Solar drying characteristics on commercial crop of Red chilli in Tamilnadu
Abstract
This article deals with the design and fabrication of flat plate hybrid collector with dryer (FPHCD). The FPHCD was concededvarious analysis on commercial crop of Red chilli which was performed three modes of operation such as solar sun drying with forced convection, solar sun drying with natural convection and open sun drying. Numerous parametric studies also handled in this article such as solar radiation intensity, moisture removal, outlet air temperature from the collector. In general, solar radiation was provided a sources of generating energy to drive a solar dryer. The FPHCDhas been provided the electrical and thermal energy to run a solar dryer.The solar dryer was tested by 14 kg of red chilli in the drying air temperature in the range of 320C – 590C. The initial moisture content of the red chilli was 73% (weight basis) and was reduced to the final moisture content of 11% (weight basis) in 6 days with clear sunny days in the month of July 2020. The FPHCDwas operated between 9 hrs to 16 hrs. Finally, comparative study was also handled for better understanding in FPHCD, in which solar sun drying with forced convection mode attained better results than other two modes of operations.
