Experimental and theoretical performance analysis of a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar air dryer for green chillies
Ankur Gupta, Biplab Das, Jayanta Deb Mondol
Abstract
A hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar dryer for drying green chillies is developed to investigate the performance parameters at North-East Indian climatic conditions. Drying kinetics of green chillies has also been studied to compare the results theoretically and experimentally. The statistical analysis showed that the Modified Henderson and Pabis model is the most suitable model for predicting the moisture ratio for the solar drying process, whereas the Two-term exponential model is found to be the best for the open sun drying conditions. The initial moisture content of 4.0 (g water/g dry matter) of green chillies was dried to the moisture content of 0.45 (g water/g dry matter) and 1.15 (g water/g dry matter) in the solar dryer and open sun drying, respectively, during 8 h of the experiment. The results indicated that the solar drying process removes moisture at a 130% higher rate than the natural open sun drying process.