Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta

A review on the latest developments in solar dryer technologies for food

drying process
S. Madhankumar a, Karthickeyan Viswanathan b, *, Muhammad Ikhsan Taipabu c, Wei Wu c, *
a
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore 641008, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Krishna College Technology, Coimbatore 641042, India
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Solar drying is a traditional method for removing moisture from food products. Dryers with different dimensions
Solar drying and models are often used for drying food products using solar energy. Indirect Solar Dryer (ISD) was the latest
Indirect solar dryer development to dry food products and that ISD with fins inserted Thermal Energy Storage (TES) unit to enhance
Thermal energy storage
its performance is not being reviewed in detail yet. So, this review intends to study the features and benefits of
Computational fluid dynamics
Payback period
ISD with fins inserted TES units for removing moisture from food products. Considerable ISD with fins inserted
TES outcomes were reviewed, presented and tabled. An economic analysis of ISD was also presented. The nu­
merical analysis of ISD was reviewed and tabulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for drying food
products. It was found that an improvement in increased heat and the performance parameters of moisture
removal kinetics of food products on ISD with fins inserted TES units. The payback periods were found to be
relatively shorter than the lifespan of the devices. Therefore, this type of ISD is recommended for food products
processing industries and farmers. CFD technique can be used to assess the performance of a novel development
in food dryer research.

Introduction
Food products losses during processing and distribution should be
mitigated to maintain the balance between population expansion and
supply of food. Owing to inadequate processing practices and a lack of
storage facilities, the quantity and quality of food products are declining
[1]. On the food sector many developing countries are suffering massive
losses. It is stated that after cultivation, fruit and vegetable losses in
developing countries account for around 30 to 40% of the overall pro­
ductivity [2]. Drying would be a task for discarding water content from
food products. It needs thermal energy of temperature. The 21st century
is starting into the perfect energy storm. In our global, using numerous
types of energy resources [3,4]. It has a direct impact on our global and
environmental development. In recent years, it has been found that
fossil fuel like coal, oil, and gas causes more harm to the environment in
terms of damage to public health, air and water pollution, wildlife and
global warming [5,6]. Some rural places in developing nations are
suffering from the lack of resources to grid power; sources of many other
non-renewable energy are either inaccessible, inadequate or too costly
of many farm workers [7,8]. Food products drying technologies which
contain electrically driven fans, heating systems as well as other at­
tachments are inadequate in these places. Its high capital and operating
expenses of dryers driven by fossil fuel are not always sustainable for
farmers. According with International Energy Outlook 2019, overall
energy consumption is going to rise almost 620 quadrillion Billion
thermal units in year 2050 and Asia accounts for much of the rise in
energy usage [9]. In developing countries, energy usage for drying is a
key element of overall energy usage including industrial and non-
commercial sources of energy. Modern renewable energy met around
10% of worldwide demand in 2019, but its growth in the sector con­
tinues to be minor [10–12]. Modern renewable sources of energies are
wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, ocean power and bio­
fuels for transport [13–15]. Enhancing the efficiency of modern
renewable sources of energy has so far been receiving much attention
today in context of ecological concerns attributed to the use of fossil fuel
resources [16–18].
Solar energy is a powerful and efficient resource for environmental
growth that offers long-term behavior. The planet gets adequate solar
radiation rays. Using the solar radiation accessible, traditional drying
methods (through natural gas and fossil fuel) can be supplemented in

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: karthickeyanme.ice@gmail.com (K. Viswanathan), wu@gs.ncku.edu.tw (W. Wu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2023.103298
Received 12 April 2022; Received in revised form 9 May 2023; Accepted 23 May 2023
Available online 28 June 2023
2213-1388/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Madhankumar et al.
Fig. 1. Intensity of keywords in this study.
order to conserve food products been for a number of hours [19,20].
Also the solar form of energy plays an important role for drying food
products compared to other energies, it reduced the time between en­
ergy supply and demand [21]. Drying seems to be a dynamic mechanism
including unregulated movement of heat and mass, or chemical and
physical changes that may influence the consistency of the food product.
This includes temperature and mass flow operations concurrently as
when the commodity is dried, and afterwards the moisture is extracted
[22]. It is important to know the safest (final) moisture contents for how
long the drying process should be extended for every agricultural
product, as well as the permissible temperature has mentioned in order
for the researcher to develop their experimental setup to produce warm
air for drying the commodities. The initial and final moisture contents
and maximum permissible temperature for drying of some food products
are shown in Fig. 1S.
There have been various drying systems available like Open Solar
Drying (OSD), controlled solar drying, microwave drying and freezing. A
crop is dried in open environment, known as open solar drying. This was
the older and quite common process for drying in which that product
would always have dried being laid across surface either over pads or
containers. However OSD seems to have a number of drawbacks because
the products be kept under the ambient air, thus, the drying product gets
quickly polluted through soil, dirt, bacteria, destruction of livestock,
bird and insect and their falls, erosion by strong sunlight impact, rain
and mist, further losses in storage due to lack of proper or un-uniform
drying operations. All of these leads to fungal overgrowth, bacterial as
well as other microorganisms that cause the item to be spoiled [23]. All
OSD approaches have some drawbacks but certain advanced techniques
are being used to avoid those problems. Controlled solar dryer has been
used predominantly for drying purposes, even as the final product be­
comes clean and hygienic whenever required in the rig. This also helps
energy saving and takes up less space [24]. This solar dryer’s primary
benefit is, which saves the atmosphere by not producing carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and some other pollutants as it re­
leases internal combustion engine and energy plants. This also increases
2
Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298
product reliability, reduces packing problems as well as decreases
transportation mass and price [25]. Many food products can be desic­
cated by solar drying. Fruits like bananas, pineapples, mangos, dates,
grapes, beets, oranges, etc., and vegetables like onions, carrots, to­
matoes, cabbage, etc., and value crops-berries, tea, coffee, etc. and
grains like corn, wheat, maize, rice, etc., herbs and spices like garlic,
chilies, tulsi, ginger, neem, etc., including fish and meats can be pre­
served by solar drying [26]. However, the key and predominant expla­
nation is that solar dryers have not been built to be commercially viable.
A number of solar dryers of differing sizes and types generate ambiguity
in user minds. It’s also essential to accumulate all the energy of various
kinds of solar dryers such that its effectiveness for various purposes must
be carried in consideration. The details of the various experiments on
ISD with flat plat collector for drying photosensitive agricultural items
were tabulated [27]. According to the findings, it is indicated to use ISD
for drying agricultural products; because ISD is photosensitive, it pre­
serves the material from dirt, dust, animal as well as bird damage.
Amongst the various kinds of dryers, ISD has improved dry performance
including its agricultural crop relative to OSD as well as direct type solar
dryer since it may have all the requisite heat, improved drying perfor­
mance and product color preservation, zero crop harm from rain and is
strongly recommended of photo sensitive products like cucumber,
papaya, lemon, etc [27,28]. Although there are certain details on ISDs in
the existing literature, no review has so far contributed on detailed links
to ISD with fins inserted energy storage techniques, their performance
and numerical techniques etc.
Keywords are a straightforward reflection of an author’s goals in
scientific study. The work terminals are intuitively created in this study
through VOSviewer keyword mapping function. The minimum
numerous times a keyword appears in the observations. There are
291 moderate keywords that reach this criterion have been seen in
Fig. 1. A keyword is depicted by a circular pattern of various sizes
indicating its intensity of occurrence (larger size implies greater in­
tensity). Solar energy solar drying solar dryers indirect solar dryer and
thermal energy storage are often used keywords. In this review the
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Fig. 3. Quantity of energy stored in latent heat and sensible heat energy
storage when variation in temperature.

OSD and controlled solar drying. The supplementary material section S1

discussed these two types of solar dryers broadly. Table 1 gives the
Fig. 2. Types of solar dryer system. advantages and disadvantages of various forms of solar drying methods.
Among the various types of dryers, ISD has improved commodity dry
value relative to OSD and DSD because it can provide all of the requisite
Table 1 heat, improved processing performance, commodity texture preserva­
Advantages and disadvantages of various forms of solar drying methods. tion, and zero crop damage. As a result, ISD is highly recommended for
Solar drying Advantages Disadvantages drying food products.
technique

Open sun ✓ No initial investment × Risk of weather damage Indirect solar dryer
drying Delayed in moisture
removal
The ISD comprises of two major components: a drying chamber
Contamination of produce
by dust, insects, etc., where food products are placed on trays and then an arrangement of
Direct solar ✓ Relatively inexpensive × Direct UV radiation can harm solar collectors consisting of a glass cover and absorber layer. Warm
dryer Simple in design agricultural product working fluid is being permitted the stream across every drying product;
Indirect solar ✓ Agricultural products × Complexed and perhaps more thus, the food product is dried as well as the moisture is eliminated. Wire
dryer become kept away against pricey than direct solar dryer
mesh type or perforated type trays are given for the drying chamber to
UV rays
Less risk from high hold the food product. Its collector arrangement comprises with a
temperatures covered glass as well as an absorber layer whereby it is coupled to the
Relatively inexpensive drying chamber at a particular tilt, depending upon the altitudes of the
dryer installation. This same absorber is specifically painted in dark
besides highest absorption of the sun rays [29]. A variety of heat transfer
authors have also used the terms “Phase Change Materials (PCMs)” and
processes occur while sun rays falls upon this cover glass; portion of the
“computational fluid dynamics”. The review of the papers that include
rays are thrown straight to the working fluid, one other part is trans­
such keywords shows that recent research has focused on the use of
mitted via the glass cover; the heat has been transferred through the
renewable energy (solar energy) in food engineering research. And this
cover glass from an environment (transfer demise), certain quantity in
review study eliminates the shortcomings laid out above and reviews
heat gets assimilated by layer of absorber and also the amount of air
thoroughly the ISD findings to reach important conclusions. This review
flowing into the drying chamber is transported by convection to warm
study let us understand the possible types of ISD used for drying various
up. The food product inside of the drying chamber absorbs heat and
food products performance analysis of the dryer system.
removes moisture [30]. The ISD was designed and analyzed using an
TES device installed in ISD and the system performance fins inserted
absorber box collector by natural convection mode. The dryer consists of
TES unit and their findings economic analysis and numerical analysis of
box-type absorber collector, the transparent harvest bay then its funnel
the ISD.
was shown in Fig. 2S. The absorber collector built from the transparent
cover glass as well as absorber sheet became inclination to the horizontal
Solar dryer types
in an angle of around 20◦ to enable the warm air to raise in the system
with less resistance [31]. The forced convection ISD for removing hu­
As mentioned above, solar drying approach promotes the domestic
midity from copra as shown in Fig. 3S was designed, developed and
and industrial sectors for the number of agricultural goods, such as: to
measured. This was comprised of the solar collector, blower and drying
enable the drying process much simpler, to produce up a particular food
chamber [32]. The supplementary material section S2 discusses basic
product far more accessible, can improve capacity to store and cost
concept for determining the ISD performance.
effective transporting, and to maximize explicit or implicit environ­
In Table 2 several studies for drying of food products and efficiency
mental benefits. The types of solar dryer systems are used for removing
parameters for ISD systems are listed. In the ISD systems, bulk pro­
moisture content from the food products are presented through Fig. 2.
cessing is achievable as was noticeable as 24 kg of mango [33], 200 kg of
This classification of the solar drying system being focused in the utili­
pineapple [34] and 10 kg of grapes and apricots [35] have been dried in
zation of solar resources. It is mainly categorized in to two types namely,
such a type of dryer. Such dryers could be used to dry agriculture

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S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Table 2
Food products drying and efficiency parameters for ISD systems.
Ref. Agricultural Mass in Initial Moisture Final Moisture Open sun drying ISD time Air flow rate Solar collector Dryer
products kg content in % content in % time in hours in hours or velocity efficiency in % efficiency in %

[72] Turmeric 42 78 6.9 120 21 – – 44.9%

[73] Apple 5.24 86.03 12.03 – 10 0.5 m/s 54.5% 25.39%
[73] Watermelon 5.72 91.49 7.77 – 10 0.5 m/s 56.3% 28.76%
[74] Mango 24 77 20 – 13 0.07 kg/s 53.5 33.8
[75] Banana – 77.2 34.98 – 16 0.0338 kg/s 29.63 4.96
[36] Bitter guard – 91 6.25 10 6 1.47 m/s – –
[34] Pineapple 200 82 10 8 – 1.2 m/s 52.55 –
[76] Tomato – 93.4 11 – 11 – – 35
[33] Mango 4 80 13.8 – 72 0.022 kg/s – 35
[35] Grapes 10 80 18 – 36 0.3 m/s 65 –
[35] Apricots 10 80 13 – 60 0.3 m/s 60 –
[77] Strawberry 0.12 88.3 18.5 – 20 – – –
[78] Cauliflower – 92.5 5.92 – 28 4.81 kg/s 54.5 16.5
[79] Pistachio 0.1 70 26.5 – 6 1.23 m/s – –

Fig. 4. Steps of CFD analysis.

products with higher and lower moisture levels. Unless the food product
on the first day would not meet the necessary moisture level, the drying
process may well be extended with the availability of supplementary
heating systems. The drying duration gained is approximately 40% and
20% relative with OSD for bitter gourd processing [36] and pineapple
drying [34] respectively. The food products beans, apricots and grapes
are tested and variability in moisture content of desiccating periods. The
moisture content removed from apricots, grapes and beans were within
1.5 days 2.5 days and 1 day respectively. The findings reveal that the
temperature of the air within the cabinet has the greatest impact on the
drying rate [35]. Compared with open sun drying, it’s a great success in
ISD dryers in terms of drying time, moisture removal and crop harm, and
it is an efficient technique for fast drying of food items.
There are majorly two types of absorber plate used in the solar col­
lector namely flat and corrugated or V-grooved. The flat plate absorber
plate has lesser solar radiation absorption area than corrugated absorber
plate, it leads to reducing the performance of the system [37]. Hence,
many researchers have measured the solar air collector’s thermal effi­
ciency with corrugated absorber plates. The corrugated/perforated
absorber layer in solar dryer as shown by the Fig. 4S. For context, the
energy efficiency for the corrugated (V-groove) collector was examined
in various modes, including stream models with porous medium and no
porous medium. The model results revealed that the system result was
exceeded by the solar air heater with flat absorber layer [38]. The effi­
ciency of a corrugated absorber plate was examined across different
working environments. The findings showed that perhaps the exit air
temperature decreased, while the output improved as the airflow rate
has dropped. But as the airflow volume per unit area, the variations
become less important [39]. Published an empirical study evaluating the
efficiency of a V-groove absorber plate collector. The experimental test
revealed that the examined solar air collector system could attain 35%
thermal efficiency and a lower temperature gap among entry and exit

4
S. Madhankumar et al.
Fig. 5. Steps of CFD for fluent.
working fluid may minimize energy leakage [40]. The output of solar air
collectors including smooth, cone formed, V formed as well as curly
absorber layers were investigated experimentally. Tests revealed that
the solar air collector provides an increased energy output using the
corrugated absorber plate. It was also noticed which in respect of ther­
mal efficiency, the solar air collector for a copper absorber surface
exceeded than aluminum surface [41]. These literature works have
revealed that the absorber plate shape had an important impact on
performance of the collectors.
Usage of corrugated absorber plates has been identified as the most
effective solution among various technologies for generating hot air
from solar energy for drying applications. However, an intermittency
problem is one huge issue connected with solar sources. In particular,
the duration with heat needs generally becomes never equivalent that of
duration once solar rays appears affordable. Advanced storage tech­
nologies have thus been suggested as a solution. The solar thermal
storage unit is seen to be a feasible solution in concentrated solar sys­
tems among various approaches will be addressed in detail in the next
section.
ISD with TES unit
Thermal energy storage
A solar dryer was built with an absorber plate with the TES units can
be seen in Fig. 5S. It includes four main components, namely collector,
TES system and drying compartment. In well-insulated thermal energy
materials might be accumulated by variation throughout the substances
total heat, like latent, sensible as well as combinations among these
[42,43]. Fig. 3 shows difference in temperature with the volume of
energy collected. The supplementary material section S3 discusses the
concept sensible heat storage, latent heat storage and variety of PCMs
are available for solar dryer applications.
In latent heat storage systems, a medium temperature stays more or
less stable as it undertakes a phase change. Storages containing high
energy densities of phase changes are more suitable for minimal spaces.
PCMs consume and release heat thus sustaining a temperature which is
almost constant. It holds five to fourteen times greater quantity of en­
ergy unlike sensible resources like soil, brick or stone [44]. For slight
temperature variations the capacity of heat transfer ability for unit
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298
volume as well as unit mass is large. The thermal gradients are low while
charging and discharging. With adequate heat exchanger (fin) selection,
concurrent charging and discharging is conceivable. Table 3 gives the
details of researchers done research in ISD with TES materials for drying
food products. Amongst the most widely used materials as a PCM being
paraffin wax, a noncorrosive though molecularly robust organic mate­
rial of weak heat conduction and strong heat capacity under constant
temperature throughout its cycles of melting and solidification [44].
However, it’s affordable. Their composition depends on the degradation
point of the paraffin wax as well as energy produced by melting. Many
studies have focused at the solar drying process using a solar heat col­
lector with paraffin wax as PCM. Whereas paraffin wax does have un­
deniably poor heat conduction, certain studies have increased heat
transfer (conduction) which is addressed in the next section.
ISD with fins inserted TES unit
Heat transfer is a vital constraint when developing any application of
solar thermal energy. Fin is a straightforward unit that could be used to
expand the surface area inside of the material [69]. Increase of surface
area contributes to transfer of heat. Within the solar dryer TES unit,
some investigators have used fins in the solar collector to expand the
surface area of stored material and therefore, increase the temperature
of air. The heat transfer (conduction) in paraffin wax closely doubled
while integrating it with aluminum plates [70,71]. The previous studies
on fins incorporated with TES used for drying food products in ISD are
presented in Table 4. In recent days, relatively few researchers have
been studying TES fins integrated to dry food products. Through this
section it could be concluded that the incorporation of fins with TES in
ISD to dry food products in order to enhance the system efficiency is the
hour needed.
Economic analysis
The solar dryer’s overall cost is dependent on a variety of economic
factors that depend upon the nation’s economic condition [45–47]. That
economical parameters needed for payback periods have become: dryer
efficiency, dryer costs, energy usage prices, repair costs, raw material
costs, dryer lifespan, investment costs and labor costs. The payback is
calculated by [48,49],
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Table 3
List of research works in ISD with TES.
Ref. TES material Installation Nature of study Food product Findings

[51] Porous Solar Numerical and Food materials Results revealed that overall heat transfer improved by approximately 16.50
collector Experimental per cent in the porous system relative to the non-porous.
[80] Sand bed, rock bed and Solar Experimental Bitter gourd and The average thermal performance with TES was found to be 2–3% higher
aluminum filings collector grape compared to the one without TES.
[81] Natural energy storage Solar Experimental Food products For various food products, the drying efficiency and thermal efficiency of the
collector solar dryer with natural energy storage varies from 2.85 to 42% and 9.9 to
58.2%, accordingly.
[70] Paraffin wax Separate Numerical and Kiwifruit and It extends the available drying time.
Experimental Mushrooms
[82] Paraffin wax Solar Experimental Apricot The use of TES based on paraffin materials contributes to a reduction of about
collector 50% in drying time.
[83] Paraffin wax Solar Experimental Sweet potato Increased the drying efficiency.
collector
[84] Paraffin wax Solar Experimental Pineapple The drying efficiency of the developed setup was 3.61% higher than setup
collector without TES. CO2 emission, mitigation and credit were improved in ISD with
TES compared to ISD without TES.
[85] Calcium chloride Solar Numerical and Seeded grape PCM had the highest efficient diffusivity with respect to moisture relative to
hegzahidrat collector Experimental others.
[86] HS-58 Separate Experimental Agricultural The use of PCM with acceptable phase-change temperature prevents air
crops overheating during the hours of peak sun shine.
[42] Packed bed PCM Drying Experimental Leafy herbs After hours of sunlight the temperature in the drying chamber was found 6 ◦ C
chamber above the atmospheric temperature.
[87] Paraffin wax Drying Experimental Basil and It is noticed that using the PCM at minimum five hours post sunset the drying
chamber Thevetia air temperature is above ambient temperature by 2.5 to 7.5 ◦ C.
[88] Rubitherm RT54HC Solar Experimental Agricultural The PCM is reported to have been used as an enhancer for heat transfer.
collector crops
[89] Gravel rock bed Solar Experimental Carica Papaya The safe moisture content was achieved in 5 h using a solar dryer integrated
collector with TES, however it required 6 h and 11 h using a solar dryer without
TES and OSD.
[90] Packed bed of small stones Solar Numerical and Food products The results demonstrated that, as compared to the scenario without storage,
collector Experimental the efficiency of the solar dryer with sensible heat storage increased by around
2.47% at night.
[91] Paraffin wax Solar Experimental Brown onion The average specific moisture extraction rates for devices with and without
collector TES were found to be between 1.01 and 1.37 and 0.83–1.20 kg/kWh,
respectively.
[92] Paraffin wax Solar Experimental Unripened The dried banana flakes, as compared to open sun-dried flakes, had good
collector bananas colour, texture and natural fragrance.
[93] Paraffin wax Drying Experimental Red pepper The experimental findings indicate that the air temp inside the drying
chamber chamber using PCM is around 7.5 ◦ C greater throughout the entire nighttime
span than other driers.
[94] Paraffin wax Solar Numerical and Kiwifruit For 4 mm thick kiwifruit slices, the maximum drying rates were attained.
collector Experimental
[95] Polycarbonate tubes filled Solar Experimental Ivy gourd The TES configuration improved CO2 mitigation and credit. For a 25-year
with paraffin wax collector lifespan, the energy payback period of the dryer was 1.04 and 1.51 years,
respectively.
[96] Paraffin wax Separate Experimental Red chilli The latent heat storage unit’s energy and exergy efficiency ranged from 43.6
to 49.8% and 18.3–20.5% respectively.
[97] Paraffin wax Separate Experimental Food product Air temperature gain in the range of 17 ◦ C to 5 ◦ C was reached during the
discharge of latent heat storage for about 10 h period.
[98] Paraffin wax Separate Experimental Black turmeric In 18.5 h, the samples were dried in the solar dryer from an initial moisture
content of 73.4% (w.b) to 8.5% (w.b), and the sample took 46.5 h in open sun
drying.
[99] Paraffin RT-42 Drying Experimental Valeriana The dehydration efficiency was noticed 7.11% from the experimental results
chamber Jatamansi compared to 6.18% for conventional sun drying.
[100] Paraffin wax Separate Experimental Mushrooms Dehydration assays at 30 ◦ C revealed that rehydrated mushrooms achieved a
humidity content of 1.91 (dry basis) in less than 30 min.
[101] Sodium sulfate decahydrate Solar dryer Experimental Red chilli Researchers found that the incorporated solar dryer with Sodium sulfate
and Sodium chloride decahydrate and Sodium chloride decreased the red chilli moisture levels at
faster rate.

Primaryinvestmentcost is observed at 200 days after solar drying with various fruits and vege­
Paybacktime = (1)
Netannualgains(undiscounted) tables [34]. The total device payback time being 605 days as well as
17.85 years against the device life (mean). Because they may utilize ISD
The payback time differs, depending on the place and weather in a
dryers very easily for their use is a great development for food products
specific area. Table 5 contains details on the solar dryer lifespan,
processing sectors and producers.
payback time and expense of ISD are recorded in literature. This
payback time differs with the form of product that is chosen for the
Numerical modeling techniques used for ISD performance
drying process and its market price. For readily accessible product, the
analysis
market price of the dry product is small. It has been observed that the
payback time is often small in comparison to the solar dryers’ lifespan,
The experimental investigation into the modern innovative ISD
which would be typically higher than 10 years, and hence drying every
system would take more time to test the performance. The mathematical
form of food product utilizing ISD is beneficial. During the drying of red
modeling and advanced numerical simulations tool provide effective
chilies, the peak payback time is found in setup [50] and even the lowest

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S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Table 4
Previous studies on fins inserted TES in ISD.
Ref. Fin Installation Geometry Thermal Food product Findings
material Conductivity (W/
m.K)

[70] Zinc Solar 25 mm space between each – Kiwifruit and The greater efficiency was provided by increased surface
collector Mushrooms absorption of solar radiation.
Aluminum TES – – Kiwifruit and Tests showed that the PCM’s melting temperature was
strips Mushrooms reached at a faster rate.
[83] Copper Solar Diameter 80 mm and Thickness 112.2 Sweet potato Because of the high thermal conductivity of the metal fins,
collector of 5 mm the results showed that finned tubes increased the effective
thermal conductivity of PCM.
[114] Aluminum TES 3% and 5% w/w 0.48 – 1.05 Food products The aluminum wool was increased the paraffin wax’s
wool thermal conductivity.
[69] Copper TES Tip diameter 0.5 mm, length 5 – Food products Due to the fin effect, this study found that for all velocity
mm and fin spacing 14.86 mm situations, the potential heat gain for the solar collector
with fin setup was higher than the potential heat gain for
the solar collector without fin setup. The heat gained by air
at a velocity of 1 m/s was greater than at all higher air flow
velocities.
[71] Aluminium Solar Thickness 1 mm 237 Food items This alternative allows the dryer to expand its capacity.
collector
[61] Spiral TES Diameter 30 mm, length of 357.7 Apple slices The experiment was conducted at different mass flow rates.
copper each turn 1000 mm, number of The maximum overall drying efficiency was related to the
turns 6 and thickness 1 mm system with PCM at the air flow rate of 0.025 kg/s and it
was 39.9%.

anisotropic large turbulent eddies. Among these five RAN models, the
Table 5 commonly used one is Standard k − ε for good conversion [54]. Recently
ISDs lifespan, payback period and expenses.
the hybrid model (RAN-LES) is used for obtaining higher accuracy of the
Ref. Food product Solar dryer Payback period Expense solar drying processes [55]. Fig. 4 presents the steps of CFD analysis.
lifespan in years in years Generally, defining the physical problem depends on the researcher’s
[102] Garcinia 10 0.6 93.94 USD idea. It’s having two types of models are namely, conjugated and non-
pedunculata conjugated. The dryer is analyzed without surrounding (thermophys­
[103] Bitter gourd 35 2.1 150 USD
ical) values is called non-conjugated model. If the dryer is analyzed with
[34] Pineapple 20 0.54 12,000
USD surrounding values is called conjugated model. After the computational
[50] Red chilies 10 3.26 2700 USD domain generation, it is converted into small elements called mesh or
[104] Red pepper and 20 1.6 1250 USD grid [56,57]. This is generated for producing high accuracy results, this
Grape technology has many models namely rectangular, triangular, tetrahe­
[42] Leafy herbs 10 1.57 1350 USD
[105] Cherry tomatoes 15 1.37 5370 USD
dral and hexahedral. In recent years hybrid meshes are generated for
[76] Slice tomato 15 1.27 192,319 overcoming the basic grids. Next is the selection of parameters i.e.,
DZD Discretization methods. Then initialize the solution of the problem. For
[106] Strawberry 20 6.82 – solving the researcher problem in CFD has many codes are available in
Ansys Fluent software namely CFX, FOAM, Multiphysics, FIDAP,
Phoenics and so on [58]. Next is the Initialization of the solution. Once
alternatives and realistic to experimental testing [51]. Often modeling
the solution is converged has to check the accuracy of the computational
techniques significant seem to predict the temperature of food product
domain. If not, has to modify the above (input or mesh) up to the stage of
humidity level, dehydration time, performance and color. CFD are used
solution converge. The overall procedure of CFD is depicted in Fig. 5.
to analyze and investigate working fluid distribution and temperature
Designed a computational solar collector model in order to investigate
with in solar drying device [52]. Integrative network-based fluid pre­
the device performance as shown in Fig. 6(a). The assembled model
diction model is utilized to simulate the drying device behaviour. Arti­
enabled it to visualize temperature and air velocity profiles in the dryer
ficial neural network is used for hourly measurement of the mass of the
Fig. 6(b) and (c) [59]. Temperature and velocity distribution contours
dried food products [53]. FUZZY is very appropriate drying-system
were obtained using CFD for predicting the performance [60]. Devel­
simulation software. That can also be used with a small error to reli­
oped the solar cabinet dryer with TES unit for predicting the tempera­
ably predict the outcome [24]. Among the numerical modeling tech­
ture changes and heat transfer per unit area (heat flux) using CFD code
niques mentioned above, CFD has showed the good agreement with
(Fluent). Fig. 6(d) depicts the distribution of velocity streamlines
experimental measurement for ISD with PCM. Additionally, this work
through the cabinet drying system when the inlet air velocity was 0.025
includes the creation of correlations for the Nusselt number and friction
kg/s. The bottom of the dryer has a turbulent air flow distribution. The
factor.
highest and lowest temperatures were 42.3 ◦ C and 22.1 ◦ C, respectively.
The results agree with the experimental observations [61]. Designed a
Computational fluid dynamics forced type solar dryer and measured the performance of bitter gourd,
concluded with the designed dryer took lesser time for dehydration than
The supplementary material section S4 discusses the fundamentals of OSD [62]. Studied the developing of the CFD models for rough rice and
CFD. For complexity computational domain and more flow rates, the predicted the content of moisture and temperature distribution using the
turbulence models to be selected. The selection of the turbulence model developed CFD model as well as experimentally. Concluded with the
is a crucial one because it has a straight outcome on CFD postprocessing. CFD model gave accurate results and it was applied for any food prod­
There are two turbulence models available namely Reynolds Averaged ucts [63]. Developed a CFD model to obtain higher efficiency of the solar
Naiver-Stokes (RAN) model variables are in certain range with a sta­ dryer for drying cocoa beans. The developed model was validated with
tistical probability, and large eddy simulations (LES) model highly experimental results and it is produced 6% error [64]. Designed the solar

7
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

dryer and investigated the melon slices. The findings of the CFD test
were good match with the experimental observations of hot air tem­
perature and velocity distribution from the solar collector as well as
drying chamber of the solar air heater device. Also indicated that the
CFD analysis were acceptable to design the device [65]. Some of the
recent research on CFD of the solar dryer for food products listed in
Table 6. From the works of literature studied, k − ε turbulence model in
Ansys Fluent code gives better solution for the solar dryer food products
drying.

Development of correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor

Correlation development is the technique of creating a relationship

between input and output factors. To make such a solar dryer research
beneficial for researchers, correlations between heat transfer coefficient
and friction factor (f) with different factors like Reynolds number (Re),
relative roughness height (e/D) and relative roughness pitch (P/e) must
be developed. The experimental/computational investigation could be
used to determine the influence of various factors on the Nusselt number
(Nu) and friction factor. The variance of Nu and f with Re for different P/
e and e/D ratios was addressed for ribbed triangular duct solar air heater
[66,67]. Nusselt number increases uniformly as Re rises, increases as e/
d rises, and decreases as P/e rises. But the friction factor decreases
uniformly as Re rises, increases as e/d rises, and increases as P/e rises
[67,68]. As a result, it is necessary to develop a mathematical equation
for Nu and f, whose values are a result of Re, e/D, and P/e, and which are
mathematically expressed as,
e P
Nu = f (Re, , ) (2)
D e

e P
f = f (Re, , ) (3)
D e
Numerical regression analysis may be performed on the values of
various factors that are correlated to Nu and f. For instance, the
following correlation occurs for Nu and f for solar air heater designed
[66], according to the regression study:
( )
Nu = 0.00415Re0.95 (e/D)0.243 (P/e)1.217 exp − 0.236(ln(P/e) )2 (4)

( )
f = 6.436Re− 0.4 0.278
(e/D)
− 1.033
(P/e) exp − 0.244(ln(P/e) )2 (5)

The coefficient of determination values may be obtained during

correlation development to assess the accuracy of the developed model.

Important findings of the study

For the production of warm air for agricultural product preservation,

the industrial drying sector uses fossil fuels and electricity. Due to eco­
nomic challenges and the effects of climate change such as CO2 emis­
sions, global warming, and so on, solar energy resources are now being
used as an alternative method for generating warm air. Solar dryers with
low energy usage and zero carbon emissions can help to decrease CO2
emissions and mitigate global warming. The solar dryer could offer
farmers and the industrial sector as an alternative method to dry food
products in order to preserve and save them for a long period. Solar
dryers are more environmentally sustainable and generate more CO2
reduction. This technique helps the world in achieving global sustain­
able development goals. It will also eliminate economic challenges in
agricultural-based food-drying industries. The categorization of the
solar dryer is focused on the utilization of solar resources. ISD is a type of
Fig. 6. (a) Computational model [59]; (b) Velocity contour [59]; (c) Temper­
solar dryer that is often chosen for specific characteristics such as better
ature contour [59] and (d) Velocity streamline [61].
food product quality, quick processing, minimum losses, and better
control over the process when contrasted to other solar drying processes.
Fig. 7 shows the key discussions of this study in terms of ISD system
development, numerical methods and experimental performance

8
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Table 6
Recent research on CFD of the solar dryer.
Ref Setup TES material Food CFD code Dimension Type of mesh Turbulence/ Discretization Findings
product laminar scheme
model

[61] Indirect Spiral copper Apple Fluent 3D Hexa type and k - ε model Finite volume Predicted the heat flux and
cabinet solar filled with slices 14.0.0 Tetra type method thermal changes of the
dryer paraffin element storage tank during the
extraction process. At
various air flow rates, there
has been excellent
agreement between the
predicted and measured
observations.
[69] ISD (V-shape Paraffin wax Food Fluent 15 2D Quadrilateral Laminar flow Finite volume The temperature absorbed
absorber without and product cells method by the air became
plate) with fins significantly greater in
the PCM with fins setup than
in the PCM without fin setup.
At 1 m/s, the highest percent
gaining by air for PCM with
fin setup was 55.2% greater
than for the PCM without fin
setup.
[107] Solar air Macro- – Fluent 3D Hexahedral Viscous- Finite volume In this study, the phase
heater encapsulated elements laminar solver method change is aided by heat flux
paraffin wax incident on the upper
layer and conduction
through the bottom
layer from the absorber plate
surface, in addition to
convection. As a result, as the
flow velocity rises, the fluid
consistently removes heat
from the upper layer,
extending the melting time
in contrast to low velocity.
[108] ISD – Vanilla Fluent 3D – Transient and Finite volume For computation, transient
laminar flow method and laminar flow were
perceived, and it has been
done in an hourly period.
The observed and computed
temperatures at the solar
collector exit are very
precise, according to the
difference among CFD
analysis and temperature
readings.
[109] Indirect – Green fig Fluent 2D Tetrahedral k − ε model Finite volume The regular k model, which
cabinet solar 6.0.12 cell method was used with scientific
drying findings (pressure drop as
well as porosity in fruits
plates), generated very exact
outcomes.
[110] Solar air – – Fluent 2D Unstructured Vortex flow (k Finite volume The solar air heater with
heater with two- − ε model) method curved V-corrugated single
various dimensional pass plate has an optimum
corrugation mesh thermal performance of
91.93% and a 32.05%
improvement in the air
outlet temperature when
compared to the curved plate
smooth single pass solar air
heater.
[111] Cabinet dryer – Spent ANSYS 3D Tetrahedral k − ε model Finite volume Computation and
coffee workbench meshes method experimentation were used
ground 15 to investigate the inlet–outlet
position, thickness of the
product layer, and number of
trays placed in the dryer.
[112] Solar dryer – Rubber Fluent 14 3D – k − ε model Finite volume The correlation coefficient
sheets method (0.96 to 0.99) and root mean
square error percentage
(2.27–5.68%) results
indicated that the measured
and simulated values are in
(continued on next page)

9
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Table 6 (continued )
Ref Setup TES material Food CFD code Dimension Type of mesh Turbulence/ Discretization Findings
product laminar scheme
model

agreement for the entire

drying process.
[65] Solar air – Melon Fluent 3D – k − ε model Finite volume The designation of the device
collector slices method was aided by CFD studies of
with finned the solar air collector and
absorber drying chamber. In addition,
CFD simulations and
experimental findings were
also similar. The product
surface temperature was
tested at 50 ◦ C, and the
results indicated less
shrinkage and color change.
[113] Solar Tritriacontane – Fluent 19 3D Hexahedral Laminar flow Finite volume With an average deviation of
collector paraffin elements method 4.8% and 2.04% for the solar
collector without and with
PCM respectively, the
simulation results
demonstrate an adequate
agreement between the CFD
modelling and the
observational results.

Fig. 7. Key discussions of this study.

analysis for the creation of an innovative solar drying device for the
drying of food products. The key discussion figure’s highlighted fields
are being considered for the development of a solar drying device to
enhance performance. ISD comprises three major components: a blower
is used to force the working fluid into the solar collector, a solar collector
consisting of a glass cover and absorber plate for producing warm air,
and a drying chamber where food products are placed on trays. There
are majorly two types of absorber plates used in the solar collector
namely flat and corrugated. The flat plate absorber plate has a reduced
solar irradiation collection surface area than the corrugated absorber
plate, which leads to reducing the performance of the system. The usa­
ge of corrugated absorber plates has been identified as the most effective
solution among various technologies for generating hot air from solar
energy for drying applications. However, an intermittency problem (low
solar radiation or off-sunshine hours) is one huge issue connected with
solar sources. Therefore, advanced storage technologies like TES,
backflow, backup warming, etc. have thus been suggested as a solution
for extending the drying process. Among the various approaches, latent
heat TES is especially promising than certain techniques owing to the
potential to have higher heat capacity to store in an almost isothermal
manner, that is saves energy in uniform heat relating with the PCMs
state of transition. The use of TES based on paraffin materials in ISD
solar collectors contributes to a reduction of drying time. Paraffin wax is
the most commonly used PCM due to its availability in a wide variety of
temperatures along with significant melting heat. Furthermore, poor
heat conductivity is a major disadvantage of paraffin wax. This problem

10
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Fig. 8. Future recommended designs of the solar collector unit.

is addressed by incorporating high heat conductivity substance into compared to flat plated, as it has a higher area of absorption than other
PCM. Researchers have suggested adding high-conductivity metal plates. The payback periods were found less against the lifespan of the
foams, metal powdered substances, thin sheets, and wire meshes into devices. Therefore, this type of ISD is recommended for food products
PCMs to enhance their thermal conductivity. Among these methods, processing industries and farmers. Numerical techniques were quite
incorporating paraffin wax with aluminium thin plates nearly doubled helpful in development for an innovative solar dryer system for drying
the rate of heat transfer. As a result, this study proposed a novel food products. The future recommended models of the ISD with solar
corrugated absorber plate solar collector with aluminium fins installed collector unit have been represented in Fig. 8.
in paraffin wax-packed PCM as a TES unit ISD device to increase the
effectiveness, ecological sustainability and ecological viability of the CRediT authorship contribution statement
food product dying process.
S. Madhankumar: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation,
Conclusions and future recommendations Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Karthickeyan
Viswanathan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administra­
This review summarizes about an ISD based on fins inserted TES unit tion, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft,
for drying food products by presenting various PCM, fins used in the ISD, Writing – review & editing. Muhammad Ikhsan Taipabu: Methodol­
performance evaluation of the system and computational simulations. ogy, Data curation, Writing – review & editing. Wei Wu: Methodology,
The brief analysis of the same were given in tables, which provides a Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
comparative overview of the available PCM, location of PCM integrated
in ISD, fins incorporated with TES in ISD and CFD methods for drying
Declaration of Competing Interest
food products. The use of TES devices and latent heat storage materials
improved the sustainable use of ISDs and increasing the operation of ISD
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
even after off sunshine hours. Using TES has enabled reduce the number
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
of hours required to remove water content. The PCM with a higher latent
the work reported in this paper.
fusion heat and a high surface area for heat exchange are necessary for
good thermal efficiency of the ISD, and is presently been widely studied.
Data availability
The low thermal conductivity identifies many PCMs as having a specific
issue. With the support of the fins, the above-mentioned problem has
No data was used for the research described in the article.
been reduced, it has strong thermal conductivity and improves the ab­
sorption surface area. Paraffin wax PCM and aluminum fin has provided
Acknowledgements
better performance than other materials from the literature reviewed.
Additionally, corrugated absorber plate is provided for better efficiency
The authors would like to thank the management of Sri Krishna

11
S. Madhankumar et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 58 (2023) 103298

Institutions, Coimbatore, India for their support. Also, thanks to environmental and economic analysis. Sustain Energy Technol Assessm 2021;47:
101513. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SETA.2021.101513.
Department of Science and Technology (Government of India)-Science
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