Energy Conversion and Management 51 (2010) 813820

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Energy Conversion and Management

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Design and performance evaluation of a new hybrid solar dryer for banana
B.M.A. Amer a,*, M.A. Hossain b, K. Gottschalk c
a

Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt FMP Engineering Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur 1701, Bangladesh c Leibniz-Institut fr Agrartechnik Potsdam-Bornim, 100 Max-Eyth-Allee, 14467 Potsdam, Germany
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
A hybrid solar dryer was designed and constructed using direct solar energy and a heat exchanger. The dryer consists of solar collector, reector, heat exchanger cum heat storage unit and drying chamber. The drying chamber was located under the collector. The dryer was operated during normal sunny days as a solar dryer, and during cloudy day as a hybrid solar dryer. Drying was also carried out at night with stored heat energy in water which was collected during the time of sun-shine and with electric heaters located at water tank. The efciency of the solar dryer was raised by recycling about 65% of the drying air in the solar dryer and exhausting a small amount of it outside the dryer. Under Mid-European summer conditions it can raise up the air temperature from 30 to 40 C above the ambient temperature. The solar dryer was tested for drying of ripe banana slices. The capacity of the dryer was to dry about 30 kg of banana slices in 8 h in sunny day from an initial moisture content of 82% to the nal moisture content of 18% (wb). In the same time it reduced to only 62% (wb) moisture content in open sun drying method. The colour, aroma and texture of the solar dried products were better than the sun drying products. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 9 July 2008 Received in revised form 18 April 2009 Accepted 21 November 2009

Keywords: Banana drying Heat exchanger Reector Solar dryer Storage energy

1. Introduction Sun drying of agricultural products is the traditional method employed in most of the developing countries. Sun drying is used to denote the exposure of a commodity to direct solar radiation and the convective power of the natural wind. Sun drying offers a cheap method of drying but often results to inferior quality of products due to its dependence of weather conditions and vulnerably to the attack of dust, dirts, rains, insects, pests, and microorganisms [1]. Solar drying is an alternative which offers several advantages over the traditional method and it has been developed for various agricultural products. Solar energy for crop drying is environmentally friendly and economically viable in the developing countries [2,3]. In natural convection solar dryers, the air ow is due to buoyancy-induced air pressure, and the drying process needs some days to complete, as a cabinet dryer needs 34 days to dry grapes [4]. While in forced convection solar dryers the air ow is provided by using a fan either operated by electricity/solar module or fossil fuel [5]. Some researchers are opting for forced convection solar tunnel drying for drying of various crops [6]. They reported that solar drying for grapes during the night period, it is necessary to develop a system having a back-up of thermal storage. An auxiliary heat and forced convection are recommended for assuring reliabil* Corresponding author. Tel.: +20 2 23793704; fax: +20 2 35717355. E-mail address: baherbmaa@yahoo.com (B.M.A. Amer). 0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2009.11.016

ity and better control, respectively. However, there exist some problems associated with solar drying i.e. reliability of solar radiation during rainy period or cloudy days and its unavailability at nighttime. In a hybrid solar dryer, drying is continued during offsunshine hours by back-up heat energy or storage heat energy. Therefore, drying is continued and the product is saved from possible deterioration by microbial infestation [7,8]. Variability and time-dependent characteristic of solar radiation make storage necessary for continuous operations of food drying [9]. The operation of a solar assisted dryer extended through the night hours and found that thermal storage during the day can be used as a heat source during the night for continuing drying of agricultural products and also preventing their re-hydration from the surrounding air [1013]. Continuous drying also prevents microbial growth during drying [14]. Also, it was found that storage and auxiliary heat supply can used to assess compatibility of solar energy to meet the drying process temperature [15]. Misra et al. [16] reported that the advantage of storing solar heat several weeks for use in grain drying was to enable drying to proceed independently of the fall weather conditions. This allowed management exibility in harvesting and drying the crops. The major disadvantage was that it required more hardware, in the form of a large heat storage structure and heat recovery equipment, which could lead to excessive cost. Some hybrid dryers were developed to control the drying air conditions throughout the drying time independent of sun-shine especially at night when it is not possible to use the solar energy

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Nomenclature _ m A Cp hL I Q t T mass ow rate (kg/s) surface area (m2) specic heat (kJ/kg K) latent heat of vaporization (kJ/kg) solar radiation (W/m2) amount of heat energy (kJ) time (h) temperature (K) efciency (decimal) f g i o p n t w fan global inlet outlet pump night time total water

Subscripts a air c collector d day time

using alternative sawdust burner, [17] or by using a biomass stove [18]. It is reported that signicant improvement was registered after the heater is added to the solar dryer during periods of low sun-shine [19,20]. Tasmparlis [21] was found that using the hybrid solar dryer connected by heating unit (20 kW) was reduced the drying time of the grapes to 3040 h and the air velocity of 0.8 m/s produced by fan was homogeneous but small, which results in slow drying rates, hence large drying periods, also the quality for the dried fruits was very high. A solar assisted hybrid drier was developed in Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand for drying of fruits and vegetables. The drier is a tunnel type and back-up energy was provided with biomass burning during off sun-shine period [22]. Banana (Musa sapientum L.) is one of the important tropical fruit in the world. The ripe fruit contains many of the necessary elements that are essential for a balanced diet. Banana contains fat, natural sugars, protein, potassium and vitamins A, B complex and C. A ripe banana easily digests and it imparts quick energy. Banana can also be used as medicinal fruit. It can help recover anaemia, blood pressure, brain power, constipation, depression, hangovers, ulcer, etc. [23]. Banana is a climacteric fruit with soft texture and it becomes more vulnerable to be spoiled during transportation, preservation and marketing. Due to high moisture content in banana, it is wounded and contaminated during handling and transportation and quality is deteriorated at high temperature and relative humidity. Both qualitative and quantitative losses occur during storage through loss of moisture, carbohydrates, vitamins, pest and disease and physiological disorders [24]. Dried banana is a popular food in many countries like Thailand. The postharvest losses can be minimized by drying the ripe banana. Therefore, there is a scope of drying of banana in the tropical and subtropical countries. An analytical model was developed for drying of sliced apple, peaches, cherries and mango in a solar cabinet dryer and in open sun drying method [25]. They were used the heat and mass balance to help in designing a solar dryer, but without using it to control the drying air conditions inside the dryer. Therefore, an improved and simplied model should be developed in this part of work. Several studies have been reported on simulation of forced convection solar drying of agricultural products for different congurations of forced convection solar dryers [26,27]. Schirmer et al. [28] developed and tested a multi-purpose solar tunnel dryer for drying of banana under hot and humid weather conditions in Thailand. The capacity of this dryer was to dry about 300 kg of whole (not slices) ripe banana in 35 days. The drying temperature was 4065 C. They reported that solar dried banana

was high quality products in terms of avour, colour and texture. Phoungchandang and Woods [29] developed mathematical model for solar drying of whole banana in Thailand. The model agreed well with the eld data. Also, the drying time by these solar dryers for banana takes some days and it needs to reduce. In addition, the quality of the dried bananas by the recent solar dryers is not high depends on the non-stability for the drying air temperature during the drying process which causes by the variation of the solar intensity during the period of sun-shine. Finally, the efciency of the recent solar dryers not high and it needs to increase by using movable reectors to increase the solar radiation receiving capacity. So, the of objective of this study was to design and test continuously the hybrid solar dryer (day and night) by storing the solar energy in water tank during the sun-shine time to reduce the drying cost, improve the quality of the dried products, and to prevent the microbial growth during the drying.
Table 1 Component and specications of the hybrid solar dryer. Component 1. Solar collector a. Type b. Area c. Transparent surface d. Absorber Plate f. Collector tilt g. Reectors h. Insulation 2. Water tank a. Size b. Insulation 3. Water pump Capacity Specications Flat plate 5.04 m2 Glass, 4 mm thick Corrugate sheet-metal (280 180 cm), 2 mm thick 0 (horizontal) Brilliant aluminium (180 80 cm), 2 mm thickness Polystyrene 50 mm thick 500 l Made of bre-glass, 50 mm thick 20 l/h

4. Counter heat exchanger a. Type of tube Copper (70 tubes) b. Dimensions 180 cm length and 15 mm thick 5. Drying chamber a. Area b. Height c. Insulation d. Tray 6. Blower a. Type b. Capacity 7. Auxiliary Heater Capacity 5.04 m2 20 cm Polystyrene 50 mm thick 16 tray made of aluminium meshed, (90 70 cm) Axial 0.75 kW 6 kW

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a solar hybrid dryer.

2. Description of the solar dryer A hybrid solar dryer was designed, constructed and tested at Institut fur Agrartechnik Potsdam-Bornim, Germany during the period of 20052006. The solar dryer consisted with several parts: solar collector, drying chamber, heat exchanger and heat storage unit. A schematic view of the solar dryer is shown in Fig. 1. The components and specications of the hybrid solar dryer are given in Table 1. 3. The solar collector The dimensions of the solar collector are 2.80 m 1.80 m. It consisted of transparent cover, absorber plate, heat exchanger and insulation. The transparent cover is 4 mm thick clear glass supported by 60 mm wooden frame. Absorber plate is xed below 200 mm of glass cover. The absorber plate is 2 mm thick corrugated GI sheet painted in black. Solar radiation receiving capacity was increased by providing the collector with three solar reector made of brilliant aluminium of size 1.80 m 1.80 m and 2 mm thick. The collector had variable angles that could be changed according to the change of the suns angle during the day to collect higher amount of sun rays that fall down on the solar collector. In addition, the collector was placed on six movable legs with

150 mm wheel to turn the solar collector horizontally and change its direction according to the change of the suns angle. The metallic reectors were closed in night and in adverse weather to prevent heat loss through the glass during the drying process. The solar drying unit was insulated by 50 mm thick polystyrene. There were three air controllers at the inlet, outlet, and just before the suction opening of the air blower to control the air ow at the inlet, outlet and mixed air. The three air controllers could be controlled manually using three switches according to the quantity and the velocity of air needed using a small motor xed on each controller. The motors can be opened or closed using a special electric key exists on an electric board xed at the end of the solar drying unit. A schematic diagram of the air damper conguration is shown in Fig. 2. 4. The drying chamber The length and width of the solar dryer were same as the collector (2.80 m 1.80 m). It was located directly under the solar collector and 200 mm under the absorber plate. It was divided into eight parts with equal dimensions. In each of the part there were two trays for drying. This allows the usage of 16 drying trays in the drying unit. The drying air is passed across the fruits spread in thin layers on 16 horizontally stacked trays and arranged in

Fig. 2. A schematic diagram of the air damper conguration.

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two vertical columns. Each tray was made of wooden frame and plastic net with dimensions of 900 mm 70 mm. The drying air was heated up in the solar collector and passed to the drying chamber through a curved metal part at the end of the solar drying unit. This curved metallic part had a shape of a half horizontal cylinder with the same width and height of the solar collector and the dryer. Through this curved part, the direction of the air could be changed inside the solar drying unit. The drying air came from the solar collector through curved part to the opposite direction and turning towards the drying unit and ew over and under all the drying trays before exhausting from the outlet. To increase the efciency of the solar drying unit, some parts of the hot air was mixed with the fresh air at the end of the solar dryer and ew through the collector again to the solar drying unit instead of exiting through the outlet opening. 5. Cross-ow heat exchanger and heat storage unit The heat exchanger consisted of a 15 mm diameter copper tubes placed inside the solar collector, 100 mm below the glass and 100 mm above the absorber plate. The heat exchanger consisted of 70 tubes covered the whole area of the drying collector. These tubes were xed and put over a metal holder of width 20 mm at each side of the solar collector. Two ends of the copper tubes were connected to the water storage tank with 15 mm plastic tubes. The capacity of the water tank was 500 l. Water ew from water tank and circulated through the plastic and copper tubes by a small water pump of capacity 20 l/h. The heat exchanger gave a part of the heat collected during the hours of the sun-shine, which was carried by air inside the solar collector, to the water inside the copper tubes. The water passed very slowly inside the pipes to be able to take the largest part of heat carried in the air contact with the external surface of the tubes. This water was stored inside a plastic tank of 500 l volume and insulated by 50 mm bre-glass. The heat stored during the day in the water tank could be used again at night. The temperature of this water could be raised by using 6 kW water heaters located inside the tank to reach a desired temperature for drying during the night as well as in adverse weather for maintaining the temperature and the humidity throughout the drying process. 6. Experimental procedure Several experimental runs for different drying conditions for solar and sun drying of banana were carried out at Leibniz Institut fr Agrartechnik Potsdam-Bornim (ATB) campus, Germany during the period of JuneOctober 2005 and 2006 (Mid-European summer conditions). Fresh and uniform size of ripe banana was purchased from Potsdam supermarket. Before starting an experimental run, the whole apparatus was operated for at least 1 h to stabilize the air temperature and air velocity in the dryer. Peeled bananas was cut into 45 mm slices with fruit slicer and then placed them in single layer on the drying trays in the dryer. Slice diameter was 2.93.1 cm and weight varied from 8.5 to 11.5 g. The dryer was full loaded with 3032 kg of banana slices. To compare the performance of the dryer with that of sun drying, control samples banana slices were placed on trays in a single layer beside the dryer in the open sun. Drying was started after completion of the loading, usually at 09:00 h and discontinued up to reach the nal moisture content of banana slices. Weight loss of both the samples in the solar dryer and the control samples in the open sun were measured during the drying period in day time (09:00 17:00 h) at 5 min interval with an electronic balance (BP 310S, Sartorius AG Gttingen, Germany) equipped with data logger. During the day time, the positions of the collector and its reector were

adjusted with the solar angle so that maximum solar radiation can be captured by the solar collector as well as by the reector. A data logger (Almeno 5590, Ahlborn Mess-und Regelungstechnik GmbH, Germany) was used to record the ambient air, collector air, drying air (on different trays), inlet air and outlet air temperature and relative humidities at 10 min interval. Temperatures at different positions of glass cover, copper tube, absorber plate of the collector were also recorded at 10 min interval during the drying period, the position of instruments for measuring air properties (temperature & relative humidity) in the hybrid solar dryer are shown in Fig. 3. A solar meter (Solarwatt, GmbH, Germany) was used to measure the global solar radiation and total radiation (global+reected from reector) during the day time drying period. Velocity of drying air was measured with an anemometer (TA-5, Airow Development Limited, England) at and when required. The moisture content of the banana slices were measured by drying the samples in a vacuum oven at 70 C until the weight of the dried sample became stable, a according to AOAC [30]. After completion of drying, the dried banana samples were collected, cooled in a shade to the ambient temperature and then sealed it in the plastic bags. 7. Efciency calculation The thermal efciency of the solar collector and system drying efciency of the solar dryer were calculated using following formula: (a) Collector efciency during day time (when solar radiation was available):

gcdg

_ ma C pa T i T o Ac I g

(b) Collector efciency during night time:

o gcn _ a pa i mw C w T w T i

_ m C T T

(c) System drying efciency of the solar dryer: (i) Solar dryer efciency in day time

gdd

mw hL Ac I t t Q f Q p

(ii) Solar dryer efciency in night time Drying with hot water ow without using water heater

gnd

mw hL Qf Qp

Drying with hot water ow without using water heater

gnd

mw hL Qh Qf Qp

8. Collector performance 8.1. Day time heat collection without water ow The experiments were carried from June to October 2005 under Mid-European summer conditions with the ambient air temperature

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817

Sun Ig

Ig

Reflector Ir

Imaginary cover

Total energy (E) Reflection to ambient Convection to ambient Radiation to sky

Cover
1

Radiation to cover Reflection to cover Convection to air Air in 4 x Convection to air Receiver Air out Drying chamber
11 9 7

Air out
6 5

Drying tray

10

Dryer floor
T1 air properties at collector inlet T2 - air properties at the cover of collector in one side T3 - air properties at the cover of collector in the other side T4 - air properties inside the collector in one side T5 - air properties inside the collector in the other side T6 - air properties at collector outlet/dryer inlet T7 - air properties inside the dryer chamber (upper tray) in one side T8 - air properties inside the dryer chamber (lower tray) in one side T9 - air properties inside the dryer chamber (upper tray) in the other side T10 - air properties inside the dryer chamber (lower tray) in the other side T11 - air properties at dryer outlet
Fig. 3. Position of instruments for measuring air properties (temperature and relative humidity) in the hybrid solar dryer.

ranged from 15 to 30 C. Variations of ambient temperature, absorber temperature, collector air temperature with solar radiation without heat collection by water ow in the collector during a typical sunny day is shown in Fig. 4. At the beginning of drying, collector air temperature as well as absorber temperature increased with the increase of solar radiation and it reached to a peak in the noon and then decreased at slower rate in the afternoon with the decrease of solar radiation. During this drying period average collector air temperature was 54.31 C which was 27 C above the ambient temperature. During this typical sunny day variation of collector thermal efciency with solar radiation is given in Fig. 5. Collector thermal efciency rose up to 75% at the peak solar radiation of about 700 W/m2. During the day time (09:0018:00) average collector thermal efciency was 58.23%. This higher efciency was found due to the use of solar reector.

8.2. Day time heat collection with water ow When water ew in the collector from the water tank, then water was heated along with the air in the collector and stored in the water tank. By this way water temperature rose up and this hot water was circulated again at night for heating the air in the collector. Variation of air and water temperatures with solar radiation for water ow in a typical sunny day is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 4. Variations of ambient temperature, absorber temperature, collector air temperature with solar radiation without heat collection by water ow in the collector during a typical sunny day.

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Fig. 5. Variation of collector thermal efciency with solar radiation. Fig. 7. Variations of air temperatures on different trays during solar drying of banana.

Fig. 6. Variation of air and water temperatures with solar radiation for water ow in a typical sunny day.

At the end of the day (afternoon) water temperature in the water tank increased above 40 C from initial morning temperature of about 15 C. In this drying system, collector and drying chamber temperatures were little lower than those of collector heating without water ow but not below the desired temperature (40 50 C). Variations of air temperatures on different trays are shown in Fig. 7. At the beginning of drying temperature was low and increased slowly and then increased sharply with the increase of solar radiation. The reason might be that at the initial stage of drying, banana moisture content was high (about 82%, wb) and more moisture was evaporated from the banana surface. Due to evaporating cooling, the increase of drying air temperature was slow. After 3 h of drying when free water was dried up from the banana surfaces then, temperature rose sharply. There was no signicant different of temperatures among the trays but outlet air temperature was low due to the effect of outside cool environment. There was a small temperature difference (max. 4 C) for temperatures measured at different locations inside the solar drying unit on top, middle and bottom. This indicated uniform temperature distribution inside the present solar drying unit. Also, the temperature difference was (max. 2 C) between air outlet of the solar collector and the air inside the drying chamber. The variations of the ambient air temperature, water temperature, collector air temperature and the air temperature inside the

Fig. 8. Variations of air and water temperatures with solar radiation in day and night.

solar dryer with the solar radiation for a typical day during the solar drying of banana slices are shown in Fig. 8. During the day time (sun-shine hours) solar radiation was used to heat up the air in the collector as well as heated the circulated water in the collector. In afternoon (after 16:00 h) the intensity of solar radiation began to decrease and collector air as well as the drying chamber temperature reduced. At 17:00 h, solar radiation reduced sharply and drying air temperature reduced to 35 C. Then water heater was made on and water temperature in the storage tank was set at 70 C. As a result, water temperature rapidly heated up to 70 C. This hot water was circulated in collector and collector air and drying air temperatures rose again about 50 C. Water heater was made on up to next morning (09:00 h). At 09:00 h, intensity of solar radiation was increased and the water heater was made off. This procedure was continued up to the end of the drying.

9. Dryer performance Fully loaded experiments were performed to check the capacity of the dryer. A single layer of 45 mm thickness of banana slices with initial moisture content 7582% (wet basis) was used in this study. It was found that the capacity of dryer was 3032 kg of this

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Fig. 10. Comparison of solar and sun drying of banana slices in bad weather (with auxiliary heating). Fig. 9. Comparison of solar and sun drying of banana slices in sunny weather (without water heating).

Table 2 Comparison of drying system efciency. Drying method Only solar dryer without water heating Heating before using solar dryer (morning) Auxiliary heating without sun-shine (bad weather) Heaters using a low intensity of solar radiation (afternoon) Drying system efciency (%) 37.4 31.7 25.3 6.4

product. The system is worked as a solar dryer only, without heating, during the sun-shine, but with using the water as a storage media for the heat during the time off the sun-shine. It was observed that drying air temperature rose from 25 to 35 C above the ambient air and the drying time was about 10 h. The system was worked as a solar dryer with a heating unit to heat up the water inside the tank, during the time of night and it can rise the drying air temperature from 25 to 35 C above the ambient air and the drying time was about 8 h. When heaters were used during night time with a low intensity of solar radiation in the morning of next day after sun-shine, drying time was extended to 26 h. To achieve the high efciency for this solar dryer comparing to the sun drying, a comparison of solar and sun drying of banana slices in sunny weather (without water heating) is given in Fig. 9. For a drying time about 7 h, the moisture content of the banana slices using the solar dryer was 0.2 kg/kg (db) and for the dried slices by the sun drying was 0.6 kg/kg (db). In addition, a comparison of solar and sun drying of banana slices in bad weather (with auxiliary heating) is given in Fig. 10. For a drying time about 27 h, the moisture content of the banana slices using the solar dryer was lower than the dried slices by the sun drying. The drying system efciency using different drying methods is given in Table 2. Using only solar drying (without water heating) in a sunny day, the drying system efciency was found highest followed by using water heater with a low intensity of solar radiation. The efciency of the dryer when using only as a solar dryer was found 37.4%, whereas, it found 31.7% when heating water before the sun-shine and beginning the drying process by the solar dryer only. Also, it was found that 25.3% efciency for using an auxiliary heating source (6 kW) for 8 h with the solar dryer when the weather condition was bad. The efciency was 36%, when it was using heaters during night with a low intensity of solar radiation before dark coming and in the next day after sun-shine, drying time was 16 h.

Fig. 11. Comparison of drying of banana in present study with other investigators.

A comparison of drying of banana of present study with other investigators is shown in Fig. 11. It is observed from the gure that drying rate of banana of present study is higher than the study made by Soponnarit et al. [31] and Bhattacharya et al. [32]. Soponnarit et al. [31] dried banana in a solar cabinet dryer at the temperature of 60 C and Bhattacharya et al. [32] dried banana in solar-biomass hybrid drier at the temperature of 5055 C. Drying time of present study, study by Soponnarit et al. [31] and Bhattacharya et al. [32] were 8, 10 and 12 h respectively. These variations of drying rate may be due to varietal differences and maturity of banana. Therefore, the drying performance of the dryer in this study was found similar to other dryers.

10. Conclusions The efciency of the solar dryer could be raised by recycling about 65% the drying air again in the solar dryer. It was found that the best condition for collecting the solar energy during the day by the solar dryer is using the solar reectors with holders to move it according to the sun angles during the day, and by turning the dryer also according to the sun angles. Under Mid-European summer conditions it can raise up the air temperature between 30 and 40 C above the ambient temperature. The solar dryer was tested for drying of ripe banana slices. The capacity of the dryer was to dry about 30 kg of banana slices in 8 h in sunny day from an initial moisture content of 82% to the nal moisture content of 18% (wb).

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The dryer can also be used with an auxiliary heat source with the dryer when adverse weather conditions exist. Using the water tank with the solar dryer, about 15 C can be stored in water during the time of sun-shine. During the night, the system transfers the stored heat from the water to the air inside the solar dryer and controls the air temperature through the drying process at night. The colour, aroma and texture of the solar dried products were better than the sun drying products. References
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