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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Food. Sci. Technol.
Sec. Food Modeling
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frfst.2024.1411956
This article is part of the Research Topic Modeling and Simulation of Novel Food Processing Technologies View all articles

Performance evaluation and finite element modelling of heat, mass and fluid flow inside a hybrid solar dryer during drying of paddy grains

Provisionally accepted
Aprajeeta Jha Aprajeeta Jha 1,2*Punyadarshini Tripathy Punyadarshini Tripathy 3,4
  • 1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, United States
  • 2 University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States
  • 3 Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
  • 4 Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A comprehensive assessment of a photovoltaic (PV) integrated hybrid solar dryer (HSD) for drying paddy was undertaken in the present investigation. Performance evaluation of the system along with finite element model of HSD at no-load and load conditions were successfully developed. Study showed that the collector efficiency at different power levels varied from 49.24% to 81.19% and was observed to be highest at thermal intensity of 750 W/m 2 . The evaporative capacity of the system was varied between 0.25-0.39 kg/h. Comparative analysis of the system efficiency, specific energy consumption (SEC) and specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) in HSD, tray dryer (TD) and mixed-mode solar dryer (MMSD) was also attempted. SEC values for HSD was observed to be approximately 72% and 46% less than TD and MMSD, respectively. It was also observed that SMER values of 0.27, 0.15 and 0.08 kg/kWh was attained in HSD, MMSD and TD, respectively. The average drying rate of paddy samples subjected to HSD was 36.36% and 84.61% higher than TD and MMSD, respectively. Moreover, the percentage of time saved during drying in a hybrid solar dryer was estimated to be 33% and 50% higher than in comparison to mixed mode solar dryer and tray dryer, respectively. Simulation results of the air distribution profile of the collector and chamber revealed the dead zone, where the air velocity tends to decrease below 0.5 m/s. It is imperative to highlight that the model contented reasonably in anticipating the temperature profile, moisture profile and air distribution pattern within the dryer at load and no-load condition. The present study affirms the suitability of PV-assisted HSD for sustainable drying of food grains.

    Keywords: Hybrid solar dryer, finite element model, Heat and mass transfer; Air distribution profile, Efficiency, Paddy

    Received: 03 Apr 2024; Accepted: 06 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jha and Tripathy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Aprajeeta Jha, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.