PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A WIRE MESH SOLAR AIR HEATER

A solar drier integrated with a matrix solar air heater having an area of 6 m2 was developed and undertaken a detailed performance analysis to explore the techno-commercial feasibility of the system. The maximum temperature recorded at the outlet of the air heater was 70 °C, when the system was subjected to no loaded condition. The dryer was loaded with 30 kg fresh tomato of 4 mm thick slices. The initial moisture content of 90.62 % reduced to 18.28 % in 3 hours. The economics of the drier was analyzed in detail by three methods namely annualized cost, present worth of annual savings and present worth of cumulative savings. The payback period worked out to be 1.05 years, which was much less than the estimated life of the system (20 years). The cumulative savings of the dryer at the end of 20 years was estimated to be Rs. 28,52,503.00 Key words: Solar drier, porous bed solar air heater, tomato drying, moisture content, economic analysis

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