Design, Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of Hybrid Solar Dryer
- September 14, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: Electrical and Electronics Engineering, IJRIAS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume V, Issue III, March 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Design, Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of Hybrid Solar Dryer
Aremu, O. A.1, Odepidan, K.O.2, Adejuwon, S.O.3, Ajala, A.L.4
1,2Physics Department, The Polytechnic, Ibadan. P.M.B 22, UI Post Office, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
3 Mechanical Engineering Department, The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. Oyo State, Ibadan, Nigeria
4 Mechanical Engineering Department, The Polytechnic, Ibadan. P.M.B 22, UI Post Office, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Abstract: In this paper, a hybrid solar panel integrated dryer using both solar energy as well as electrical energy has been designed, constructed and tested at the faculty of Science, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. The system designed consists of solar collector, drying chamber as well as three trays of dimension 1.30 x 1.40 m. It also consists of four photovoltaic cell (PVC) modules which power the heating element and charging 200 AH Tubular battery as well as for the operation of DC fan. The system designed was made to operate as both solar energy dryer and hybrid dryer. The performance of the dryer constructed was assessed with 10.5 kg of fresh yam slices and compared its drying ability with direct open sun drying under the same atmospheric weather conditions. The results revealed that, at around 2pm, the ambient temperature recorded was 36.5oC while the solar collector and chamber temperatures recorded were 64.5oC and 51oC respectively. It was also noted that the moisture content of the fresh yam slices reduced from 89% to 33% in ten hours at drying rate of 0.8776 Kg/hour for direct open drying. For the solar drying, the moisture content reduces from 89% to 20% in ten hours at drying rate of 0.9056 Kg/hour while the moisture content for hybrid drying was found to reduce from 89% to 7% in ten hours at drying rate of 0.9258 Kg/hour. This implies that solar hybrid drying method was faster than other two techniques. It overall efficiency of system constructed was found to be 66.7%
Key words: Hybrid dryer, moisture content, PVC, solar dryer, yam slices
