Vol.
39. No. 3/4. pp. 193-202.
19. S. Aboul-Enein et al and others (2000) Parametric study of a solar air heater with and
without thermal storage for solar drying applications, Renewable Energy Vol. 21. pp.
505-522.
20. R.J. Goldstein (2005) Heat transfer- a review of 2002 literature, International Journal
of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 48. pp. 819927.
21. A.A. El-Sebaii and others (2002) Experimental investigation of an indirect type natural
convection solar dryer, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 43. pp. 22512266.
22. A.A. El-Sebaii and others (2002) Empirical correlations for drying kinetics of some
fruits and vegetables, Energy, Vol.27. pp. 845859.
23. M.K. Krokida, V.T. Karathanos and Z.B. Maroulis (2000) Compression analysis of
dehydrated agricultural products, Drying Technology, Vol.18. pp. 395408.
24. B.Gebremedhin (2002) Engineering Geological Investigation of Mekelle Area, Tigray,
Northern Ethiopia, AAU, School of Graduate Studies, Engineering Geology, Addis
Ababa.
25. Somerton, W.H., (1958), Some thermal characteristics of porous rocks, American
Institute of Mining Engineering Transactions, Vol. 213, pp. 375-378.

51

7. APPENDIXES
A. APPENDIX 1:
Fortran programing code
SUBROUTINE TYPE214(TIME,XIN,OUT,T,DTDT,PAR,INFO,ICNTRL,*)
C*******************************************************************
C Obj ect : TRAYS
C Si mul at i on St udi o Model : Type214
C Aut hor : ATKI LT MULU
C Edi t or : ATKI LT MULU
C Dat e: J ul y 26, 2013 l ast modi f i ed: J ul y 26, 2013
C ***
C *** Model Par amet er s
C ***
C I TC1 C [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C CPC1 kJ / kg. K [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C CPA1 kJ / kg. K [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MC1 kg [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C AC1 m^2 [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MO1 Fr act i on [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MF1 Fr act i on [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C WO1 kg [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C WF1 kg [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C Hcf c1 kJ / hr . m^2. K [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C I MAI R1 kg/ hr [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C ***
C *** Model I nput s
C ***
C TAI R1 C [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C TI N C [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C VWI ND m/ s [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C RH1 Fr act i on [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C ***
C *** Model Out put s
C ***
C TC1 C [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MAI R1 kg/ hr [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C Hf g1 kJ / kg. K [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C Meq1 Fr act i on [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C K1 - [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MT1 Fr act i on [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C MW1 kg [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C Wt 1 kg [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C TAI R2 C [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C Qu1 kJ / hr [ - I nf ; +I nf ]
C ***
C *** Model Der i vat i ves
C ***

52

C ( Comment s and r out i ne i nt er f ace gener at ed by TRNSYS St udi o)
C*******************************************************************
C TRNSYS acess f unct i ons ( al l ow t o acess TI ME et c. )
USE Tr nsysConst ant s
USE Tr nsysFunct i ons
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C REQUI RED BY THE MULTI - DLL VERSI ON OF TRNSYS
!DEC$ATTRIBUTES DLLEXPORT :: TYPE214 !SET THE
CORRECT TYPE NUMBER HERE
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C TRNSYS DECLARATI ONS
IMPLICIT NONE ! REQUI RES THE USER TO DEFI NE ALL VARI ABLES BEFORE
USI NG THEM

DOUBLE PRECISION XI N ! THE ARRAY FROM WHI CH THE I NPUTS TO THI S TYPE
WI LL BE RETRI EVED
DOUBLE PRECISION OUT ! THE ARRAY WHI CH WI LL BE USED TO STORE THE
OUTPUTS FROM THI S TYPE
DOUBLE PRECISION TI ME ! THE CURRENT SI MULATI ON TI ME - YOU MAY USE
THI S VARI ABLE BUT DO NOT SET I T!
DOUBLE PRECISION PAR ! THE ARRAY FROM WHI CH THE PARAMETERS FOR THI S
TYPE WI LL BE RETRI EVED
DOUBLE PRECISION STORED ! THE STORAGE ARRAY FOR HOLDI NG VARI ABLES
FROM TI MESTEP TO TI MESTEP
DOUBLE PRECISION T ! AN ARRAY CONTAI NI NG THE RESULTS FROM THE
DI FFERENTI AL EQUATI ON SOLVER
DOUBLE PRECISION DTDT ! AN ARRAY CONTAI NI NG THE DERI VATI VES TO BE
PASSED TO THE DI FF. EQ. SOLVER
INTEGER*4 I NFO( 15) ! THE I NFO ARRAY STORES AND PASSES VALUABLE
I NFORMATI ON TO AND FROM THI S TYPE
INTEGER*4 NP, NI , NOUT, ND ! VARI ABLES FOR THE MAXI MUM NUMBER OF
PARAMETERS, I NPUTS, OUTPUTS AND DERI VATI VES
INTEGER*4 NPAR, NI N, NDER ! VARI ABLES FOR THE CORRECT NUMBER OF
PARAMETERS, I NPUTS, OUTPUTS AND DERI VATI VES
INTEGER*4 I UNI T, I TYPE ! THE UNI T NUMBER AND TYPE NUMBER FOR THI S
COMPONENT
INTEGER*4 I CNTRL ! AN ARRAY FOR HOLDI NG VALUES OF CONTROL
FUNCTI ONS WI TH THE NEWSOLVER
INTEGER*4 NSTORED ! THE NUMBER OF VARI ABLES THAT WI LL BE
PASSED I NTO AND OUT OF STORAGE
CHARACTER*3 OCHECK ! AN ARRAY TO BE FI LLED WI TH THE CORRECT
VARI ABLE TYPES FOR THE OUTPUTS
CHARACTER*3 YCHECK ! AN ARRAY TO BE FI LLED WI TH THE CORRECT
VARI ABLE TYPES FOR THE I NPUTS
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C USER DECLARATI ONS - SET THE MAXI MUM NUMBER OF PARAMETERS ( NP) ,
I NPUTS ( NI ) ,

53

C OUTPUTS ( NOUT) , AND DERI VATI VES ( ND) THAT MAY BE SUPPLI ED FOR
THI S TYPE
PARAMETER ( NP=11, NI =4, NOUT=10, ND=0, NSTORED=2)
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C REQUI RED TRNSYS DI MENSI ONS
DIMENSION XI N( NI ) , OUT( NOUT) , PAR( NP) , YCHECK( NI ) , OCHECK( NOUT) ,
1 STORED( NSTORED) , T( ND) , DTDT( ND)
INTEGER NI TEMS
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C ADD DECLARATI ONS AND DEFI NI TI ONS FOR THE USER- VARI ABLES HERE
C PARAMETERS
DOUBLE PRECISION I TC1 ! CROP I NI TI AL TEMPERATURE
DOUBLE PRECISION CPC1 ! CROP SPECI FI C HEAT CAPACI TY
DOUBLE PRECISION CPA1 ! FLOWI NG AI R SPECI FI C HEAT CAPACI TY
DOUBLE PRECISION MC1 ! MASS OF CROP
DOUBLE PRECISION AC1 ! CROP SURFACE AREA
DOUBLE PRECISION MO1 ! CROP I NI TI AL MOI STURE CONTENT
DOUBLE PRECISION MF1 ! CROP FI NAL MOI STURE CONTENT
DOUBLE PRECISION WO1 ! I NI TI AL WEI GHT OF CROP
DOUBLE PRECISION WF1 ! FI NAL WEI GHT OF CROP
DOUBLE PRECISION Hcf c1 ! HEAT TRANSFER COEFI CI ENT
DOUBLE PRECISION I MAI R1
C I NPUTS
DOUBLE PRECISION TAI R1 ! COLLECTOR OUTLET TEMPERATURE
DOUBLE PRECISION TI N ! COLLECTOR I NLET TEMPERATURE
DOUBLE PRECISION VWI ND ! WI ND SPEED
DOUBLE PRECISION RH1 ! RELATI VE HUMI DI TY
C LOCAL AND I NTERNAL VARI ABLES DECLARATI ONS
DOUBLE PRECISION TC1
DOUBLE PRECISION MAI R1
DOUBLE PRECISION TAI R2
DOUBLE PRECISION Qu1
DOUBLE PRECISION Hf g1
DOUBLE PRECISION MW1
DOUBLE PRECISION Wt 1
DOUBLE PRECISION MT1
DOUBLE PRECISION Meq1
DOUBLE PRECISION K1
DOUBLE PRECISION TI ME0
DOUBLE PRECISION TFI NAL
DOUBLE PRECISION DELT
DOUBLE PRECISION TI , AA, BB, TF, TCBAR
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C READ I N THE VALUES OF THE PARAMETERS I N SEQUENTI AL ORDER
I TC1=PAR( 1)
CPC1=PAR( 2)
CPA1=PAR( 3)
MC1=PAR( 4)

54

AC1=PAR( 5)
MO1=PAR( 6)
MF1=PAR( 7)
WO1=PAR( 8)
WF1=PAR( 9)
Hcf c1=PAR( 10)
I MAI R1=PAR( 11)
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C RETRI EVE THE CURRENT VALUES OF THE I NPUTS TO THI S MODEL FROM
THE XI N ARRAY I N SEQUENTI AL ORDER
TAI R1=XI N( 1)
TI N=XI N( 2)
VWI ND=XI N( 3)
RH1=XI N( 4)
I UNI T=I NFO( 1)
I TYPE=I NFO( 2)
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C GET GLOBAL TRNSYS SI MULATI ON VARI ABLES
TI ME0=get Si mul at i onSt ar t Ti me( )
TFI NAL=get Si mul at i onSt opTi me( )
DELT=get Si mul at i onTi meSt ep( )
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C SET THE VERSI ON I NFORMATI ON FOR TRNSYS
IF( I NFO( 7) . EQ. - 2) THEN
I NFO( 12) =16
RETURN 1
ENDIF
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C DO ALL THE VERY LAST CALL OF THE SI MULATI ON MANI PULATI ONS HERE
IF ( I NFO( 8) . EQ. - 1) THEN
RETURN 1
ENDIF
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C PERFORM ANY ' AFTER- I TERATI ON' MANI PULATI ONS THAT ARE REQUI RED
HERE
C e. g. save var i abl es t o st or age ar r ay f or t he next t i mest ep
IF ( I NFO( 13) . GT. 0) THEN
NI TEMS=0
C STORED( 1) =. . . .
C CALL set St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
RETURN 1
ENDIF
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C DO ALL THE VERY FI RST CALL OF THE SI MULATI ON MANI PULATI ONS HERE
IF ( I NFO( 7) . EQ. - 1) THEN
C SET SOME I NFO ARRAY VARI ABLES TO TELL THE TRNSYS ENGI NE HOW
THI S TYPE I S TO WORK
I NFO( 6) =NOUT
I NFO( 9) =1

55

I NFO( 10) =0 ! STORAGE FOR VERSI ON 16 HAS BEEN CHANGED

C SET THE REQUI RED NUMBER OF I NPUTS, PARAMETERS AND
DERI VATI VES THAT THE USER SHOULD SUPPLY I N THE I NPUT FI LE
C I N SOME CASES, THE NUMBER OF VARI ABLES MAY DEPEND ON THE
VALUE OF PARAMETERS TO THI S MODEL. . . .
NI N=NI
NPAR=NP
NDER=ND
C CALL THE TYPE CHECK SUBROUTI NE TO COMPARE WHAT THI S
COMPONENT REQUI RES TO WHAT I S SUPPLI ED I N
C THE TRNSYS I NPUT FI LE
CALL TYPECK( 1, I NFO, NI N, NPAR, NDER)
C SET THE NUMBER OF STORAGE SPOTS NEEDED FOR THI S COMPONENT
NI TEMS=2
CALL set St or ageSi ze( NI TEMS, I NFO)
C RETURN TO THE CALLI NG PROGRAM
RETURN 1
ENDIF
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C DO ALL OF THE I NI TI AL TI MESTEP MANI PULATI ONS HERE - THERE ARE
NO I TERATI ONS AT THE I NTI AL TI ME
IF ( TI ME. LT. ( TI ME0+DELT/ 2. D0) ) THEN
C SET THE UNI T NUMBER FOR FUTURE CALLS
I UNI T=I NFO( 1)
I TYPE=I NFO( 2)
C CHECK THE PARAMETERS FOR PROBLEMS AND RETURN FROM THE
SUBROUTI NE I F AN ERROR I S FOUND
C I F( . . . ) CALL TYPECK( - 4, I NFO, 0, " BAD PARAMETER #" , 0)
C RE- READ I N THE VALUES OF THE PARAMETERS I N SEQUENTI AL ORDER
IF( I NFO( 1) . NE. I UNI T) THEN
C RESET THE UNI T NUMBER
I UNI T=I NFO( 1)
I TYPE=I NFO( 2)
! r er ead t he par amet er s
I TC1=PAR( 1)
CPC1=PAR( 2)
CPA1=PAR( 3)
MC1=PAR( 4)
AC1=PAR( 5)
MO1=PAR( 6)
MF1=PAR( 7)
WO1=PAR( 8)
WF1=PAR( 9)
Hcf c1=PAR( 10)
I MAI R1=PAR( 11)
ENDIF
C PERFORM ANY REQUI RED CALCULATI ONS TO SET THE I NI TI AL VALUES
OF THE OUTPUTS HERE

56

C TC1
OUT( 1) =PAR( 1)
C MAI R1
OUT( 2) =0
C Hf g1
OUT( 3) =2501+1. 84*PAR( 1)
C Meq1
OUT( 4) =0
C K1
OUT( 5) =0
C MT1
OUT( 6) =PAR( 6)
C MW1
OUT( 7) =0
C Wt 1
OUT( 8) =PAR( 8)
C TAI R2
OUT( 9) =XI N( 1)
C Qu1
OUT( 10) =0
C PERFORM ANY REQUI RED CALCULATI ONS TO SET THE I NI TI AL STORAGE
VARI ABLES HERE
IF( I NFO( 7) . EQ. 13) THEN
CALL get St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
STORED( 1) =STORED( 2)
CALL get St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
TI =STORED( 1)
AA=- ( Hcf c1*AC1) / ( MC1*CPC1)
BB=( TAI R1*TI ME*Hcf c1*AC1) / ( MC1*CPC1)
CALL DI FFERENTI AL_EQN( TI ME, AA, BB, TI , TF, TCBAR)
STORED( 2) =TF
ENDIF
C PUT THE STORED ARRAY I N THE GLOBAL STORED ARRAY
CALL set St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
C RETURN TO THE CALLI NG PROGRAM
RETURN 1
ENDIF
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C *** I TS AN I TERATI VE CALL TO THI S COMPONENT ***
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C RETRI EVE THE VALUES I N THE STORAGE ARRAY FOR THI S I TERATI ON
C NI TEMS=2
C CALL get St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
C STORED( 1) =. . . . . .
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C CHECK THE I NPUTS FOR PROBLEMS
C I F( . . . ) CALL TYPECK( - 3, I NFO, ' BAD I NPUT #' , 0, 0)
C I F( I ERROR. GT. 0) RETURN 1
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C *** PERFORM ALL THE CALCULATI ON HERE FOR THI S MODEL. ***

57

C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C ADD YOUR COMPONENT EQUATI ONS HERE; BASI CALLY THE
EQUATI ONS THAT WI LL
C CALCULATE THE OUTPUTS BASED ON THE PARAMETERS AND THE
I NPUTS. REFER TO
C CHAPTER 3 OF THE TRNSYS VOLUME 1 MANUAL FOR DETAI LED
I NFORMATI ON ON
C WRI TI NG TRNSYS COMPONENTS.
C CROP TEMPERATURE CALCULATI ON
TC1=TCBAR*TI ME
C AI R FLOWRATE CALCULATI ON
MAI R1=VWI ND*0. 13*1. 225*3. 6*TI ME
C LATENT HEAT CALCULATI ON
Hf g1=2501+( 1. 84*TAI R1)
C I NSTANTANEOUS MOI STURE CONTENT CALCULATI ON
Meq1=( 0. 65392/ ( TAI R1*TI ME*1. 688E- 2) ) **0. 3384
K1=( TAI R1*3. 29**- 6) - ( 9. 75**- 4)
MT1=Meq1+( MO1- Meq1) *EXP( - K1*TI ME)
C I NSTANTANEOUS WATER CONTENT REMOVED
MW1=WO1*( ( MO1- MT1) / ( 1- MT1) )
C I NSTANTANEOUS WEI GHT LOSS CALCULATI ON
Wt 1=WO1- MW1
C DRYI NG AI R TEMPERATURE CALCULATI ON
TAI R2=TAI R1- ( ( MW1*Hf g1) / ( MAI R1*10*CPA1) ) ! DRYI NG AI R
ENTERI NG THE 2ND TRAY
C ABSORBED HEAT CALCULATI ON
Qu1=( - 1*MAI R1*CPA1*( TAI R2- TAI R1) )
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C SET THE STORAGE ARRAY AT THE END OF THI S I TERATI ON I F NECESSARY
C NI TEMS=
C STORED( 1) =. . . . . . .
C CALL set St or ageVar s( STORED, NI TEMS, I NFO)
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C REPORT ANY PROBLEMS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND USI NG CALLS LI KE THI S:
C CALL MESSAGES( - 1, ' put your message
her e' , ' MESSAGE' , I UNI T, I TYPE)
her e' , ' WARNI NG' , I UNI T, I TYPE)
her e' , ' SEVERE' , I UNI T, I TYPE)
C CALL MESSAGES( - 1, ' put your message her e' , ' FATAL' , I UNI T, I TYPE)
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C SET THE OUTPUTS FROM THI S MODEL I N SEQUENTI AL ORDER AND GET OUT
C TC1
OUT( 1) =TCBAR*TI ME
C MAI R1
OUT( 2) =XI N( 3) *0. 13*1. 225*3. 6*TI ME
C Hf g1
OUT( 3) =2501+( 1. 84*XI N( 1) )
C Meq1

58

OUT( 4) =( 0. 65392/ ( XI N( 1) *TI ME*1. 688E- 2) ) **0. 3384
C K1
OUT( 5) =( XI N( 1) *3. 29**- 6) - ( 9. 75**- 4)
C MT1
OUT( 6) =OUT( 4) +( PAR( 6) - OUT( 4) ) *EXP( - K1*TI ME)
C MW1
OUT( 7) =PAR( 8) *( ( PAR( 6) - OUT( 6) ) / ( 1- OUT( 6) ) )
C Wt 1
OUT( 8) =PAR( 8) - OUT( 7)
C TAI R2
OUT( 9) =XI N( 1) - ( OUT( 7) *OUT( 3) / ( OUT( 2) *10*PAR( 3) ) )
C Qu1
OUT( 10) =( - 1*OUT( 2) *PAR( 3) *( OUT( 9) - XI N( 1) ) )
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C EVERYTHI NG I S DONE - RETURN FROM THI S SUBROUTI NE AND MOVE ON
RETURN 1
END
C- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

59

B. APPENDIX 2:

(a) Mangoes slices (b) Tomatoes slices
Figure A 1: Samples slices preparation

(a) Slices distribution on thin layer (b) Tray arrangement on the cabinet
Figure A 2: Samples distribution on trays and drying cabinet

(a) Without heat storage (b) With heat storage
Figure A 3: Experimental setup

60

Figure A 4: Construction of dryer with heat storage rock
C. APPENDIX 3:
a. Steps to create new component proforma

Figure A 5: Creating new component proforma

61

Figure A 6: Generating FORTRAN code skeleton and a compiler project

Figure A 7:Writing Mathematical equations on microsoft visual stidio

62

b. Steps to create new TRNSYS project

Figure A 8: Component selection from TRNSYS studio

Figure A 9: Connecting components inputs and outputs

Figure A 10: Configuring connections for simulation

63

D. APPENDIX 4:
Prepared weather data for simulation
The hourly weather data of Mekelle city prepared for TRNSYS simulation is summarized in
the figures below.

Figure A 11: Typical meteorological year format weather data of Mekelle

64

Figure A 12: Graphical representations of the prepared data

65

E. APPENDIX 5:
Practical measured data
A. Data for mango drying
Table A 1: Drying without heat storage on 16/06/13



Table A 4: Drying with heat storage on 03/07/13

Tg Tplate Tout Wb din RH % Dew (C) Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew (C) Radation
32.51 71.87 53.73 26.26 11.01 14.29 45.90 45.96 43.77 22.95 34.99 19.51 22.40 10.34 727
32.88 84.99 57.51 27.60 10.11 15.16 49.54 49.49 48.47 27.82 45.76 23.63 14.93 12.52 985
33.56 79.66 60.79 28.02 8.41 14.52 55.97 52.09 52.62 30.95 44.55 23.82 17.70 13.90 867
31.57 73.10 53.40 28.36 18.97 19.05 49.96 47.83 46.59 28.48 38.90 24.03 29.79 17.55 720
31.74 69.78 50.73 27.37 18.45 18.62 48.57 47.13 45.16 28.24 38.41 22.58 25.55 14.98 673
23.72 58.32 32.42 23.29 46.90 19.48 33.78 33.36 30.71 23.17 29.18 21.92 53.78 18.68 503
31.00 72.95 51.43 26.82 18.97 16.85 47.29 45.97 44.55 26.93 38.63 22.58 27.36 14.66 746
26.01 59.63 36.02 22.09 29.40 15.40 29.88 29.01 29.59 23.56 27.55 19.32 41.36 14.29 872
28.46 63.49 42.43 23.28 19.32 14.10 36.61 35.55 36.26 25.47 33.76 21.59 29.95 14.89 847
32.60 64.55 52.34 24.69 9.84 10.93 47.07 45.70 46.61 28.06 38.40 24.74 19.04 15.70 835
35.50 68.26 63.11 26.44 4.72 7.78 56.74 55.09 56.19 29.06 43.04 29.11 15.48 20.27 708
36.21 73.97 67.80 29.13 5.58 12.44 61.59 59.79 60.99 29.70 46.79 29.78 11.95 19.50 872
36.00 73.13 64.90 26.58 4.09 6.68 60.84 59.07 60.25 28.35 46.10 25.01 5.56 6.69 735
36.62 71.11 64.65 27.36 4.98 9.86 60.86 59.09 60.27 29.17 45.12 25.41 6.68 7.81 869
33.26 60.90 51.64 24.74 10.37 11.40 44.55 43.26 44.12 27.74 41.08 24.14 21.06 15.73 565
30.70 69.78 47.67 21.42 7.90 4.12 36.73 35.66 36.37 25.67 33.87 17.28 13.86 3.55 439
32.82 67.20 54.51 25.08 10.69 10.30 48.32 46.91 47.85 27.42 39.53 24.04 18.33 13.16 749
30.72 55.16 42.45 21.59 14.49 9.88 40.28 38.70 38.12 22.77 27.55 20.32 19.87 10.54 782
33.10 67.05 50.10 23.87 10.25 10.36 46.28 45.13 43.46 23.77 33.76 22.28 16.24 11.61 857
35.62 73.26 60.59 26.19 5.83 9.19 55.21 53.91 52.35 25.47 38.40 24.74 10.76 11.86 940
36.80 78.36 65.58 27.15 4.34 8.28 61.43 58.37 59.24 28.13 43.04 26.48 7.75 12.05 913
37.12 75.55 64.35 26.80 4.62 7.84 61.22 57.16 54.30 27.68 46.79 25.00 9.35 11.20 738
34.67 69.88 56.61 25.12 7.90 9.11 52.88 50.66 49.49 25.56 37.91 23.76 12.80 11.45 846
TIME Tg Tplate T
rock
T
RB
Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew Radation
10:40 33.85 64.12 25.05 19.49 45.46 20.09 7.09 1.80 40.58 33.51 37.33 25.58 35.09 24.41 41.75 20.16 722
10:50 32.38 59.61 26.34 20.09 48.80 21.43 6.60 3.18 44.64 37.07 41.07 24.74 38.61 24.06 29.88 17.87 896
11:00 33.47 68.63 26.58 19.87 53.78 22.76 5.04 2.82 49.34 38.69 45.39 25.24 42.67 24.26 21.56 16.12 918
11:10 34.63 72.37 27.86 20.64 56.93 24.10 5.01 4.88 52.13 41.20 47.96 26.81 45.08 24.59 18.24 15.46 924
11:30 34.35 73.65 28.75 21.16 58.08 25.44 6.18 8.74 52.73 42.38 48.52 27.71 45.61 24.29 16.65 14.47 876
11:40 34.24 70.74 30.15 21.88 53.34 23.29 6.20 5.47 46.21 39.56 42.51 28.39 39.96 24.59 28.35 18.19 813
11:50 34.72 74.69 30.97 22.22 48.60 23.57 11.09 10.59 44.74 38.76 41.16 29.17 38.69 23.68 28.31 17.09 895
12:00 35.59 77.01 31.89 22.70 52.09 24.06 8.55 9.29 47.92 41.02 44.09 29.83 41.45 26.69 31.87 21.34 932
12:10 39.50 81.57 33.33 23.60 56.56 24.10 5.24 5.28 53.83 46.57 49.52 30.32 46.55 29.74 29.77 24.58 773
12:20 39.29 76.16 33.71 23.55 56.78 24.39 5.51 6.16 53.79 47.43 49.49 29.79 46.52 27.40 23.22 20.47 536
12:30 35.70 61.73 34.20 23.78 50.99 25.83 13.05 14.88 44.49 39.33 40.93 29.24 40.48 23.56 23.82 15.87 399
12:40 32.14 51.97 34.50 24.05 44.93 25.40 20.65 17.29 38.84 35.29 36.73 27.61 34.53 22.54 35.57 17.10 262
12:50 29.85 46.85 34.60 24.32 41.06 25.36 28.34 19.11 35.92 31.26 33.05 26.57 34.07 24.50 45.90 20.77 174
13:00 27.62 41.22 34.52 24.51 37.11 24.73 36.60 19.81 33.01 31.16 32.96 25.30 30.98 23.35 52.84 20.23 127
34.10 65.74 30.89 22.28 50.32 23.90 11.80 9.24 45.58 38.80 42.19 27.59 40.02 24.83 30.55 18.55 661

66



B. Data for drying tomato

Tg Tplate Trock Trb Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew Radation
30 69 23 18 45 20 7 2 44 41 39 22 38 20 11 6 853
31 65 24 18 50 21 5 1 49 46 43 23 42 21 11 7 886
35 67 27 20 55 23 5 4 54 50 48 25 46 23 10 9 925
34 71 30 21 55 24 6 7 54 50 48 26 46 24 12 12 954
35 77 33 23 59 25 5 7 58 54 51 27 50 26 13 14 966
30 54 38 26 45 25 21 16 44 41 39 26 38 26 31 21 660
28 49 38 27 39 26 38 22 37 35 33 25 32 27 45 23 530
29 52 38 28 41 26 30 20 40 38 36 26 35 26 37 21 489
28 48 37 28 40 25 31 19 38 36 34 27 33 25 33 19 529
25 40 37 29 33 24 45 20 32 30 29 25 28 25 57 22 179
31 59 33 24 46 24 19 12 45 42 40 25 39 24 26 16 697
27 57 23 21 39 22 23 14 36 32 27 23 33 21 32 14 630
29 62 25 21 41 23 22 15 40 36 30 23 35 22 31 16 744
31 64 26 21 44 25 20 16 42 38 32 24 38 24 30 17 813
30 64 27 21 43 24 20 15 41 37 32 24 37 24 35 19 721
28 61 29 22 41 23 20 14 41 37 33 24 36 23 33 17 606
29 64 30 23 43 23 18 13 42 38 34 25 37 24 34 18 644
34 79 33 23 55 26 10 13 53 48 41 28 44 26 23 19 871
34 81 35 24 56 26 10 14 54 50 44 29 46 24 15 13 1064
33 75 37 25 53 26 11 14 51 47 43 29 45 22 12 9 808
30 56 38 26 46 24 16 14 44 41 39 27 39 22 22 13 863
31 66 30 23 46 24 17 14 44 41 36 26 39 23 27 16 776
Tg Tplate Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew Radation
31.20 64.64 45.02 19.49 6.22 -0.27 42.64 41.81 41.83 19.68 36.91 17.71 12.36 3.27 639
30.55 61.40 41.84 19.31 9.44 3.19 40.62 39.00 41.24 19.50 36.39 17.55 12.76 3.32 592
29.98 60.54 42.52 18.66 7.04 -0.36 39.71 39.66 39.86 18.85 35.17 16.97 13.08 2.73 579
30.18 53.35 39.76 17.95 8.69 0.49 39.20 37.36 38.49 18.13 33.96 16.32 13.22 1.93 430
28.24 45.37 35.41 16.05 9.72 -1.07 35.90 32.51 34.23 16.22 30.20 14.59 14.92 0.65 400
27.74 68.04 42.31 18.87 7.77 0.81 38.75 33.81 40.63 19.06 35.85 17.15 12.44 2.55 978
31.21 77.55 50.67 20.59 3.62 -3.35 46.28 38.10 44.74 20.80 39.48 18.72 11.18 3.81 962
32.04 80.89 54.82 20.98 1.77 -9.31 49.92 40.55 45.80 21.19 40.41 19.07 10.77 3.98 964
32.43 82.74 56.47 21.47 1.65 -9.24 52.15 42.81 47.46 21.69 41.88 19.52 9.93 3.93 970
34.32 82.59 57.65 21.89 1.66 -8.51 53.57 44.51 48.48 22.11 42.78 19.90 9.72 4.30 959
35.42 85.80 60.89 22.56 1.15 -10.93 56.73 45.75 50.49 22.79 44.55 20.51 9.00 4.52 968
35.48 83.51 60.85 23.03 1.69 -6.58 57.59 47.17 51.75 23.26 45.66 20.93 8.70 4.85 855
35.08 70.73 53.03 21.39 3.37 -2.81 50.80 46.73 46.76 21.60 41.26 19.44 10.56 4.35 616
32.93 71.97 53.05 21.33 3.28 -3.13 50.73 44.72 47.83 21.55 42.20 19.40 9.20 3.09 845
33.15 76.51 57.22 22.17 2.22 -5.41 54.70 45.86 50.37 22.39 44.44 20.16 8.32 3.32 643
33.52 64.29 49.66 20.16 3.59 -4.04 48.05 44.10 43.53 20.36 38.41 18.32 11.71 3.66 479
32.09 62.47 47.78 19.33 3.50 -5.45 46.13 41.16 42.67 19.53 37.65 17.58 10.72 1.83 374
31.96 56.97 44.84 18.71 4.75 -3.61 43.60 40.97 40.69 18.90 35.91 17.01 11.90 1.96 350
31.74 56.32 43.56 18.17 4.81 -4.25 42.60 40.56 40.04 18.36 35.33 16.52 11.34 0.85 454
30.80 71.60 48.75 19.94 3.87 -3.70 46.50 39.51 45.04 20.14 39.74 18.12 9.17 1.23 517
30.46 59.87 44.59 18.71 4.99 -3.20 43.40 38.45 41.28 18.90 36.42 17.01 11.01 1.27 426
31.96 62.73 45.02 18.76 4.70 -3.64 43.30 40.14 41.40 18.95 36.53 17.06 10.98 1.32 670
29.89 68.84 50.24 20.37 3.56 -3.81 47.13 42.80 38.46 20.58 39.53 18.52 10.55 3.04 924
31.71 59.91 38.61 18.45 11.76 3.87 36.50 33.84 31.18 18.64 33.07 16.78 16.72 4.54 542
32.95 50.98 34.32 17.98 18.31 6.86 30.77 29.98 29.18 18.16 30.03 16.34 22.65 6.43 435
29.78 42.05 30.03 17.50 27.75 9.41 25.04 24.11 23.18 17.67 26.98 15.91 30.40 8.14 372
29.98 33.11 25.74 16.62 39.11 10.80 21.31 20.24 19.17 17.19 23.93 15.47 40.50 9.71 301

67



Tg Tplate Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew Radation
29.07 60.83 41.23 21.44 16.02 10.41 39.17 35.64 36.04 21.72 33.15 18.24 22.08 8.65 694
29.02 62.85 42.66 24.09 21.05 15.74 40.53 36.88 37.29 22.87 34.30 19.29 23.21 10.35 726
29.38 64.53 44.38 27.86 28.81 22.20 42.16 38.37 38.79 23.36 35.69 22.10 30.36 15.62 754
30.64 69.65 48.07 26.71 18.89 18.41 45.67 41.56 42.01 25.15 38.65 21.84 22.16 13.25 775
31.32 72.44 50.81 25.55 12.67 14.29 48.27 43.93 44.41 26.45 40.86 21.04 15.52 9.65 797
32.28 73.98 51.83 28.65 17.93 20.57 49.24 44.81 45.30 27.13 41.68 23.19 20.29 14.36 720
31.47 74.14 52.33 28.94 17.89 20.93 49.71 45.24 45.74 27.23 42.08 23.24 19.68 14.22 840
32.48 75.73 53.92 29.37 16.72 21.09 51.22 46.61 47.12 27.90 43.35 24.03 19.63 15.22 861
32.34 76.39 53.70 28.10 14.46 18.58 51.02 46.43 46.94 27.92 43.18 23.15 17.51 13.31 890
32.26 74.33 53.83 27.88 13.90 18.04 51.14 46.53 47.04 27.94 43.28 22.75 16.28 12.28 888
32.32 78.77 56.73 28.64 12.29 18.29 53.89 49.04 49.58 29.19 45.62 23.29 14.18 12.02 836
33.63 80.51 58.50 26.58 7.56 12.04 55.57 50.57 51.13 30.19 47.04 22.03 9.56 7.22 944
35.15 82.64 61.29 26.01 5.06 7.98 58.23 52.99 53.57 31.62 49.29 21.70 6.69 3.72 974
38.71 80.99 62.89 25.62 3.79 4.85 59.74 54.37 54.96 32.63 50.57 21.17 4.69 -0.31 985
34.16 74.51 57.22 24.94 6.03 7.77 54.36 49.47 50.01 30.14 46.01 20.44 7.26 2.54 632
36.59 86.13 65.49 26.46 3.60 5.78 62.21 56.61 57.23 34.61 52.66 22.34 5.14 2.33 996
36.75 86.81 68.02 25.24 1.51 -4.12 64.62 58.81 59.45 36.75 54.70 22.48 4.02 0.29 1103
32.18 57.46 52.89 25.85 12.12 14.40 49.26 44.83 45.32 28.11 41.70 20.99 14.03 8.81 444
32.36 61.02 51.47 25.83 13.66 15.18 47.94 43.62 44.10 27.67 40.57 20.76 15.19 9.11 514
34.02 77.65 59.57 24.66 4.91 5.57 55.48 50.49 51.04 32.15 46.96 20.08 5.61 -0.32 696
31.33 58.77 52.68 24.70 10.13 11.50 49.07 44.65 45.14 28.29 41.53 20.05 11.79 6.13 585
34.79 54.42 46.86 24.40 16.41 14.51 43.64 39.72 40.15 25.85 36.94 19.83 19.10 9.61 313
37.98 86.31 64.56 24.09 1.94 -3.65 60.13 54.71 55.32 35.17 50.89 20.60 3.50 -3.63 955
35.02 91.16 71.21 25.79 1.49 -3.39 66.32 60.35 61.02 37.60 56.13 21.38 1.68 -9.16 989
34.79 74.80 64.04 23.49 1.48 -7.09 59.64 54.28 54.87 33.05 50.48 22.87 7.82 6.81 733
31.33 45.60 43.41 21.18 13.26 8.64 40.43 36.79 37.19 22.43 34.22 16.65 13.85 2.79 156
25.99 38.87 38.18 20.88 21.59 11.84 35.56 32.36 32.72 20.10 30.10 16.42 22.81 6.59 153
Tg Tplate Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out
Wb
cout
RH % Dew Radation
31.47 71.11 50.16 23.11 8.56 7.91 46.92 43.64 43.43 24.85 39.91 24.11 18.97 15.10 732
32.66 74.42 53.17 24.50 8.37 9.75 49.29 45.84 45.79 26.34 42.09 25.55 18.84 16.91 763
33.26 77.42 55.71 25.09 7.31 9.56 51.69 48.07 48.12 26.98 44.22 26.17 16.81 16.99 789
33.90 81.53 58.48 26.52 7.49 11.87 54.63 50.80 50.55 28.52 46.46 27.66 16.82 18.93 840
34.57 66.05 53.16 24.05 7.61 8.34 51.67 48.05 48.71 25.86 44.77 25.08 13.60 14.15 905
31.80 59.93 47.72 21.91 8.59 6.18 46.36 43.11 44.84 23.56 41.21 22.85 13.59 11.11 819
29.68 62.82 49.29 22.18 7.59 5.53 47.56 44.23 45.40 23.85 41.73 23.13 13.48 11.43 473
30.51 65.55 51.50 22.89 6.97 5.88 49.57 46.10 47.14 24.62 43.32 23.88 12.93 12.15 542
30.39 60.89 49.63 22.12 7.16 4.93 48.08 44.71 46.23 23.78 42.49 23.07 12.25 10.63 612
30.09 50.64 44.03 20.30 9.13 4.34 43.42 40.38 43.02 21.83 38.63 21.17 13.38 8.69 542
28.42 45.52 39.97 18.54 9.98 2.58 39.46 36.70 39.05 19.94 35.89 19.34 13.01 5.95 403
27.01 45.54 39.32 18.22 10.04 2.18 38.21 35.53 35.75 19.60 32.85 19.01 18.08 8.12 276
26.84 47.76 40.47 18.45 9.04 1.57 39.04 36.30 34.77 19.84 31.95 19.24 19.08 9.58 307
27.12 48.21 40.85 18.70 9.18 2.07 39.51 36.75 34.49 20.11 31.70 19.50 19.69 10.45 332
32.18 57.46 51.86 25.85 12.12 14.40 49.26 44.83 45.32 28.11 37.94 20.99 14.03 8.81 444
32.36 61.02 50.46 25.83 13.66 15.18 47.94 43.62 44.10 27.67 36.92 20.76 15.19 9.11 514
34.02 77.65 58.40 24.66 4.91 5.57 55.48 50.49 51.04 32.15 42.73 20.08 5.61 -0.32 696
31.33 58.77 51.65 24.70 10.13 11.50 49.07 44.65 45.14 28.29 37.79 20.05 11.79 6.13 585
34.79 54.42 45.94 24.40 16.41 14.51 43.64 39.72 40.15 25.85 33.62 19.83 19.10 9.61 313
37.98 86.31 63.29 24.09 1.94 -3.65 60.13 54.71 55.32 35.17 46.31 20.60 3.50 -3.63 955
35.02 91.16 69.81 25.79 1.49 -3.39 66.32 60.35 61.02 37.60 51.08 21.38 1.68 -9.16 989
34.79 74.80 62.78 23.49 1.48 -7.09 59.64 54.28 54.87 33.05 45.94 22.87 7.82 6.81 733
31.33 45.60 42.56 21.18 13.26 8.64 40.43 36.79 37.19 22.43 31.14 16.65 13.85 2.79 413
25.99 38.87 37.43 20.88 21.59 11.84 35.56 32.36 32.72 20.10 27.39 16.42 22.81 6.59 324

68



Tg Tp Trt Trb Tout Wb din RH % Dew Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tamb Ch out Wb cout RH % Dew Radation
35.69 40.75 23.50 19.88 36.30 22.43 29.93 15.92 31.60 28.38 22.25 19.37 31.40 21.37 41.08 16.60 450
38.23 51.92 23.00 19.93 40.35 21.74 18.45 11.83 33.98 30.26 24.33 19.97 33.00 22.44 40.26 17.71 662
25.97 60.89 24.58 20.17 39.29 22.11 21.67 13.43 39.88 38.30 26.13 21.47 32.11 24.60 54.37 21.74 499
26.25 55.53 25.81 20.43 41.13 20.91 14.70 9.06 38.79 37.70 26.39 21.25 29.54 23.81 62.32 21.58 847
28.79 72.10 27.50 20.67 49.76 19.72 2.76 -7.05 45.94 41.35 28.72 21.87 32.92 24.84 52.13 21.79 967
30.85 72.71 30.34 22.07 44.04 20.38 9.30 4.61 42.82 40.38 30.88 23.76 32.79 24.45 50.67 21.22 591
29.03 58.44 46.43 22.14 41.23 20.60 4.70 -1.09 40.62 39.94 29.07 23.98 31.37 23.88 53.94 20.92 368
26.48 46.28 31.79 22.86 40.60 21.62 17.64 11.37 39.19 36.83 27.47 23.02 30.11 22.70 53.26 19.56 294
26.88 51.59 31.80 24.88 38.00 23.65 29.96 17.39 36.30 35.13 28.26 23.92 30.85 21.80 45.37 17.67 505
29.08 74.90 32.99 24.72 54.61 21.80 3.07 -3.05 49.40 43.37 31.34 26.98 38.53 24.66 32.23 19.01 954
28.15 60.10 34.93 25.05 49.61 22.28 7.50 5.58 46.58 45.67 29.42 25.07 41.65 29.87 42.81 26.43 576
25.79 46.96 35.22 25.67 41.24 23.12 20.90 14.47 36.07 35.21 26.75 22.52 32.72 26.82 63.48 24.88 307
24.62 42.18 34.94 26.37 37.32 24.94 36.80 20.09 34.35 32.48 25.39 22.04 27.15 21.26 59.54 18.59 215
25.11 42.90 34.75 26.73 38.61 23.70 28.57 17.16 37.32 34.91 25.86 21.83 28.38 22.41 60.03 19.87 452
25.42 42.56 33.81 26.23 39.12 23.99 28.34 17.47 37.57 36.83 26.02 22.08 29.91 23.35 57.76 20.69 521
26 56 26 20 41 25 26 18 39 38 37 21 30 24 62 22 766
30 72 29 21 52 27 15 17 48 44 40 22 33 25 52 21 779
28 52 30 23 45 28 31 21 42 40 38 23 31 23 54 20 331
27 57 32 25 42 27 35 22 37 36 34 24 31 22 44 17 624
28 64 34 25 52 28 18 18 48 45 41 25 41 28 43 25 663
25 44 35 26 39 26 37 21 35 33 29 23 30 24 61 22 425
25 43 35 26 38 24 33 18 34 32 26 25 27 22 61 19 221

Thesis Paper On Performance of Enhanced Solar Dryer Integrated With Heat Storage System For Fruits & Vegetables Drying

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Thesis Paper On Performance of Enhanced Solar Dryer Integrated With Heat Storage System For Fruits & Vegetables Drying

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PERFORMANCE OF AN ENHANCED SOLAR DRIER

INTEGRATED WITH HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM

Surface area of drying tray (m

Total water content to be removed (kg)

Instantaneous mass of water (kg)

Equilibrium moisture content (%)

Final moisture content (%)

Initial moisture content (%)

Instantaneous moisture content on dry basis (%)

Moisture content at sunrise (%)

Moisture content at sunset (%)

The estimated relative humidity at time (%)

Daily maximum humidity (%)

Daily minimum humidity (%)

Temperature drying air (

Temperature crop to dried (

Dry bulb temperature at time (

Daily mean maximum temperature (

Daily mean minimum temperature (

Initial weight of dried product (kg)

Efficiency of limestone (%)

) could be calculated from the following

) would be calculated from the energy balance

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