skip to main content

Study of Fabricated Solar Dryer of Tomato Slices under Jordan Climate Condition

Fire Safety Engineering Department, Prince Al-Hussein Bin Abdullah II Academy of Civil Protection, Al-Balqa' Applied University Jordan, P. O. Box: 30, Amman (11511), Jordan

Published: 25 Jun 2017.
Editor(s): H Hadiyanto

Citation Format:
Abstract

The objective of the current study was to investigate experimentally, the performance of a fabricated solar dryer under Jordan climate condition during the summer of 2013. The temporal variations of temperature difference between absorber plate and ambient temperature were obtained in the results and its influence on the performance of solar flat plate collector was examined. The effects of absorber plate temperature, ambient temperature and wind heat transfer coefficient on the top heat loss coefficient were also investigated. The results showed that the efficiency of the collector ranging between 45 to 66 % which affected significantly by the amount of solar irradiation during the day. Only top heat loss was taken into considerations, since other losses were very small and might be negligible. Also the results confirmed that the performance of collector was maximum when the difference between plate and ambient temperatures was maximum. In addition, this work presented an indirect forced convection solar dryer, which consists of solar heater, fan and drying chamber. Fan was used to force the heated air through chamber to increase the drying rate.  A 500 gram of tomatoes were dried to the final moisture content 28% from 95% (w.b). The experimental moisture ratios of the tomatoes were fitted to four mathematical drying models. Comparisons between these modes are sought using statistical analysis in the results. The fit quality obtained with each model was evaluated. After the comparison with the experimental obtained values, it was concluded that polynomial equation with second order represents the drying characteristics better than the other models by indicating high value of coefficient correlation (R2= 0.999564 ) and low values of other parameters( 𝞌2= 0.000203; RMSE= 0.01011; MBE= 0.000102 ) compare with other models. The effective moisture diffusivity was estimated using Fick's second law and was  m2/s with an average temperature of 306 K.

Article History: Received January 14th 2017; Received in revised form April 28th 2017; Accepted June 10th 2017; Available online

How to Cite This Article: Olimat, A.N. (2017) Study of Fabricated Solar Dryer of Tomato Slices Under Jordan Climate Condition. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(2), 93-101.

https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.2.93-101
Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Moisture ratio; solar drying; moisture diffusivity;thin layer model; flat plate collector.

Article Metrics:

  1. Afriyie, J. K., Nazh, M. A. A., Rajakaruna, H.and Forson. F. K.(2009). Experimental investigations of a chimney –dependent solar crop dryer. Renewable energy, 34, 217-222
  2. Angus, M. B. (2001) A step–by-step guide to non-linear regression analysis of experimental data using a Microsoft Excel spread sheet. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 65,191-200
  3. Bagheri, H., Arabhosseini, A., Kianmehr, M.H. and Ghegini. G.R. (2013) Mathematical modeling of thin layer solar drying of tomato slices. Agric Eng Int, CIGR Journal, 15(1), 146-153
  4. Dissa, A. O., Bathiebo, J., Kam , S., Savadogo, P. W.,Desmorieux, H. and Koulidiati. J. (2009) Modelling and experimental validation of thin layer indirect solar drying of mango slices. Renewable energy, 34, 1000-1008
  5. Doymaz,İ and Osman, İ. (2011) Drying characteristics of sweet cherry. IChemE, 89, 31-38
  6. Doymaz, İ. (2004) Pretreatement effect on sun drying of mulberry fruits. Journal of food engineering, 65(2), 205-209
  7. Doymaz, İ. (2007) Air-drying characteristics of tomatoes. Journal of food engineering, 78, 1291-1297
  8. El-Beltagy, A., Gamea, G. R. and Amer Essa. A. H. (2007) Solar drying characteristics of strawberry. Journal of food engineering, 78, 456-464
  9. Esper, A., and Mühlbauer. W. (1998) Solar drying-an effective means of food preservation. Renewable energy, 15(1-4), 95-100
  10. Farahat, S., Sarhaddi, F. and Ajam. H. (2008) Exergetic optimization of flat plate solar collectors. Renewable energy, 34(4), 1169-1174
  11. Farzad, J. and Emad, A. (2012) Energetic and exergetic evaluation of flat plate solar collectors. Renewable energy, 56, 55-63
  12. Fournier, M., and Guinebault A. (1995) The "shell" dryer - modeling and experimentation. Renewable energy, 6(4), 459-463
  13. Gagan, D.S., Rajiv , S., Bawa., A. S. and Saxena. D. C. (2008) Drying and rehydration characteristics of water chestnut (Trapa natans) as a function of drying air temperature. Journal of food engineering, 87, 213-221
  14. Henderson, S. M., and Pabis, S. (1961) Grin drying theory II: Temperature effects on drying coefficients. Journal of agricultural engineering research, 6,169-174
  15. Johan, S. R., David, R. K. and Olga, P.Z. (2008) Drying kinetics of grapes seed. Journal of food engineering 89, 460-465
  16. Kabeel, A. E., and Abdelgaid, M. (2016) Performance of novel solar dryer. Process safety and environmental protection, 102, 183-189
  17. Kumar, S., and Mullick S. C. (2010) Wind heat transfer coefficient in solar collectors in outdoor conditions. Solar energy, 84(6), 956-963
  18. Madhukeshwara, N., and Prakash. E. S. (2012) An investigation on the performance characteristics of solar flat plate collector with different selective surface coatings. International journal of energy and environment, 3(1), 99-108
  19. Maskan, A., Sevim, K. and Medeni, M. (2002) Hot air and sun drying of grape leather. Journal of food engineering, 54(1), 81-88
  20. Mustayen, A. G. M. B., Mekhilef, S. and Saidur, R. (2014) Performance study of different solar dryers: A review, 34, 463-470
  21. Nabnean, S., Janjai, S. Thepa, S., Sudaprasert, K., Songprakorp, R. .and Bala. B.K. (2016) Experimtal performance of a new design of solar dryer for drying osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes. Renewable energy, 94, 147-156
  22. Osama, Y, Can, E. and Uzun.H.I. (2001) Mathematical modeling of thin layer solar drying of sultana grapes. Energy, 26, 457-465
  23. Ramadhani, B. R., Minja, J. A. and Karoli, N. N. (2014) Effect of glass thickness on performance of flat plate solar collectors for fruits drying. Journal of energy, Hindawi , article ID 247287, 1-8
  24. Saleh, A., and Badran. I. (2009). Modeling and experimental studies on a domestic solar dryer. Renewable energy, 34(10), 2239-2245
  25. Tunde-Akintunde, T. Y, and Afan. A. (2010). Modeling of hot –air drying of pretreated cassava chips. AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal, 12(2), 34-41
  26. Tunde-Akintunde, T.Y. (2011) Mathematical modeling of sun and solar drying of chilli pepper. Renewable energy, 36, 2139- 2145
  27. Wang, C. Y., and Singh, R. P. (1978) A single layer drying equation for rough rice. ASAE Paper No.78-3001, St. Joseph, (MI)

Last update:

  1. A review of the significance effect of external factors of the solar dyer design to dried foods product quality

    B. Norerama D. Pagukuman, M. Kamel Wan Ibrahim. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , 20 (6), 2022. doi: 10.1108/JEDT-01-2021-0033
  2. Semi empirical modelling for thin sliced potato drying under active-mode indirect solar dryer

    B. Norerama D Pagukuman, Mohd Kamel Wan Ibrahim, Muhamad Aiman Mat Roni, A. Abdul Jalil, N.W. Che Jusoh, N.S. Hassan, M. Bahari. E3S Web of Conferences, 516 , 2024. doi: 10.1051/e3sconf/202451601001
  3. Experimental Evaluation of Thermohydraulic Performance of Tubular Solar Air Heater

    Yousif Fateh Midhat, Issam Mohammed Ali Aljubury. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 12 (1), 2023. doi: 10.14710/ijred.2023.45312

Last update: 2024-11-21 06:39:03

  1. Energy-exergy analysis of a novel multi-pass solar air collector with perforated fins

    Aktaş M.. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 8 (1), 2019. doi: 10.14710/ijred.8.1.47-55
  2. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach for selecting solar plants site and technology: A review

    Ghasempour R.. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 8 (1), 2019. doi: 10.14710/ijred.8.1.15-25
  3. Determination of sliced pineapple drying characteristics in a closed loop heat pump assisted drying system

    Tunçkal C.. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 7 (1), 2018. doi: 10.14710/ijred.7.1.35-41