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.
Partial shading is one of the problems that affects the power production and the efficiency of photovoltaic module. A series of experimental work have been done of partial shading of monocrystalline PV module; 50W, Isc: 3.1A, Voc: 22V with 36 cells in series is achieved. Non-linear power output responses of the module are observed by applying various cases of partial shading (vertical and horizontal shading of solar cells in the module). Shading a single cell (corner cell) has the greatest impact on output energy. Horizontal shading or vertical shading reduced the power from 41W to 18W at constant solar radiation 1000W/m2 and steady state condition. Vertical blocking a column
... Show MoreIn this work, the effect of vortex shedding on the solar collector performance of the parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) was estimated experimentally. The effect of structure oscillations due to wind vortex shedding on solar collector performance degradation was estimated. The performance of PTSC is evaluated by using the useful heat gain and the thermal instantaneous efficiency. Experimental work to simulate the vortex shedding excitation was done. The useful heat gain and the thermal efficiency of the parabolic trough collector were calculated from experimental measurements with and without vortex loading. The prototype of the collector was fabricated for this purpose. The effect of vortex shedding at different operation condition
... Show MoreSolar energy is the most abundant renewable energy source. This energy can be converted directly into electricity using solar panels. The fixed tilt solar panels are the most practical and the most widely installed throughout the world. Optimum tilt angle calculation has the advantage that it does not use expensive solar trackers. This research calculates the seasonal optimum tilt angle of solar panels for 17 cities in Iraq and 83 cities in 83 countries distributed around the world. Solar Panel Angle Calculator program was used in calculating the optimum tilt angles from vertical. The optimum tilt angle varies between 6° and 112° throughout the year. This angle for winter, spring/ autumn and summer seasons are found to be between
... Show MoreThin film solar cells are preferable to the researchers and in applications due to the minimum material usage and to the rising of their efficiencies. In particular, thin film solar cells, which are designed based one transition metal chalcogenide materials, paly an essential role in solar energy conversion market. In this paper, transition metals with chalcogenide Nickel selenide termed as (NiSe2/Si) are synthesized. To this end, polycrystalline NiSe2 thin films are deposited through the use of vacuum evaporation technique under vacuum of 2.1x10-5 mbar, which are supplied to different annealing temperatures. The results show that under an annealed temperature of 525 K,
... Show MoreOne of the most important problems facing the world today is the energy problem. The solution was in finding renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The solar energy applications in Iraq is facing many problems . One of the most important problems is the accumulation of dust on the solar panels surface which causes decreasing its performance sharply. In the present work, a new technique was presented by using two-axis solar tracking system to reduce the accumulated dust on the solar panel surface and compared it with the fixed solar panels which installed at tilt angles 30° and 45°. The results indicated that the maximum losses of the output power due to accumulation of dust on the fixed solar panels is about 31.4% and 23.1% res
... Show MoreIn low-latitude areas less than 10° in latitude angle, the solar radiation that goes into the solar still increases as the cover slope approaches the latitude angle. However, the amount of water that is condensed and then falls toward the solar-still basin is also increased in this case. Consequently, the solar yield still is significantly decreased, and the accuracy of the prediction method is affected. This reduction in the yield and the accuracy of the prediction method is inversely proportional to the time in which the condensed water stays on the inner side of the condensing cover without collection because more drops will fall down into the basin of the solar-still. Different numbers of scraper motions per hour (NSM), that is
... Show MoreThis work was conducted to study the coefficient of performance for solar absorption refrigeration by using direct solar energy using aqueous ammonia 0.45 mass fraction (ammonia – water).The experiments were carried out in solar absorption system .The system consisted of solar collector generator (0.25 m × 0.25 m × 0.04m) and condenser cooled by a water bath followed by liquid receiver and evaporator. The results showed that the maximum generator temperature was (92° - 97°) during June 2009, and the minimum evaporator temperature was (5°C - 10°C) for aqua ammonia system.. It was, also, found that the coefficient of performance, cooling ratio and amount of cooling obtainable increased with increasing maximum generator temperature
... Show MoreThe present work aimed to examine the nature and degree of the cross-correlations among three different ionospheric indices: these are Optimum Working Frequency (OWF), Highest Probable Frequency (HPF), and Best Usable Frequency (BUF). VOCAP and ASASPS models were adopted to determine the datasets of the selected ionospheric indices. The determination was made for different transceiver stations that provide certain HF connection links during the minimum and maximum years of solar cycle 24, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Matlab program was implemented to produce the geodesic parameters for the selected transceiver stations. The determination was made for different path lengths (500, 1000, 1500, and 2000) Km and bearings (0o, 45
... Show MoreIn this paper, 3D simulation of the global coronal magnetic field, which use observed line of sight component of the photosphere magnetic field from (MDI/SOHO) was carried out using potential field model. The obtained results, improved the theoretical models of the coronal magnetic field, which represent a suitable lower boundary conditions (Bx, By, Bz) at the base of the linear force-free and nonlinear force free models, provides a less computationally expensive method than other models. Generally, very high speed computer and special configuration is needed to solve such problem as well as the problem of viewing the streamline of the magnetic field. For high accuracy special mathematical treatment was adopted to solve the computation comp
... Show MoreWell-dispersed Cu2FeSnSe4 (CFTSe) nanoparticles were first synthesized using the hot-injection method. The structure and phase purity of as-synthesized CFTSe nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Their morphological properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The average particle sizes of the nanoparticles were about 7-10 nm. The band gap of the as-synthesized CFTS nanoparticles was determined to be about 1.15 eV by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. Photoelectrochemical characteristics of CFTSe nanoparticles were also studied, which indicated their potential application in solar energy water splitting.