Comparative Study on Performance of Passive and Active Solar Dryer

Abstract

Performance of solar dryers were tested. In the past, to study the efficiency of solar dryers. A dryer with one drying chamber was built and tested by changing the conditions. In each experiment, the solar irradiance value is different, which can cause the results to be inaccurate. Therefore, in this study, a number of drying chambers are designed according to the number of experimental conditions to be studied during the same period. To reduce factors that will cause discrepancies in the experimental results. The solar dryer with 4 drying chambers was constructed in 1 unit and tested the performance of passive solar dryer (PSD) and active solar dryer (ASD). Air flowrate of ASD varied at 0.03 m3/s (ASD0.03), 0.06 m3/s (ASD0.06) and 0.09 m3/s (ASD0.09). Pork was selected as testing material with initial moisture content of 265% dry basis. Drying rate, solar dryer efficiency and specific energy consumption are criteria to evaluate of solar dryer performance. Result from the experimental was found that the performance of PSD is lowest compared with ASDs. Furthermore, it was revealed that the drying rate of ASD0.06 is higher than that for PSD, ASD0.03 and ASD0.09 by 22% 10% and 8%, respectively. Results from the experimental reveal the ASDs performance are higher than that of PSD. Moreover, it was found that the drying rate of ASD0.06 is higher than that for PSD, ASD0.03 and ASD0.09 by 22% 10% and 8%, respectively. Whereas, specific energy consumption of ASD0.06 is lower than that PSD, ASD0.03 and ASD0.09 by 26%, 11% and 9%, respectively. Finally, it was also found that solar dryer efficiency of PSD, ASD0.03, ASD0.06 and ASD0.09 are 11.68%, 13.34%, 14.89% and 13.73%, respectively.