IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i23p6059-d1534985.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Preliminary Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Novel Solar Dryer

Author

Listed:
  • Pio Francesco Muciaccia

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Alessandra Nigro

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Alessia Aquilanti

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Sebastiano Tomassetti

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Matteo Muccioli

    (Studio MUMA, Via Eugenio Curiel 66 R, 47922 Rimini, Italy)

  • Giovanni Di Nicola

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy
    Construction Technologies Institute, National Research Council (ITC-CNR), 35127 Padova, Italy)

Abstract

In this study, a novel solar dryer is presented and analyzed experimentally and numerically. The proposed device is a small, passive, indirect solar dryer that works in an unconventional way. The product is mainly heated by irradiation from the walls of the drying chamber, while its moisture is removed by an airflow caused by natural convection. In addition, it is a low-cost solar dryer made of readily available materials and has a variable geometry that allows it to increase its thermal performance. Two types of experimental tests were conducted to analyze its performance. Thermal tests without load were carried out to assess the suitability of the drying chamber temperatures. Load tests with various masses and types of food were carried out to evaluate its drying performance. The results of the experimental tests demonstrated that the solar dryer achieved temperatures suitable for food drying and was able to dry the tested foods. Finally, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was developed to predict the performance of the proposed solar dryer. The validation of the numerical model with experimental data confirms their reliability in accurately predicting the temperatures within the dryer.

Suggested Citation

  • Pio Francesco Muciaccia & Alessandra Nigro & Alessia Aquilanti & Sebastiano Tomassetti & Matteo Muccioli & Giovanni Di Nicola, 2024. "A Preliminary Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Novel Solar Dryer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-30, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:6059-:d:1534985
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6059/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/6059/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:6059-:d:1534985. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.