CHAPTER 3

MODELING

3.1 Convective heat and mass transfer coefficients

The convective heat transfer coefficient ( hc ) for the drying of groundnut under natural
(OSD and NCGHD) mode can be evaluated by the following equation of Nusselt
number (Tiwari et al., 2006; Kumar et al., 2011; Tiwari, 2014; Prakash and Kumar,
2014d) as:
hc L
 C Gr Pr 
n
Nu  (3.1a)
Kv
or
Kv
C Gr Pr 
n
hc  (3.1b)
L
and for forced (FCGHD and IFCD) modes convective heat transfer coefficient can be
determined by the following equation of Nusselt number expression (Tiwari et al.,
2006; Kumar et al., 2011; Tiwari, 2014; Prakash and Kumar, 2014d) as:
hc L
 C Re Pr 
n
Nu  (3.2a)
Kv
or
Kv
C Re Pr 
n
hc  (3.2b)
L
The rate of heat utilized to evaporate the moisture is determined by using the
following equation (Malik et al., 1982; Kumar et al., 2012; Tiwari et al., 2016a) as:
Qe  0.016 hc [ P Tg   PTe ] (3.3)

Substituting the value of hc from equation (3.1a), equation (3.3) becomes

Kv
C Gr Pr  P Tg    PTe 
n
Qe  0.016  (3.4)
L
The evaporation of moisture is determined by dividing the equation (3.4) by latent
heat of vaporization () and multiplying by the area of sieve ( As ) and time
interval (t ) .
Qe K
t As  0.016  v C Gr Pr  P Tg    P Te t As
n
mev  (3.5)
 L
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 Kv
Let 0.016
L
PTg    PTe t As  Z
mev
 C Gr Pr 
n
 (3.6)
Z
Taking the logarithm on both sides of equation (3.6), we get
m 
ln  ev   ln C  n lnGr Pr  (3.7)
 Z 
Equation (3.7) is the arrangement of a linear equation
y  m xc (3.8)

m 
Where y  ln  ev  , m  n , x  lnGr Pr  , and c  ln C
 Z 
c
Therefore, C  e
Similarly, in the case of forced convection drying mode,
m 
y  ln  ev  , m  n , x  lnRe Pr  , c  ln C
 Z 
c
Therefore, C  e
The values of the experimental constants m and c in equation (3.8) are evaluated by
using simple linear regression formulae. The evaporative heat transfer coefficient ( he )
is evaluated by using the following equation (Jain et al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2012a)
as:
 P( Tg )   P( Te ) 
he  0.016 hc   (3.9)
 Tg  Te 

3.2 Physical properties of humid air

The properties (thermo-physical) of the moist air were calculated for the mean
T  T 
temperature Ti   g ,avg e ,avg  by using equations from (3.10) to (3.14) (Anwar and
 2 
Tiwari, 2001; Prakash and Kumar, 2014d; Shyam et al., 2015; Kumar, 2016)
K v  0.0244  0.7673104 Ti (3.10)

v  1.718 105  4.620  108 Ti (3.11)

2 3
Cv  999.2  0.1434 Ti  1.101104 Ti  6.7581108 Ti (3.12)

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 353.44
v  (3.13)
Ti  273.15

 5144 
P T   exp 25.317  (3.14)
 T  273.15 

3.3 Experimental error

The errors (experimental) were determined in terms of internal and external percent
uncertainties for the mass evaporated. The following equations were used to calculate
internal uncertainty (Nakra and Chaudhary, 1991):
2 2 2 2
* 1   2  3  ...   n
U  (3.15)
N
Where σ is the standard deviation and is given by the following equation as:

  X i  Xi  (3.16)
No

Where X i = Moisture evaporated, and

X i 
 X i = Deviation of the observations from the mean value.
N = Number of sets, and
No = Number of observations in each set.
The percent uncertainty was evaluated by the following equation as:
U*
% internal uncertainty   100 (3.17)
Average of total number of observations
The external uncertainty is taken as the least count of the measuring
instruments.

3.4 Greenhouse dryer thermal efficiency

The thermal efficiency ( th ) of the greenhouse is the ratio of the energy which is used
to evaporate the moisture from the groundnut to the energy supplied to the greenhouse
through the solar radiations which can be evaluated by equation (3.18) (Nayak et al.,
2011; Ayyappan et al., 2015)
mev 
th  (3.18)
 Ii Ai  t

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Where
mev Moisture evaporated (kg)

 Latent heat of vaporization (J/kg)

Ii Solar radiations on the greenhouse wall (W/m2)
Ai Area of greenhouse wall (m2)
t Time, (s)

3.5 Energy analysis of greenhouse dryer

3.5.1 Assumptions for energy analysis

To develop thermal modeling following assumptions are made:

1. Heat capacity of the greenhouse cover, wall, and metal parts is neglected.
2. Quasi-steady state analysis has been considered.
3. Thin (single) layer of groundnut drying is considered.
4. There is no stratification in greenhouse air temperature.
5. Absorptivity and heat capacity of the enclosed air is neglected.
6. Radiative exchange within the greenhouse dryer has been neglected.
7. Under forced mode heat gained by ground is neglected.
Available energy is used to increase the greenhouse room air temperature. Input
energy is dependent on the available solar radiations, crop area, rest greenhouse floor
area, and transmissivity of the greenhouse cover. The input energy to the natural and
forced greenhouse dryers can be expressed by the following equations (Panwar and
Kaushik, 2013):
Ei / p   Ii Ai   g    Ii Ao   gnd  (Natural greenhouse dryer) (3.19a)

Ei / p   Ii Ai   g  (Forced greenhouse dryer) (3.19b)

Further output energy for natural convection greenhouse dryer depends on the
difference in temperatures between greenhouse room air and ambient temperature and
energy used to evaporate the moisture. It is given by equation (3.20a) (Ayyappan et
al., 2015)
Eo / p  0 .33  N aV gh Tgh  Tamb   mev  (3.20a)

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Output energy for forced convection greenhouse dryer depends on the difference in
temperatures between greenhouse room air and ambient temperature. It is given by
the equation (3.20b) (Panwar and Kaushik, 2013).
Eo / p  M a C a Tgh  Tamb  (3.20b)

Energy efficiency is determined by equation (3.21) as,

Eo / p
 En  (3.21)
Ei / p

3.6 Exergy analysis of the greenhouse

Exergy can be expressed as the maximum amount of useful work which can be
obtained from a system (greenhouse) (Ozgener and Ozgener, 2009; Panwar and
Kaushik, 2013). The exergy input is given by equation (3.22) (Tiwari and Mishra,
2012) as,
 4  T  1  T 4 
Exin   I i Ai   1   amb    amb   (3.22)
 3  Tsun  3  Tsun  

Where, Tsun = 6000 K

Exergy output is given by equation (3.23) (Tiwari and Mishra, 2012)
  T  273.15 
Exo / p  M aCa  Tv  Tamb   Tamb  273.15ln  v  (3.23)
 T
 amb  273 . 15 
Exergy efficiency is given by equation (3.24) as,
Exo / p
 Ex   100 (3.24)
Exi / p

3.7 Cost of drying groundnut

3.7.1 Annualized cost

The cost of drying is evaluated using annualized cost method. In this method, the
annualized cost of the dryer is divided by the amount of groundnut dried per year to
obtain the drying cost per kg of dried groundnut. The annualized cost of a dryer can
be calculated as (Elkhadraoui et al., 2015),

Ca  Cac  C m  Vas  C re  C rf (3.25)

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In equation (3.25), the Cac is the annualized capital cost, which is given as:

Cac  Ccc Fc (3.26)

Where Fc is the capital recovery factor and is calculated as

i1  i 
s

Fc  (3.27)
1  i s  1

In equation (3.25) Cm is the annualized maintenance cost (Rs.), Vas is the annualized
salvage value (Rs.) and is given by the following equation as,

Vas  Vs Fs (3.28)

Where Vs is the salvage value (Rs.) and Fs is the salvage fund factor which can be
determined as:

i
Fs  (3.29)
1  i s  1

In equation (3.25), Cre is the annual electricity cost for fan under FCGHD mode
which can be given as (Sreekumar, 2010),

C re  R f  W  Ce (3.30)

Where R f = number of hours fan run each year, W = Rated power consumption of

fan (kW), and Ce = Unit charge for electricity. The annual running fuel cost Crf  of

using an electrical dryer (heat convector in case of IFCD) is given as (Sreekumar,

2010),

m L w Ce 
C rf  M y  1   (3.31)
100 e  3600 

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Where m1 = moisture content (dry basis), Lw= latent heat of water (kJ/kg), Ce = Cost

per kWh of electricity energy, e = efficiency of electric dryer (%), M y = Quantity of

groundnut dried per year and is given by the equation (3.32) as:

MdD
My  (3.32)
Db

Where M d = Mass of dried groundnut removed from IFCD, D = number of days of

greenhouse in use in one year, and Db = Drying days per batch.

3.7.2 Cost of drying per kg of dried groundnut

The cost of drying groundnut is calculated as,

Ca
Cs  (3.33)
My

3.8 Statistical parameters

The moisture ratio for groundnut drying was estimated by using the following
equation (Dejchanchaiwong et al, 2016),
Mt  Me
MR  (3.34)
Mi  Me

The coefficient of correlation ( R ), reduced chi square (  2 ), root mean square error
( RMSE ), and mean bias error ( MBE ) were considered to be the primary criterion to
determine the consistency of the best thin layer drying model. These parameters can
be evaluated using the following equations (3.26) to (3.29) (Shringi et al., 2014;
Kumar, 2016),

N  MRexp,i MR pre ,i    MRexp,i    MR pre ,i 

N N N

R i 1  i 1   i 1  (3.35)
2 2

   MRexp,i     MR pre ,i 
N N N N
2 2
N  MRexp,i N  MR pre ,i
i 1  i 1  i 1  i 1 

 MRexp,i  MR pre ,i  2
n

2  i 1
(3.36)
N n

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 n

 MR exp,i  MR pre ,i  2

RMSE  i 1
(3.37)
N
n

 MR exp,i  MR pre,i 

MBE  i 1
(3.38)
N
The model suitability was evaluated by considering the higher value of R and least
values of  2 , RMSE , and MBE . The drying rate, i.e., DR was expressed as the
amount of moisture evaporated over time and is evaluated using the following
equation (Meisami-asl and Rafiee, 2009),
M t dt  M t
DR  (3.39)
dt

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