Experimental evaluation of performance, drying and thermal parameters of guava slabs dried in a forced convection indirect solar dryer without and with thermal energy storage

The forced convection indirect solar dryer (FISD) provides better quality food products for lower duration than open sun drying (OSD). The drying experiments on guava slices were executed on an FISD without a thermal energy storage (TES) (model-1) and with TES (model-2) to determine the impact of TES on drying. The guava slices attained a final moisture content in 14 and 9 sunshine hours in model-1 and model-2, respectively. The drying models appropriate to describe guava slices in model-1, model-2 and OSD were Page and modified Page models. The drying rate in model-1 and model-2 was found to be 0.3936 and 0.5728 kg/h, while the effective diffusivity was 7.98 × 10−9 and 8.63 × 10−9 m2/s (average), respectively. The average heat and mass transfer coefficients were 4.842 W/m2K and 4.20 × 10−3 m/s in model-1 & 5.394 W/m2K and 4.68 × 10−3 m/s in model-2. The average drying efficiency and specific moisture extraction rate were 6.84 % and 0.597 kg/kWh in model-1 & 9.77 % and 0.972 kg/kWh in model-2. The specific energy consumption and activation energy were decreased by 38.57 % and 5.25 % in model-2 compared to model-1. The performance, drying and thermal parameters were found to be better in model-2.