Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Active drying of unripened bananas (Musa Nendra) in a multi-tray mixed- T

mode solar cabinet dryer with backup energy storage
⁎
K.R. Aruna, , M. Srinivasa, C.A. Saleelb, S. Jayaraja
a
Solar Energy Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Uniform moisture removal inside a multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer (MMSCD) within a limited time is
Energy storage a significant concern primarily due to the non-uniform temperature distribution. Primary factors such as heated
Mixed-mode air and flow rate along with preliminary considerations such as slicing, loading intensity, spacing, and choice of
Thickness with or without pre-treatment influence the drying behaviour. Hence, the primary objective of the present work
Tray sequencing
is to identify whether only tray sequencing can be sufficient to ensure drying uniformity inside the MMSCD. A
Unripe bananas
double-pass flat plate collector containing discrete cylindrical macro-encapsulated energy storage units deliver
the heated air. Untreated unripe bananas with an average initial moisture content of 180% (db) are tested. In this
work, the effect of tray sequencing (peculiar pattern) under a single layer loading intensity per tray with dif-
ferent flake thickness, multi-tray spacing, and flow rate are studied. Drying characteristic curves revealed that
with tray sequencing the final moisture content was reduced below 16% (db) in all the trays. The specific energy
consumption, efficiencies (collector, pickup, drying), drying cost, and open sun drying are discussed. Thus, based
on the requirement, the MMSCD along with energy storage offers greater flexibility in drying for the user and
ensures drying uniformity.

1. Introduction distribution inside the multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer

India ranks first in the world for banana (genus: Musa) production
and Musa Nendra (a bigger variety of banana) belonging to the AAB
group is the most commonly grown banana in the southern peninsular
state of Kerala (Mayadevi et al., 2017). Solar dryers that work on direct-
mode, indirect-mode, mixed-mode, and as a hybrid (with biomass,
electric heater, heat pump, etc.) system is normally used (Kumar et al.,
2016). It proves to be advantageous over conventional open sun drying
regarding floor area, the quality of dried products, and faster drying (El-
Sebaii and Shalaby, 2012). However, one of the greatest challenges at
hand is to convince the marginal and small-scale farmers/industries to
adapt to solar dryers than the practiced conventional methods of
drying. Therefore, the dryers should be simple in operation, econom-
ically viable and should ensure uniform drying. Mixed-mode solar
dryers use incident solar radiation and forced convection modes to dry
the product (Mustayen et al., 2014). Phase change materials (PCM) are
most suited to aid to reduce the heat losses and to improve the effi-
ciency of thermal equipment (Shalaby et al., 2014). The present work
attempts to propose a simple tray sequencing (peculiar pattern) which
aids to ensure drying uniformity irrespective of the temperature
(MMSCD). Additionally, the effect of tray sequencing on preliminary
drying considerations and limited to flake thickness, multi-tray spacing,
and flow rate on the drying behavior are studied.
Simate (2003) optimized an indirect-mode and mixed-mode solar
dryer for drying maize. The results suggested that the drying cost as-
sociated with the mixed-mode dryer was 26% lower. Akinola and
Fapetu (2006) performed an experimental analysis on a mixed-mode
solar dryer. Mixed-mode dryer outperformed the open sun drying and
had a thermal efficiency of 56%. Nguyen and Price (2007) performed
an experimental investigation to study the influence of slab thickness,
drying temperature and relative humidity on the drying characteristics
of the banana. The observed result suggested that the mass losses from
green and ripe bananas were similar. Though, there was a noticeable
change in its chemical composition. Bolaji and Olalusi (2008) used a
mixed-mode solar dryer for grain drying. It was observed that the
drying rate and drying efficiency was 0.62 kg/h and 57.5%, respec-
tively. Koua et al. (2009) performed experimental analysis and math-
ematical modeling using direct natural convection solar dryer and thin
layer drying models. Drying characteristics of banana, mango, and
cassava were analyzed. The results suggested that drying normally is

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: arunkraj03@gmail.com (K.R. Arun).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.07.001
Received 1 February 2019; Received in revised form 26 April 2019; Accepted 1 July 2019
0038-092X/ © 2019 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Nomenclature ηd dryer efficiency

ηp pickup efficiency
A area (m2)
Cp specific heat capacity (J/kg-K) Abbreviations
Cd cost of drying per kilogram of dried product
Cdp cost per kilogram of drying product CRF capital recovery factor
Cdpt cost of fresh product per kilogram of dried product DR drying rate
d rate of interest on long term investment FT flake thickness
Et total energy input (W) IC initial cost
Eḃ electrical energy (W) MC moisture content
has absolute humidity of air entering the dryer unit (%) at the MR moisture ratio
point of adiabatic saturation MSCDS mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer system
hi absolute humidity of air entering the dryer unit (%) PCM phase change material
ho absolute humidity of air leaving the dryer unit (%) SEC specific energy consumption
h fg latent heat of vaporization (J/kg) SFF salvage fund factor
ṁ mass flow rate (kg/s) SR mass shrinking ratio
mw mass of moisture removed (kg) SV salvage value
N number of days of use of dryer per year
Ndb number of drying days per batch Subscripts
Qu useful energy gain (kW)
UF uncertainty in the result c collector
T temperature (oC) d dryer
td drying time (s) i inlet
o outlet
Greek symbols

η collector efficiency

divided into two periods: constant drying and falling drying rate. (2017) performed an experimental analysis on solar tunnel dryer in-
Doymaz (2010) experimented using a hot air dryer and analyzed the tegrated with sensible storage materials such as sand, rock bed and
drying characteristics of bananas. Hot air at temperatures of 50, 60, 70, aluminum fillings. Common grapes and bitter gourd were used for the
and 80 °C, a constant velocity of 2.4 m/s, and with relative humidity in experiments. The thermal efficiency of the tunnel dryer with energy
the range of 4–25% was used for the analysis. The results stated that the storage was found to be 2–3% improved than that of without storage.
effective diffusivity improved with the increase in drying temperature. The sand was found to be a better choice with an average thermal ef-
Amer et al. (2010) used a hybrid solar dryer for experimentation. Water ficiency of 19.6% and 15.5% while drying common grapes and bitter
was used as sensible heat storage, and the experiments were continued gourd. Maia et al. (2017) experimented using a solar updraft tower to
during the night. The capacity of the dryer was 30 kg, and ripe banana study the drying behavior of banana. The results suggested that solar
was dried. The results confirmed that using the proposed dryer, the radiation plays a major role in drying activities inside the updraft dryer.
moisture content was reduced from 82% wet basis (wb) to below 18% The average airflow temperature measured to be 29 °C, and attained a
(wb) in 8 h. To improve the drying efficiency, recycling was adopted. maximum temperature of 51 °C during experimentation. The exergetic
Hegde et al. (2015) used an indirect-mode solar dryer for drying banana efficiency of the system was found in between 20 and 27%.
slices. The drying characteristics that involve drying rate and quality of Banana is the most widely grown fruit in Kerala as well as
the dried product was investigated. The results suggested that banana throughout India. Non-uniform temperature distribution inside a
slices dried at 1 m/s air velocity had better quality than 0.5 m/s and mixed-mode solar dryer (i.e., incident solar radiation on the top glazing
2 m/s. Baniasadi et al. (2017) integrated thermal energy storage with cover and hot air from the collector outlet fed through the bottom) is
the mixed-mode dryer. Photovoltaic panels with a storage battery were always a concern. In this work, a multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet
used to meet the electrical input requirement. Employing paraffin
material as storage helped to reduce the drying time by 50%.
ELkhadraoui et al. (2015) experimentally tested the drying character-
istics of red pepper and grapes in a mixed-mode solar greenhouse dryer.
Greenhouse dryer proved to be economically advantageous than open
sun drying. In greenhouse dryer, red pepper and grapes were dried
within 17 h and 50 h when compared to 24 h and 76 h in open sun
drying. Sekyere et al. (2016) experimentally investigated the drying
behavior of pineapples in a mixed-mode natural convection dryer
equipped with a backup heater. For experimentation, the authors con-
sidered four different scenarios. In all the different cases, the proposed
dryer was able to reduce the moisture content of pineapples within
24 h. Lakshmi et al. (2018) used paraffin wax as the energy storage
material. A mixed-mode forced convection dryer was designed, con-
structed, and experimented to study the drying characteristics of black
turmeric. In the dryer, it was possible to reduce the moisture content
from 73.4% (wb) to 8.5% (wb) in 18.5 h. The air heater and dryer ef-
ficiency were obtained as 25.6% and 12%, respectively. Natarajan et al.
Fig. 1. Photograph of the MMSCD integrated with flat-plate collector.

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K.R. Arun, et al.
Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the overall system used for analysis.
Fig. 3. Photograph of the freshly cut banana slices to be dried inside the
MMSCD.
dryer (MMSCD) and a double-pass flat plate collector is used for ex-
perimentation. Phase change material filled in discrete metallic cy-
lindrical capsules is introduced inside the collector. It aids to avoid
excess air temperature inside the MMSCD, reduces the heat losses, and
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Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012
acts as short-term storage. Based on the author’s knowledge and
available literature review, there are no reported works performed on
an active based MMSCD that ensures drying uniformity irrespective of
its non-uniform temperature distribution, and flexible based on the user
requirement.
2. Description of flat-plate collector, MMSCD and open sun
2.1. Flat-plate collector and energy storage
The flat-plate collector consists of double-pass airflow passages. The
absorber plate functions as the separator for the upper and lower air-
flow pathways (Raj et al., 2018). Copper is used as the absorber and is
painted black. A clear glass cover located at a height of 0.15 m from the
absorber protects the collector from the surrounding environment.
Sixteen discrete cylindrical metallic (galvanized iron) macro-en-
capsulates are positioned over the bottom plate (galvanized iron) lo-
cated at a depth of 0.10 m from the absorber. The volume of each
discrete macro-encapsulate is 5.5e-04 m3 (Raj et al., 2019). The macro-
encapsulates and the bottom plate is coated black. Six kilograms of
paraffin wax (58–60 °C) is used as the phase change material (PCM).
Raj et al. (2019) briefly discussed the thermophysical properties and
characterization of PCM used in the present analysis. Three sides of the
collector are enclosed in an outer casing (galvanized iron). Poly-
urethane foam fills in the gap (0.05 m) between the inner and outer
casing of the collector. The collector is installed facing south with an
inclination of 10.18° with the horizontal (Shariah et al., 2002). An air
blower (1H.P, 2800RPM) drives the ambient air from the surrounding
to the collector.
2.2. Multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer (MMSCD)
The MMSCD occupies a floor area of 0.3 m2. The width, height, and
volume of the dryer are 0.5 m, 1 m, and 0.25 m3. The MMSCD is de-
signed and constructed to hold 20 kg (maximum capacity). Mechanical
and thermodynamic (psychrometric and energy balance) considerations
are addressed while designing and constructing the MMSCD. The entire
MMSCD is made of stainless steel (S304). A maximum of nine trays at
different levels can be accommodated within the dryer. Each of the
wire-mesh trays has an area of 0.2 m2. At the top of the MMSCD, two
clear glasses with 0.05 m spacing are provided to transmit the incident
solar radiation and to prevent the convective losses. An airtight door is
provided at the front of the MMSCD to facilitate easier loading and
unloading of the trays. All sides are insulated using glass wool of 0.05 m
thickness. The heated air from the solar collector is fed through the
K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Fig. 4. Solar intensity, ambient temperature and collector outlet temperature variation with daytime hours.

Fig. 5. Heat rate variation with daytime hours.

bottom of the MMSCD. An outlet is provided at the top to remove the
moist air from the dryer continuously. Fig. 1 shows the photograph of
the double-pass flat plate collector and the MMSCD. A detailed sche-
matic layout of the overall system is shown in Fig. 2.
2.3. Product to be dried
Freshly harvested unripe bananas are procured from the local
market for experimentation. Stainless steel cutters are used to cut the
bananas into thinner cylindrical flakes of required thickness. No pre-
treatments are carried out. Adequate care is taken to ensure that cy-
lindrical flakes of diameter in the range of 0.04 to 0.045 m are used for

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K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Table 1 Table 2
Pattern of tray sequencing adopted for the present analysis *. Moisture content variation in various trays inside the MMSCD at 18:00 hrs
(with and without tray sequencing).
Time (hrs.) Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tray 4 Tray 5
Parameter Tray 1 Tray 2 Tray 3 Tray 4 Tray 5
8:00 AM T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
10:00 AM T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 WIS 12.77 17.22 28.77 24.44 12.77
12:00 AM T2 T1 T3 T4 T5 WS 11.66 15.33 13.88 13.88 15.55
14:00 AM T3 T4 T5 T2 T1
16:00 AM T4 T5 T3 T2 T1

2015), the Eq. (4) is reduced toMt / M0 .

* T stands for tray.

3.2. Experimentation procedure

experimentation in all the trays. For the present experimental analysis,
five trays are used. Each tray holds 0.5 kg of banana flakes to be dried.
Fig. 3 shows the freshly cut banana flakes to be dried in the MMSCD.
Additionally, on each day, 0.5 kg of banana flakes (spread on an area
equivalent to a tray) is dried in open-sun for comparison.
3. Methods and measurements
3.1. Determination of drying characteristics
The initial moisture content of the banana samples is determined
using the method suggested by Lees (1971). Using conventional oven
drying at 105 °C, the initial moisture content of the procured banana
samples is estimated as 180% (db). The initial moisture content of the
banana flakes is calculated as (Baniasadi et al., 2017):
Initial moisture content on dry basis (db) = [Mi − Md /Md]*100
Here Mi stands for the initial mass (kg) of the sample and Md represents
the mass (kg) of the dry matter. The moisture content (MC), drying rate
(DR), and moisture ratio (MR) at any instance are determined using the
relations (ELkhadraoui et al., 2015; Lakshmi et al., 2018):
MC = (M − Md )/ Md
The flat-plate collector and the MMSCD are installed at the Solar
Energy Center of National Institute of Technology Calicut (11o32'N,
75o93'E) in India. Experiments performed in February 2018 are con-
sidered for this analysis. The drying characteristics of banana are in-
vestigated at mass flow rates of 0.015 kg/s to 0.03 kg/s, average flake
thickness of 0.002 to 0.004 m, and tray spacing of 0.1 to 0.15 m, re-
spectively. Experiments started at 7:00 AM and continued until 18:30
PM each day. During the initial hour (7:00 AM to 8:00 AM) of experi-
mentation, the flat-plate collector and MMSCD under no-load condi-
tions are preheated. The trays containing the banana flakes are in-
troduced inside the MMSCDS from 8:00 AM, and the process continues
until the moisture content drops below 18% (db) (Kumar et al., 2016).
At the same time, 0.5 kg of banana flakes is subjected to open sun
drying. The reduction in moisture from the banana flakes contained in
the trays is measured and recorded every two hours. Every day, a total
(1) of 6.5 kg of fresh unripe bananas are bought from the local market. The
banana peels are used as animal feed. The banana flakes are stored in
airtight containers once dried.
3.3. Measurements
(2) The following are the measurements carried out:

DR = dM / dt = (Mt + Δt − Mt )/Δt (3) i) Davis-Vantage Pro-2 weather monitoring station connected to a

MR = Mt − Me / M0 − Me
where M , Me , M0 and Mt refers to mass of the sample (kg), equilibrium
moisture content, initial moisture content, and moisture content at any
instant. However, as magnitude of Me is very small (ELkhadraoui et al.,
computer and monitored using WeatherLink program measures
(4)
meteorological data, which includes ambient temperature, wind
speed, and relative humidity. Recorded data has a standard nominal
accuracy of ± 0.5 °C, ± 1 m/s, and ± 3% RH (Raj et al., 2019).

Fig. 6. Drying characteristics of banana flakes with and without tray shuffling [(a) moisture content variation, (b) drying rate, and (c) moisture ratio].

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K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Fig. 7. Moisture content variation of banana flakes subjected to two days of drying [(a) related with first day, and (b) corresponding to second day].

Fig. 8. Influence of thickness on the moisture content of banana flakes.

ii) Solar radiation is measured with an industrial standard pyr- iv) Thirty-six K-type thermocouples measures and records the data
anometer with a nominal accuracy of ± 5 W/m2. using NI data acquisition system. The nominal accuracy of the
iii) A vane-type anemometer having an accuracy of ± 5% of measured temperature data is ± 0.5 °C.
value measures air velocity. v) Mass flux and pressure losses in the collector are measured using

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K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Fig. 9. Influence of tray spacing on the moisture content of banana flakes.

airflow meter and calibrated U-tube manometer. collector is defined as the ratio of useful energy extracted (Qu ) to the
vi) An electronic weighing balance of accuracy ± 1 g is used for weight incident solar radiation on the collector area and is given by:
measurements.
η= ∫ Qu/ ∫ IAc (6)
3.4. Uncertainty analysis ̇ p (To − Ti )
Qu = mC (7)

The errors and uncertainties in the experimental data are associated The absorber surface absorbs the solar radiation incident on the
with the choice of instruments, calibration, probe positional errors, collector area, which is defined by:
environment, and observations made (Akpinar, 2010). In this analysis,
Q A = (ατ ) Aab I (8)
the uncertainties are computed according to Holman and Gajda (2001) .
Let the uncertainties associated with the independent variables beU1; During the charging cycle, the stored amount of heat inside the
U2 , …., Un and UF be the uncertainty in the result. Here F is a dependent discrete units is given by:
function of the listed independent variables such as X1, X2 , …., Xn . The
Qch
uncertainty associated with the result is given by (Abuşka, 2018):
= [mPCM Cp, s (Tm − Tint _ch, PCM ) + mPCM L + mPCM Cp, l (Tfin _ch, PCM − Tm)]
2 2 2 2 1/2
UF = ⎡ ⎛ ∂F ⎞ ⎛ ∂F ⎞ ⎛ ∂F ⎞ ⎛ ∂F ⎞⎤ /Δtch (9)
⎢ ∂X1 U1 + ∂X2 U2 + ∂X3 U3 +⋯+ ∂Xn Un ⎥
⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟

⎣⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠⎦ (5)
During the discharging cycle, the amount of released heat from the
The total uncertainties associated with measurements of tempera- discrete units is given by:
ture, mass loss, flow rate, collector, and thermal efficiencies
were ± 0.6 °C, ± 1 g, ± 2.2%, ± 4.3%, and ± 3.3%, respectively. The Qdis
total uncertainty in the analysis was ± 5.8%. = [mPCM Cp, l (Tm − Tfin _dis, PCM ) + mPCM L + mPCM Cp, s (Tint _dis, PCM − Tm)]
/Δtdis (10)
4. Performance indicators and economic analysis
The encapsulate efficiency is defined as the ratio of energy released
during the discharging cycle and the energy stored during the charging
4.1. Performance indicators
cycle (Raj et al., 2019).
The energy analysis for the flat-plate solar collector and when in- η= ∫ Qdis/ ∫ Qch (11)
tegrated with energy storage are elaborately discussed by Raj et al.
(2019). The average thermal efficiency of the double-pass flat plate In this section, performance evaluation of the MMSCD using certain

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K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Fig. 10. Comparison of performance parameters associated with drying of banana flakes.

Fig. 11. Photograph showing the comparison of dried banana flakes using oven, open sun, and MMSCD.

indicators (as mentioned) is considered. The specific energy consump- Here Eḃ is the electrical energy (W) consumed by the blower. The mass
tion (SEC) is described as the ratio of total energy input to the dryer to shrinking ratio (SR) deals with the structural changes taking place in
the total moisture removed from the product and is given by (Rabha the product due to moisture removal. It is defined by (Shanmugam and
et al., 2017): Natarajan, 2006):

SEC = Et / m w (12) SR = Mt / M0 (14)

The capability of the hot air passing through the dryer to remove the
Et = [(Ac + Ad ) I + Eḃ ]*td (13) moisture from the product is determined in terms of pickup efficiency

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K.R. Arun, et al. Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012

Table 3 Here Mpy denotes the mass of dried product in the MMSCD per year and
Cost and economic parameters of the MMSCD. is given by:
Capital cost $470 Mdpy = (Mdpb N )/Ndb (25)
Price of fresh banana $0.7/kg The cost of fresh product per kilogram of the dried product is ob-
Cost of electricity $0.069
tained as:
Life of dryer 15 years
Interest rate 8% Cdpt = Cfpt *(Mfpt / Mdpt ) (26)
*1USD = Rs. 71. The cost per kilogram of the dried product is calculated as:
Cdp = Cdpt + Cd (27)
Table 4
Cost analysis of the MMSCD. The savings per kilogram of the dried banana flakes (Sdb ) in the base
Parameter Mass of product CRF SFF Acc Asv Am Cd year, savings per batch (Sb ), and savings per day (Sd ) is obtained as:
dried (kg/year)
Sdb = Cbp − Cdp (28)
Value 275 0.147 0.027 $69.09 $2.52 $29.38 $0.35
Sb = Sdb*Mdpt (29)

Sd = Sb/ Ndb (30)

(ηp ) and is given as (Fudholi et al., 2013):
The annual savings (Sa ) in regard with drying of the selected pro-
ηp = (h 0 − hi )/(has − hi ) (15) duct inside the MMSCD in the jth year is calculated as:
Hereh 0 , hi , and has are the absolute humidity of air leaving the dryer Sa = Sd *N *(1 + i) j − 1 (31)
unit (%), air entering the dryer unit (%), and air entering the dryer unit
at the point of adiabatic saturation. The average thermal efficiency of The payback period (Npb ) is calculated using the relation:
the MMSCD is defined as the ratio of energy required to remove the Ccc
moisture from the product to the total energy input to the dryer ln ⎡1 − Sa
*(d − i) ⎤
Npb = ⎣ ⎦
(Shanmugam and Natarajan, 2006). ln ( )
1+i
1+d (32)
ηd = m w hfg / Et (16)

5. Results and discussion

4.2. Economic analysis
Banana (Musa Nendra) is a tropical plant and it gives good yield
throughout the year in Kerala except during heavy monsoon (June-
July) and severe summer (April-May). One of the assumptions made in
this analysis is that the dried products from MMSCD valued the same as
of the branded products available in the market (Haque et al., 2018).
The annual cost ( Ac ) of the MMSCD is a function of annual capital cost
( Acc ), annual salvage value ( Asv ), annual maintenance cost ( Am ), and
annual electricity cost ( Aec ) (Sodha et al., 1991):
Ac = Acc + Am − Asv
The annual capital cost ( Acc ) and annual salvage value ( Asv ) is de-
fined as
Acc = CRF *IC
Asv = SFF *SV
The salvage value (SV ) is considered as 20% of initial capital cost
(IC ) of dryer (Raj et al., 2019).
SV = 0.2*IC
The capital recovery factor (CRF ) and salvage fund factor (SFF ) is
given by:
CRF = i (i + 1)n /[(i + 1)n − 1]
SFF = i/[(i + 1)n − 1]
Let the interest rate (i ) per year be 12% and n be the expected
lifetime of the MMSCD, which is 15 years. Let the annual maintenance
cost ( Am ) be 15% of Acc and the cost of electricity ( Aec ) for 1 kWh is
considered as $0.069 (Raj et al., 2019).
Am = 0.15*Acc + Aec (CRF )
The cost of drying per kilogram of the dried product is calculated as
(Singh et al., 2006):
Cd = Ac / Mdpy
Uniform drying inside a multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer
(MMSCD) is always a challenge due to its non-uniform temperature
distribution. The recorded experimental observations are compared
with that of open sun drying. Fig. 4 shows the daytime variation of
ambient temperature, collector outlet temperature, and solar intensity.
For all experimentation, the observed variations indicate a maximum
solar intensity of 809 W/m2 with an average value of 420 W/m2. The
ambient temperature varies in the range of 24 °C to 35.4 °C. The max-
imum collector outlet temperature recorded was 63 °C. The average
(17) temperature inside the MMSCD was 48.5 °C. Drying is carried out for
ten-hour duration. Every two hours, the trays were rearranged in a fixed
sequence. The moisture content is specified in terms of percent dry basis
(db) throughout.
(18)
5.1. Energy storage and collector
(19)
Discrete metallic cylindrical macro-encapsulates unit containing
paraffin wax acts as short-term storage for the MMSCD.
(20) Raj et al. (2019) have discussed in detail regarding the choice of
cylindrical macro-encapsulates inside the collector. Fig. 5 shows the
daytime variation of heat rate corresponding to two different mass flow
rates. The recorded observations suggest that the absorbed, useful heat
(21) and stored heat (during charging cycle) were 13.96 kW, 9.16 kW, and
0.44 kW at 0.03 kg/s, and the useful and stored heat at 0.015 kg/s were
(22) 7.52 kW and 0.37 kW, respectively. The average thermal efficiency of
the collector calculated was 53.9% and 65.5% corresponding to flow
rates of 0.015 kg/s and 0.03 kg/s. The heat stored inside the macro-
encapsulates unit is utilized to make up for the rapid decrease in solar
radiation beyond 15:30 PM. In Kerala (the southern peninsular state in
India), beyond 15:30 PM (during December to February) it is observed
(23) that the solar intensity begins to reduce below 300 W/m2 in quick
succession rapidly. Hence, discrete energy storage units aid to supply
hot air to the MMSCD for the remaining duration. Additionally, discrete
units also provide flexibility to the user for its integration or removal
(24) based on the requirement from the collector.

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K.R. Arun, et al.
5.2. Comparison of drying characteristics with and without tray sequencing
Experiments are performed to assess the influence of tray sequen-
cing on the drying behavior of banana flakes. Table 1 describes the
pattern of tray sequencing adopted every two-hour interval. The results
corresponding to the mass flow rate of 0.03 kg/s, flake thickness of
0.002 m, and tray spacing of 0.1 m is discussed in this sub-section. Fig. 6
shows the comparison of drying characteristic curves (moisture content,
drying rate, and moisture ratio) of banana flakes without sequencing
(WIS) and with sequencing (WS) of tray 3 and of open sun. Ad-
ditionally, Table 2 describes the variation in the moisture content of
banana flakes in all the trays inside the MMSCD at the end of the drying
process. As observed, flakes in tray 1, 2, and 5 have comparatively si-
milar moisture content (below 18%) for WIS and WS of trays. For trays
3 and 4 due to its positional disadvantage, the moisture content of the
flakes was observed as 24 to 29% for WIS at the end of the drying
period. However, with the sequencing of trays, the moisture content
was below 15% for tray 3 and 4, respectively. Banana flakes dried in-
side the MMSCD with tray rearrangement had moisture content below
16% in all trays. At the same time, flakes dried in the open sun had
moisture content of 20%. Similar variations are observed for drying rate
and moisture ratio as shown in Fig. 6.
5.3. Extended drying of banana flakes
Fig. 7 shows the variation in the moisture content of banana flakes
(tray 3) subjected to two consecutive days of drying. Flake thickness of
0.002 m and tray spacing of 0.1 m was used for analysis. At the end of
the first day, the dried banana flakes were packed in airtight containers.
These samples were subjected to drying on the following day. The
moisture content in all the trays at the end of the first day with tray
sequencing was below 16% for 0.03 kg/s, and 22% for 0.015 kg/s. On
the second day, beyond 14:00 PM, the banana flakes started to reabsorb
the moisture from the air due to excessive drying. The amount of
moisture dropped from the flakes was observed to be below 6% for
0.03 kg/s and 10% for 0.015 kg/s. These results concluded that for
long-term storage, it is advisable to dry banana flakes for extended
hours (up to 8% moisture reduction) as shown in Fig. 7. For short-term
storage, drying activities carried out in a single day was deemed suf-
ficient.
5.4. Influence of tray sequencing on the drying characteristics
5.4.1. Effect on flake thickness
Banana flakes of average thickness 0.002 m and 0.004 m with tray
spacing of 0.1 m are considered. Fig. 8 describes the variations in
moisture content (at the end of the day) of the banana flakes at
0.015 kg/s and 0.03 kg/s, respectively. At the end of ten hours, the
minimum and maximum moisture content among the five trays at
0.03 kg/s was 12.2% and 15.5% for 0.002 m thickness, and 13.9% and
17.8% for 0.004 m thickness flakes. Similarly, a minimum value of
16.1% was recorded at 0.015 kg/s for both thickness, and a maximum
of 21.1% and 22% for 0.002 m and 0.004 m thickness. The observed
moisture content of banana flakes having a thickness of 0.002 m and
0.004 m at the end of ten hours subjected to open sun drying was 19.4%
and 24%, respectively. The flakes with 0.002 m thickness dried much
faster than that of 0.004 m thickness at both flow rates.
5.4.2. Effect on multi-tray spacing
Fig. 9 shows the variation of the moisture content of banana flakes
for two different multi-tray spacing adopted for the analysis. Flakes of
0.002 m thickness were considered for the analysis. Five trays were
spaced equidistantly with a gap of 0.1 m (case 1) and 0.15 m (case 2) for
comparison. At the end of drying, the maximum moisture content
among the five trays recorded at 0.03 kg/s was 15.5% and 11.7% for
0.1 m and 0.15 m spacing, respectively. Similarly, at 0.015 kg/s the
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Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012
maximum moisture content recorded at the end of drying was 21.7%
and 13.9% for the respective spacing. The observations suggest that for
both mass flow rates, 0.15 m spacing proves to be advantageous. These
results suggest that the sustained interaction of hot air with the wet
product to be dried improves with the provision of optimum spacing.
However, the height of the dryer and spacing has to agree (design and
economical aspects) with the amount of hot air needed for drying.
5.4.3. Comparison of performance indicators
Specific energy consumption (SEC), moisture pickup efficiency, and
drying efficiency are the performance indicators, which describes the
effectiveness of moisture removal from the wet product inside the
MMSCD. The tray spacing considered for comparison of flake thickness
was 0.1 m. For flake thickness (FT) of 0.002 m, the specific energy
consumption (SEC), and the total mass of moisture removed at 0.03 kg/
s was 4.46 kWh/kg and 1476 g. For 0.004 m thickness, the recorded and
calculated data at 0.03 kg/s was 4.58 kWh/kg and 1465 g. The average
pickup and drying efficiency for FT of 0.002 m at 0.03 kg/s was 17%
and 39.5%. Similarly, at 0.015 kg/s, the calculated values are 16% and
35.4%, respectively. On the other hand, for FT of 0.004 m, the variation
of average pickup and drying efficiency at 0.03 kg/s and 0.015 kg/s are
24.5%, 37%, 21.4%, and 34%, respectively. Lingayat et al. (2017)
studied the drying characteristics of 0.5 kg of banana slices (thickness of
0.004 to 0.005 m) per tray inside an indirect type of solar dryer. The
moisture content of banana samples varied from 16.3% (Tray 1) to
42.44% (Tray 5). Gbaha et al. (2007) made use of direct natural con-
vection solar dryer for drying cassava and sweet banana. The results
suggested that the moisture content was reduced from 80% to 13% in
19 and 22 h, respectively.
For both thicknesses, during the initial hours, the moisture removal
was quick, and it reduces along with drying time. This is due to the fact
that surface moisture vaporizes easier than the moisture present in the
core of the flakes. In general, the observations reveal that the greater
thickness would not facilitate easier moisture removal from the core of
flakes. On the other hand, during loading and unloading, the greater
thickness would help to avoid the excess number of flakes per tray to
that of lower thickness. As a result, the moisture pickup efficiency has
higher values at both flow rates for FT of 0.004 m. At the same time,
drying efficiency was found much better for FT of 0.002 m, which is
attributed to its lower thickness. This is due to the ease of moisture
removal from thinner banana flakes. Each tray contains 0.5 kg of ba-
nana flakes having an average of 0.002 m thickness arranged equally
with 0.1 m and 0.15 m spacing between them for analysis. The SEC and
the total mass of moisture removed with 0.15 m spacing at 0.03 kg/s
was 4.32 kWh/kg and 1528 g. The results of FT of 0.002 m with 0.1 m
spacing at 0.03 kg/s were previously described. The average pick-up
efficiency and drying efficiency when 0.15 m tray spacing was provided
at 0.03 kg/s and 0.015 kg/s are 25.2%, 42.5%, 24.4%, and 38.3%, re-
spectively. Hence, the observations conclude that more amount of
moisture was removed from the banana flakes with the provision of
0.15 m as the tray spacing. Experiments performed by Shanmugam and
Natarajan (2006) and Fudholi et al. (2014) for drying green peas and
seaweed showed similar variations for SEC, pickup efficiency, and
drying efficiency. Fig. 10 represents the pickup efficiency and drying
efficiency variations corresponding to different thickness, spacing, and
mass flow rate. An interesting point to note was that with the tray se-
quencing adopted for the trays, under all conditions (thickness, spacing,
and flow rate), it was possible to achieve uniformity in drying within
the MMSCD. The variation in the moisture content was found to be less
than 8% in the trays among all the different cases studied.
Fig. 11 shows the photograph of dried banana flakes inside the
oven, open sun, and the MMSCD. The dried flakes had good color (no
blackening of the surface), good texture, and had natural aroma (Hegde
et al., 2015). Flakes having 0.002 m thickness were crispier than
0.004 m thick banana flakes. Assuming that at the present location, the
dryer can be operated for 250 days in a year (Sreekumar et al., 2008).
K.R. Arun, et al.
ELkhadraoui et al. (2015), Singh et al. (2006), and Sreekumar et al.
(2008) reported a similar economic analysis based on solar drying. The
economic analysis concluded that the cost of drying per kilogram of the
dried banana flakes were $0.35. Furthermore, the payback period of the
MMSCD was found to be nine months, which is very small when
compared to the lifetime of the dryer (15 years). Table 3 shows the cost
and economic parameters based on the economic situation in India.
Table 4 describes the overall cost involved in the present analysis. Thus,
uniformity in the drying of banana flakes was achieved using the
MMSCD and was found to be economical. The dried flakes inside the
MMSCD were found to be better than that of open sun dried flakes.
6. Conclusion
The present experimental work primarily aims to assess whether
tray sequencing alone could help to achieve drying uniformity inside
the multi-tray mixed-mode solar cabinet dryer (MMSCD) irrespective of
the temperature distribution. Moreover, the present work also aims to
provide flexibility to the user to choose between preliminary drying
considerations such as flake thickness, multi-tray spacing, or flow rate
based on their requirement. Hence, the effect of the identified tray-
sequencing pattern on these parameters is also investigated. Untreated
unripe bananas having an average of 180% (db) moisture content was
tested. Cylindrical discrete macro-encapsulated paraffin wax (energy
storage material) units integrated with the collector acted as the short-
term energy repository. The energy storage aids to provide heated air
continuously to the MMSCD at lower solar intensities. The obtained
results suggest the useful heat gain from the collector and the stored
heat (energy storage) was 9.16 kW and 0.44 kW at 0.03 kg/s, and
7.52 kW and 0.37 kW at 0.015 kg/s, respectively. Experiments carried
out without tray sequencing revealed that tray 3 and tray 4 due to its
positional disadvantage had moisture content in the range of 24% to
29% (db) (much above the desired limits, i.e., 18% (db)) at the end of
drying. Drying experiments performed with tray sequencing achieved
moisture content below 18% (db) under all the variations, except for
0.015 kg/s. The maximum moisture content observed for 0.015 kg/s at
0.1 m spacing for flake thickness of 0.002 m and 0.004 m was under
22%. However, for open sun drying, at the end of 10 h, the moisture
content recorded for 0.004 m flake thickness was 24%. Hence, utilizing
the same floor area, the MMSCD was able to dry five times more the
banana samples than that was possible under the open sun.
Performance parameters such as specific energy consumption, pickup
efficiency, and drying efficiency were used for comparison. The SEC,
pickup efficiency, and the drying efficiency were observed to have
variations in the range of 4.32 to 5.19 kWh/kg, 16 to 25.2%, and 33.9
to 42.52%, respectively. Additionally, the economic evaluation con-
cluded that the cost of drying per kilogram of the dried product was
$0.35. Similarly, the payback period of the MMSCD was found to be low
(nine months) when compared to the overall lifetime of the MMSCD
(15 years). The dried banana flakes had good color, texture, and natural
aroma, when compared to open sun dried flakes. Further investigations
are being carried out to ensure the benefit of the proposed optimum
tray sequencing identified for drying other tropical agro-products (e.g.,
bitter gourd, jackfruit, and turmeric).
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the
Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University, Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia for funding this work through research groups program
under the grant number (R.G.P.1/87/40) and Kerala State Council for
Scientific, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) under the TDAP
scheme (TDAP/25/2017/KSCSTE) in connection with the present work.
The authors also would like to express their gratitude to the Indian
Institute of Spices Research, Calicut, India for the technical consultation
regarding the agro-drying aspects.
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Solar Energy 188 (2019) 1002–1012
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