The drying process is considered an effective technique for preserving foods and agricultural products from spoilage. Moreover, the drying process lessens the products' weight, volume, and packaging, which prompts a reduction in the products' transportation costs. The drying technique with solar energy represents an ancient method, still alluring due to solar energy abundance and cost‐effectiveness. In this article, the previous manuscripts concerned with studying and analyzing indirect solar dryer systems that utilize innovative solar air heaters (SAHs) are reviewed. The results and conclusions are discussed intensively to clarify the significance of utilizing this type of drying technique. The effect of many parameters on the thermal performance and efficiency of the dryer systems has been investigated. The investigated parameters included the incident solar radiation, air flow rates, outlet solar air heater temperature, absorber plate material, moisture content of the agricultural products, and the shape and configuration of the SAH. Moreover, the manuscript outlines the drying rate mathematical models that were used to validate the experimental findings. Based on the review, it is found that solar dryer systems with modified SAHs designs rather than flat plate SAH have considerable effects on enhancing thermal performance and efficiency.
Artificial roughness applied to a Solar Air Heater (SAH) absorber plate is a popular technique for increasing its total thermal efficiency (ηt−th). In this paper, the influence of geometrical parameters of V-down ribs attached below the corrugated absorbing plate of a SAH on the ηt−th was examined. The impacts of key roughness parameters, including relative pitch p/e (6–12), relative height e/D (0.019–0.043), angles of attack α (30–75°), and Re (1000–20,000), were examined under real weather conditions. The SAH ηt−th roughened by V-down ribs was predicted using an in-house developed conjugate heat-transfer numerical model. The maximum SAH ηt−th was shown to be 78.8% as predicted under the steady-state condition
... Show MoreThe enhancement of the thermal and thermo-hydraulic performance of a semi-circular solar air collector (SCSAC) is numerically investigated using porous semi-circular obstacles made of metal foam with and without longitudinal porous Y-shaped fins. Two 10 and 40 PPI porous material samples are examined. Three-dimensional models are built to simulate the performance of SCSAC: model (I) with clear air passage; model (II) with only metal foam obstacles, and model (III) with metal foam obstacles as well as porous Y-fins. COMSOL Multiphysics software version 6.2 based on finite element methodology is employed. A conjugate heat transfer with a (k-ε) turbulence model is selected to simulate both heat transfer and fluid flow across the entir
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A new type of solar air heater was designed, fabricated, and tested in Baghdad, Iraq winter conditions. The heater consists of two main parts. The horizontal section was filled with the black colored iron chip while the vertical part has five pipes filled with Iraqi paraffin wax. A fan was fixed at the exit of the air. Two cases were studied: when the air moved by natural convection and when forced convection moved it. The studied air heater has proven its effectiveness as it heated the air passing through it to high temperatures. The results manifest that using little air movement makes the temperatures, stored energies, and efficiencies of the two studied cases converge
... Show MoreIn this work, a flat-plate solar air heater (FSAH) and a tubular solar air heater (TSAH) were designed and tested numerically. The work investigates the effect of increasing the contact area between the flowing air and the absorber surface of each heater and predicts the expected results before the fabrication of the experimental rig. Three-dimensional two models were designed and simulated by the ANSYS-FLUENT 16 Program. The solar irradiation and ambient air temperature were measured experimentally on December 1st 2022, at the weather conditions of Baghdad City- Iraq, at three air mass flow rates, 0.012 kg/s, 0.032 kg/s, and 0.052 kg/s. The numerical results showed the advantage in the thermal performance of
... Show MoreThe present work includes design, construction and operates of a prototype solar absorption refrigeration system, using methanol as a refrigerant to avoid any refrigerant that cause global warming and greenhouse effect. Flat plate collector was used because it’s easy, ninexpensive and efficient. Many test runs (more than 50) were carried out on the system from May to October, 2013; the main results were taken between the period of July 15, 2013 to August 15, 2013 to find the maximum C.O.P, cooling, temperature and pressure of the system. The system demonstrates a maximum generator temperature of 93.5 oC, on July 18, 2013 at 2:30 pm, and the average mean generator temperature Tgavr was 74.7 °C, for this period. The maximum pressure Pg
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