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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia138 (2017) 000–000
00 (2017) 288–293
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
2017 AEDCEE, 25‐26 May 2017, Bangkok, Thailand

DesignThe
and15thConstruction of the on
International Symposium Flat Plate
District Solar
Heating andAir Heater
Cooling
For Spray Dryer
Assessing the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor
temperatureJarinee
function for a long-term
Jongpluempiti district heat demand
a, Nattadon Pannucharoenwongb,*,
forecast
Chatchai Benjapiyaporn and Ponthep Vengsungnle
c,d a
a,b,c a a b c
I. AndrićDepartment
*, A.ofPina
a , P.Machinery
Agricultural FerrãoEngineering,
, J. Fournier .,Engineering
Faculty of B. Lacarrière , O. Le Correc
and Architecture,
a Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, Thailand 30000
IN+ Center forb Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Departmentb of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat University, Thailand 12120
cDepartmentVeolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Thailand 40002
c
Départementd Systèmes Énergétiques et Environnement - IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44300 Nantes, France
Energy Management and Conservation Office (EMCO), Ministry of Energy, Thailand 40002

Abstract
Abstract
The aims of this paper were to study the design and construction of the solar air heater for spray dryer. Incline adjustment of the
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
flat plate solar
greenhouse gasair heater isfrom
emissions variable factors sector.
the building that affects
Thesethermal
systems efficiency andinvestments
require high appropriateness
which inarecollecting the solar.
returned through theThe
heat
dimension of solar air heater was 1.20 meter x 1.60 meter x 0.20 meter, which had a black flat plate of
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, galvanized steel with size
3.04 square meters
prolonging attachedreturn
the investment belowperiod.
the covered glass for used to as solar air collector. It was found that, the inclination angle of
15 degree had a maximum temperature
The main scope of this paper is to assess of the
83.92 degree Celsius
feasibility of usingduring
the heat12:00-12:30 hours. At
demand – outdoor the same time,
temperature the for
function hot heat
air transfer
demand
toforecast.
spray dryer was 52.58
The district degree Celsius,
of Alvalade, located which was (Portugal),
in Lisbon the best temperature
was used asofa all angles.
case study.When comparing
The district the electricity
is consisted of 665
buildings that
consumption vary and
before in both
afterconstruction
the installationperiod and air
of solar typology.
heater, Three weatherpower
it can reduce scenarios (low, medium,
consumption of abouthigh) and three district
30 kilowatt-hour. In
renovation
addition when scenarios
the systemwere developed
is in operation(shallow, intermediate,
at 5.25 baht per unit, itdeep). To profit
produces estimate the error,
of 8,284.9 Bahtobtained
per yearheat
anddemand values
the payback were
period
compared
was witharound
calculated results34from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
days.
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
© 2017 TheinAuthors.
annual Published by Elsevier Ltd.20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
©(the
2017error
The Authors. demand
Publishedwas by lower
Elsevierthan
Ltd.
Peer-review
scenarios, under
the responsibility
error value of theupscientific
increased to 59.5% committee
(dependingof the 2017
on2017
the International
weather Conference
and renovation on Alternative
scenarios Energy
combination in
considered).
Peer-review
­DThe
eveloping under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of AEDCEE.
value Countries and Emerging
of slope coefficient Economies.
increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
decrease Solar
Keywords: in theairnumber of heating
heater, Spray hours of 22-139h
dryer, Break-even point ; during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

* Corresponding
Peer-review author.
under Tel.:+ 6-699-462-5241
responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
E-mail
Cooling. address: pnattado@engr.tu.ac.th

Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of 2017 AEDCEE.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in
­Developing Countries and Emerging Economies.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.10.082
 Jarinee Jongpluempiti et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 288–293 289
2 Jarinee Jongpluempiti , Nattadon Pannucharoenwong et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

Fruit drying is one of the post-harvest process which enhances product quality and reduce product damage
[1]. It is a simple method, but requires higher amount of energy when compared to other processes. The amount of
energy used is for heating the oven and for the fan operation. Thailand is situated on the equator, therefore the use of
alternative energy such as biomass or solar power is a solution to reduce imported energy.
The dry spray method [2] has been too adapted by the food industry, especially powdered foods. It is better
than other drying methods because it takes short amount of time and it’s easy to package. The downside is the
amount of energy used to operate the process, therefore the application of solar energy to heat the air is a solution.
Studies have shown that a black surface covered with plastic [3] will face issues with the plastic cover, and low
performance has been reported with glass cover [4]. The use of forced air flow is for better results [5]. Different
solar receivers are used [6-8] and has resulted in better drying. Other method are tin roof receiver such as in [9-10].
To summarize, sunlight should be used to reduce energy by heating product.

2. Experimental

2.1 Solar Air Heater Design

The dimensions of the Solar Air Heater was 1.20 m x 1.60 m x 0.20 m, with 3.04 sq. m surface area. The
surface was black painted tin with glass cover. The base of the air heater was 1.20 m x 1.60 m x 0.80 m and able to
open to 12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32 and 33 degrees. On the side, there were 0.010 m holes with flexible
conductive tube into a blower of the spray dryer. This ventilated the hot air into system as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Solar Air Dryer

2.2 Testing

The module was attached to the solar dryer with variable angle receiver. The schematic is shown in figure 2
and compared before and after the installation.
1) The spray dryer was timed and evaluated for power consumption in drying tofu with data recorded at 30
minutes from 08:30 to 16:00 as shown in figure 3.
2) Thermometer was installed on the heater at three location, left, right, and behind as shown in figure 4a.
Also another thermometer was placed outside to measure ambient temperature.
3) Heat conduction tube was connected from the heater to spray dryer in figure 4b with 12 degrees of
inclination.
4) Operation of suction tube for the recorded period and difference in temperature. The apparatus was set at
80 degrees Celsius and recorded at the end of the apparatus as shown in figure 4c.
 Jarinee Jongpluempiti , Nattadon Pannucharoenwong et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3
290 Jarinee Jongpluempiti et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 288–293

Fig. 2. Schematic Air Drier Fig. 3. Spray Dryer

Fig. 4. Shows the research process, (a) Thermometer Location (b) Connect heating tube and
(c) Set the machine to cut off into suction pipe at 80 degrees

3. Equations

Heat transfer calculation yields below as

m& C P (To − Ti )
hC = (1)
I C AC
hC = Efficiency of solar receiver (%), IC = Solar intensity (W/m2), m
& = Mass flow rate (kg/s)
CP = Specific Heat (J/kg K), Ti = Inlet Temperature (oC), To = Outlet Temperature (oC),
AC = Surface Area (m2)

Electricity is calculated by
Power × Machine Number × Operation Hour
Unit = (2)
1000
 Jarinee Jongpluempiti et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 288–293 291
4 Jarinee Jongpluempiti , Nattadon Pannucharoenwong et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Payback period is calculated by

Constant Costs
Payback Point =
(3)
Hiring Cost −  Variable Cost
 
 Work Ability 

Depreciation by

D=
(P − S ) (4)
N
D = depreciation (Baht/Yr), P = Initial Cost )Baht), S = Scrap Cost )Baht), N = Lifetime (Yr(

Maintenance Cost by
Yearly Maintenance = Machine Cost × Interest Rate (5)

Constant Cost by
Constant Cost = Machine Cost + Depreciation + Interest Rate (6)

Payback period is when the income is equal to the cost by

PC
O= (7)
RT
Where
O = payback period (year), PC = constant cost (baht), RT = profit (baht)

4. Results and Discussion

Temperature was measured outside an inside the machine. The information of economics and apparatus is shown
as following.

Fig. 5. Relationship of temperature and receiver angle of Fig. 6. Relationship of time an average temperature
12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32, and 33 degrees. with different angles.

Fig. 5. Shows that the exterior temperature will depend on the season and on daily basis. The test was conducted
on May to September as in figure 7.The inclination angle of 12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32 and 33 degree had the
maximum temperature during 12.00 - 12.30 hours, recorded temperature were 32.1, 32.4, 34.1, 35.82, 36.25, 37.07,
34.6, 34.4 and 34 respectively.
Fig. 6. Shows that 12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32 and 33 degrees of inclination, will achieve temperature during
12.00 - 12.30 of 66.13, 68.03, 70.13, 83.92, 76.95, 76.52, 59.60, 59.40 and 58.77 Degrees Celsius respectively. The
results shows that 15 degrees inclination is the best angle
Fig. 7. Shows various inclination angle during test time of 12:00 to 12:30, achieving 43.70, 44.70, 45.70, 52.58,
51.17, 50.71, 42.71, 42.46 and 42.15 degrees Celsius respectively.
292 Jarinee Jongpluempiti et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 288–293
Jarinee Jongpluempiti , Nattadon Pannucharoenwong et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

Fig. 7. Time and average temperature of dryer with various inclination angle.

Fig. 8. Yields the inclination angle of 12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32 and 33 degrees obtaining on efficiency of
63.19, 67.63, 67.68, 75.06, 64.08, 62.08, 52.57, 52.68 and 52.46 percent respectively. It was found that 15 degrees is
the most efficient angle for operation. Fig. 9. Compares electricity consumption before and after the installation of
solar air dryer. The economic analysis was determined by finding the cost to be 8,645 baht with 778.05 baht
constant cost per year. Other variable cost regarding maintenance was 133.30 baht per year. When the system is in
operation at 5.25 baht per electricity unit, it produces 8,284.9 Baht profit per year. The payback period is calculated
to be at 5.25 years. The graph below utilize the electricity cost on x axis and required electricity output on y axis as
in Fig. 10. and calculations yield 34 days of actual payback period as shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 8. Thermal efficiency and inclination angle Fig. 9. Electricity consumption before and after
relationship installation of solar air heater

Fig. 10. Payback Period Fig. 11. Actual Payback Period

 Jarinee Jongpluempiti et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 288–293 293
6 Jarinee Jongpluempiti , Nattadon Pannucharoenwong et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

5. Conclusions

The installation of a solar air heater into a spray dryer uses 130.08 unit of electricity over 8 hours. The solar
heater experimented with various inclination degree of 12, 13, 14, 15, 23.5, 30, 31, 32 and 33 degrees, showed that
15 degrees angle is the best inclination angle. Operating at 8 hours per day can help reduce up to 30.12 units per
hour (120.48 Baht). The thermal efficiency was achieved at 75.26 percent. The cost of the module was 8,645 baht
with 778.05 baht constant per year cost and 475.47 baht of interest. Other variable cost regarding maintenance is
133.30 baht per year. When the system is in operation at 5.25 baht per electricity unit, it produces 8,284.9 Baht
profit per year with 34 days of payback period.

Acknowledgements

The researchers would like to thank the Energy Management and Conservation Office (KKU – EMCO), Ministry
of Energy Thailand which supported us with the funds for this study. We would also like to express our gratitude to
the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Khon Kaen University, Department of
Agricultural Machinery Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Rajamangala University of
Technology Isan and Department of Automotive Engineering of Thammasat University for all of their support given
to this research.

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