Design And Optimization Of Performance Parameters Of Indirect Solar Drying System

Ashok Kumar Srivastava; Divyanshu Srivastava

Abstract

The objective of the work being presented is to design and develop an indirect solar dryer in the renewable energy laboratory of Mechanical Engineering Department, I.I.T BHU Varanasi and evaluate its performance under the climatic conditions of Varanasi, U.P India. The main components of indirect solar dryer are flat plate solar collector, drying chamber, blower and other accessories of the drying system. Originally built Shukla-Sharma dryer for drying aonla was redesigned for drying potato chips. The dryer so designed was fabricated in the laboratory from materials available in the local market. The thermal performance like collector and dryer efficiency of newly designed and fabricated dryer was evaluated and compared with their optimized value obtained as a result of optimizing the design parameters of dryer using Genetic Algorithm. Using the same algorithm, ,heat and mass transfer coefficient , exergetic efficiency of flat-plate collector and drying chamber were also optimized.

Abstract

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