COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES ON PERFORMANCE OF A MIXED MODE SOLAR DRYER WITH THERMAL STORAGE

This paper presents a computational analysis to investigate the performance of a mixed mode solar dryer with thermal energy storage. The dryer incorporates a flat plate solar collector, a greenhouse, packed bed phase change energy storage and drying plenum with crop trays. Here drying is happening within the solar greenhouse. Solar air heater preheats the air that goes through the agro crops kept in trays within the greenhouse. This will increase the drying rate. The drying system works in such a fashion that phase transition material stores the thermal energy throughout sunshine hours and releases the latent and sensible heat after the sun sets, therefore dryer is effectively operative for next five - six hours. This maintains continuity of drying of herbs and crops for their colour and flavour vulnerability. The drying rate within the solar dryer will be much beyond than the open sun drying. The simulation of drying curves shows the increased drying rate with solar dryer.