164 Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 6, No.

2, 2013

Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change

material storage systems

Akanksha Gupta, S.K. Shukla* and

A.K. Srivastava
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology,
B.H.U., Varanasi-221005, India
E-mail: akanksha.gupta.mec08@itbhu.ac.in
E-mail: shuskla@gmail.com
E-mail: ak_srmcem@rediffmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: In present study, a solar dryer integrated with PCM storage has been
modelled for analysing the drying process to describe the characteristics of the
product being dried. An equipment model describing the effect of heat and
mass transfer in the material on the drying medium has also been developed.
The mathematical model has been solved using MATLAB. It has been inferred
that this model provides a good prediction of temperature and moisture
distribution of material, and temperature and moisture distribution of the drying
air along the dryer as well as with time. Also the PCM storage system
integrated with solar dryer for drying of fruits and vegetable and other food
products is found to be promising low cost option for preservations.

Keywords: drying systems; phase change material; PCM; optimum collector

temperature; air temperature; ambient temperature.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Gupta, A., Shukla, S.K.
and Srivastava, A.K. (2013) ‘Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change
material storage systems’, Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 6,
No. 2, pp.164–174.

Biographical notes: Akanksha Gupta is a final year dual degree MTech

student at IIT BHU, Varanasi. She is currently working for her dissertation
project/thesis.

S.K. Shukla is working as an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering

Department, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India. He has
been post graduated and completed his PhD from IIT Delhi. His areas of
interest are thermal engineering, heat and mass transfer analysis in solar
thermal systems and design of renewable energy systems, modelling etc.

A.K. Srivastava is a PhD student at GBTU Lucknow and currently working

with SRCEM University, Lucknow.

Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change material storage systems 165

1 Introduction

Drying is an excellent way to preserve fruits and vegetables and dryers are an appropriate
preservation technology for a sustainable world. Actually, drying is one of the oldest
agricultural techniques related to fruits and agricultural produce preservation, but every
year, millions of dollars worth of gross national product is lost through spoilage. Reasons
include, ignorance about preservation of produce, inadequate transportation systems
during the harvest season (mostly climate related), and the low price the rural farmer
receives for products during the harvest season. When drying foods, the key is to remove
moisture as quickly as possible at a temperature that does not seriously affect the flavour,
texture and colour of the food (Basunia and Abe, 2001). If the temperature is too low in
the beginning, microorganisms may grow before the food is adequately dried. If the
temperature is too high and the humidity is too low, the food may harden on the surface.
This makes it more difficult for moisture to escape and the food does not dry properly.
Although drying is a relatively simple method of food preservation, the procedure is not
exact.
For the preservation of these agricultural products, the convective hot air drying using
fossil fuels/grid-electricity is the most common technique employed in commercial dryers
around the globe. However, due to unreliable or too expensive for the farmer to utilise
them, more emphasis is being paid to solar energy as an alternative source for such
applications (Ekechukwu and Norton, 1999). In addition, it has tremendous potential
especially in several regions of the world, where this source is abundantly available. In
past four decades, various types of solar dryers have been designed, developed and tested
with the aim of achieving faster drying of food product at a minimum cost. Leon et al.
(2002) presented a comprehensive review on design, construction and operation of
different types of solar dryers. However, all these dryers can be broadly grouped into
three major types as direct, indirect and mixed mode, depending on arrangement of
system components and mode of solar heat utilisation (Sharma et al., 1995). The
operation of these dryers is primarily based on the principle of natural or forced air
circulation mode. In many rural regions of developing countries, the farmers have been
preferably adopting natural convection over forced mode operated dryer, since it is
inexpensive to construct and easy to operate without the need of grid connected
electricity and supplies of other non-renewable sources of energy. In addition, natural
convection cabinet dryer of direct type has been popular among farmers especially in
India because of its ability for drying 10–15 kg fruits and vegetables at household level
(Alam, 2010; Simate, 2003). Selection of solar dryer for a particular food product is
primarily governed by quality requirements and economic factors. The common practice
in predicting performance of solar energy system is to solve a set of several inter-related
steady state heat balance equations representing various components (Sharma et al.,
2009; Hegazy, 2000; Duffie and Beckman, 1991).
Drying preserves foods by removing enough moisture from food to prevent decay and
spoilage. Water content of properly dried food varies from 5% to 25% depending on the
food. Successful drying depends on:
• enough heat to draw out moisture, without cooking the food
• dry air to absorb the released moisture
• adequate air circulation to carry off the moisture.
166 A. Gupta et al.

1.1 Phase change material

Developing efficient and inexpensive energy storage devices is as important as

developing new sources of energy. Energy storage can reduce the time between energy
supply and energy demand, thereby playing a vital role in energy conservation. It
improves the energy systems by smoothening the output and thus increasing the
reliability. This paper deals with storage of solar thermal energy in materials undergoing
phase changes. PCMs, which include salt hydrates, paraffins, non-paraffins, and eutectics
of inorganic, are discussed. Heat storage in phase change materials (PCMs) has an
advantage of compactness and heat supply at constant temperature. PCM is a substance
with a high heat of fusion which, melting and solidifying at certain temperatures, is
capable of storing or releasing large amounts of energy. PCMs are latent heat storage
substance, in which energy is store in the process of changing the state, i.e., either by
solid to liquid or liquid to solid. When PCMs attain the temperature at which phase
change occur, they absorb large amount of energy and PCM solidifies, releasing its stored
latent heat when the ambient temperature around PCM drops.

1.2 Required properties for PCM

The PCM is chosen on the basis of some properties that includes Melting point according
to need of temperature, large amount of heat of fusion, large thermal conductivity and
little temperature difference between the melting point and solidification point. A part
from this, harmlessness, low toxicity, non-flammability, high density and stability are
other requirements of PCM.
In this case we have used HS 29 as PCM with following properties;

• Melting point, Tm = 29–32°C Latent heat enthalpy, l = 195kJ/kg,

density = 1,550 kg/m3
*HS stands for HYDRATED SALT and 29 is its phase change temperature. This PCM is
manufactured by a company named Pluss Polymers Pvt Ltd., 610-A Udyog Vihar,
Phase V Gurgaon – 122016 (Haryana), INDIA. At 29°C, HS29 changes its state and
transfer its stored latent heat energy. Below this temperature, the drying of products is not
done in our case.

2 Experimental setup

Figure 1(a) show the photograph of solar dryer consists of solar collector, thermal storage
(PCM) and cabinet type drying chamber where as Figure 1(b) show the schematic of
cabinet dryer. Thermal charging of the heat storage water vessels can take place by direct
solar radiation using flat plate collector system. During the night the reflecting panels are
dropped to insulate the transparent cover. The drying chamber can hold 8 trays for the
thin-layer drying of different fruits. PCM is used here as thermal storage system. In Day
time, direct solar collected heat is used for dehydration but in night time, PCM HS29
(hydrated salt) is used for storing the thermal energy as latent heat and converts it into
heat form when we need.
 Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change material storage systems 167

The experiments were conducted on the roof of the Renewable Energy Lab,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi, India during October and March 2012. The latitude, longitude and
altitude of Varanasi are, respectively, 25.20°N and 83.00°E, 80.71 m above the sea level.
Three different inlet velocities are taken 10m/s, 20m/s and 30m/s for analysis of the
drying system with heat storage capacity.

Figure 1(a) Photograph of solar dryer for drying of fruits and vegetables (see online version
for colours)

Source: Shukla and Sharma (2010)

Figure 1(b) Schematic view of cabinet solar dryer

Notes: (1) glass cover; (2) absorber plate; (3) wire mesh; (4) inlet vent; (5) outlet vent;
(6) wooden case; (7) insulation; (8) PCM
168 A. Gupta et al.

3 Mathematical model

Generally, the diffusion model based on Fick’s law describes well the variation of the
moisture during drying of foodstuffs. The product is simulated as a spherical shape; the
equation of the mass transfer, based on Fick’s law, is written in spherical coordinates.
The diffusion is considered as radial and the coefficient of diffusion as invariable with
time and position
dX D d ( 2
= * r dX / dr ) (1)
dt r 2 dr
The model is treated with the following initial and boundary conditions:
At t = 0 : X = Xo
dX (2)
At the kernel; r = 0 : =0
dr
At the surface, convective drying is affected by external conditions; the following
condition is used:
dX
r = R : −D * = hm *( X − Xeq )
dr
and
L
hm * = Sh (3)
k
where (Sh) is determined from the equations
Re < 350 : Sh = 1.82*(Re) ^ 0.49*( Sc) ^ 0.33;

Re > 350 : Sh = 0.99*(Re) ^ 0.59*( Sc) ^ 0.33;

and
Re = v * L / ϑ
Sc = ϑ / D
where
L hydraulic diameter
v velocity of inlet air
ϑ kinematic viscosity.
The energy balance in the air inside dryer gives
dTa
ma * C pa = Ap * hcp * (Tp − Ta ) + A f * hcf * (T f − Ta )
dt
+ ( ρa *Vout * C pa * Tout − ρa *Vin * C pa * Tin ) (4)
+ U c * Ac * (Tam − Ta )
 Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change material storage systems 169

The energy balance on the product gives

dTp
ma * C pp * = Ap * hcp * (Ta − Tp ) (5)
dt

4 Numerical analysis and results

The test was initiated in the morning of March18 and ended at evening March 19, 2012.
Figure 2 shows the direct and diffuse radiation on the collector with time while It is clear
from Figure 2 that the direct solar radiation intensity varies between 140 W/m2 to
800 W/m2 and the maximum solar radiation intensity is 800 W/m2 at 12 pm. Variation of
solar radiation intensity depends on the position of solar collector and weather condition.
The performance of solar dryer which employed PCM as heat storage was test against
dryer without PCM by placing the dryer in the sun with the solar collector part pointing
south.

Figure 2 Variation of solar radiation with the time

900
D ir e c t
800 D iffu s e

700

600
Solar radiation(W/m )
2

500

400

300

200

100

1 1 :0 0 1 2 :0 0 1 3 :0 0 1 4 :0 0 1 5 :0 0
T im e o f d a y (h )

The results of the test were shown in Figure 3. The X-axis show the time of the day and
temperature rise in drying chamber is shown on Y–axis. The red line shows the
temperature of drying without PCM while green line shows the environment temperature.
It can be noticed that at the start from 6:00 AM. to 10:00 AM., there was no different in
the air temperature inside the dryer between the dryers with and without PCM. At
1:30 PM the air temperature in both cases reach the peak, but the air temperature of the
dryer without PCM was 11ºC higher. By the late afternoon and early morning the
temperature inside the dryer and the temperature of environment were nearly matched but
the air temperature in the dryer with PCM was about 9ºC higher the environment
temperature up to 10:00 PM. This reflected the ability to retain the thermal energy of
PCM.
170 A. Gupta et al.

Figure 3 Temperature uptake from solar dryer without PCM and solar dryer with PCM
(see online version for colours)

4.1 MATLAB analysis

Measuring moisture content allows control of the drying process such that drying is
carried out until a specific level of moisture content is achieved rather than for a fixed
time period. The numerical analysis has been done using MATLAB programming with
following input data;

• Input data
1 Intial moisture content, Xo = 4 kg/kg dry
2 Temperature of air, T = 60 + 273 K
3 Kinematic viscosity, ϑ@ T =18.90e-6 m^2/s
4 Diffusivity, D = 2.41e-10
5 Prandtl no, Pr = 0.709
6 Hydraulic diameter, L = 5 cm.

Figure 4 shows the effect of change of air velocity on moisture ration. It is evident that
the change in Moisture ratio increases as the velocity of air increases. Figure 5 and Figure
6 explain about ambient temperature and product temperature trend with this input data.
It is clear from these figures that drying of the material closely depends on the
temperature variation. The variation of mass of PCM with charging time is shown in
Figure 7. As for as application of PCM for solar dryer is concerned the use of PCM will
work as the temperature damper in the sense the PCM will level the temperature and keep
or sustain to temperature close to its melting temperature. This aspect of stabilising
temperature near the melting point may prove to be very important in the solar dryer
application which the temperature sensitivity of the dried product is high.
 Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change material storage systems 171

Figure 4 Variations of moisture content with time (see online version for colours)
Solution at t = 2
4.02
vel=10m/s

3.98

3.96
X(0,t)

3.94

3.92

3.9

3.88
0 5 10 15 20
Time t

Solution at t = 2
4
vel=20m/s
3.98

3.96

3.94

3.92
X(0,t)

3.9

3.88

3.86

3.84

3.82
0 5 10 15 20
Time t

Solution at t = 2
4
vel=30m/s

3.95

3.9
X(0,t)

3.85

3.8

3.75
0 5 10 15 20
Time t
172 A. Gupta et al.

Figure 5 Variation of ambient temperature (see online version for colours)

Figure 6 Variation of product temperature (see online version for colours)

Figure 7 Variation of mass of PCM with charging time during the day (see online version
for colours)
 Analysis of solar drying unit with phase change material storage systems 173

Solar dryer used in this experiment was the modification of dryer originally built by
Shukla and Sharma (2010), for the purpose of Aonla drying in Renewable Energy
laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi, India, the modified dryer is shown in Figure 1(b). There are two
subassemblies for the dryer, the 7.72 m2solar energy collector and the main dryer with
no. of trays in dryer is 8 whereas each tray area of 760 × 550 mm2.

5 Conclusions

Based on the above studies and experimental results obtained, it can be concluded that
there is a potential of integrating PCM with solar drying system for drying of fruits and
vegetable, throughout the day and night, during crop harvesting seasons in rural, semi
urban and urban areas. The air heating system can be considered as a reliable alternative
to similar systems with conventional backup of PCM storage for medium scale drying of
vegetables and fruits which require a drying temperature of 50–60°C. The HS 29 can be
utilised as PCM for heat storage. In the case of small solar dryer, the suitable temperature
is kept about three hours longer comparing to the case, when there is no heat storage.
Further it was found that, PCM can be considered as the most promising low cost thermal
energy storage for solar dryers, working in the temperature range of 40–60ºC.

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174 A. Gupta et al.

Nomenclatures

X moisture content
Xeq moisture content at equilibrium
Xo moisture content at initial condition
L hydraulic diameter
l latent heat enthalpy (kJ/kg)
v velocity of inlet air
ϑ kinematic viscosity
Sh sheerwood number
Sc Scmit number
k conductive heat coefficient
hm mass transfer coefficient
Re Reynolds number
Cpa specific heat of air (J kg^–1 K^–1)
Cpp specific heat of product (J kg^–1 K^–1)
ma mass of air inside the dryer (kg)
mp mass of dry product (kg)
Ta drying air temperature in the dryer model (K)
Tam ambient temperature (K)
Tm melting point temperature (°C)
Tf floor temperature (K)
Tin temperature of the inlet air of the dryer (K)
Tout temperature of the outlet air of the dryer (K)
Tp temperature of product (K)
t time (s)
Uc overall heat loss coefficient from the cover to ambient air (Wm^–2 K^–1)
Vin inlet air flow rate (m^3 s^–1)
Vout outlet air flow rate (m^3 s^–1)
hcf convective heat transfer between the floor cover and the air (Wm^–2 K^–1)
hcp convective heat transfer between the product and the air (Wm^–2 K^–1).