Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a detail review of literature on the developments in the area of

harnessing solar energy for application like solar food dryer is presented. The present
study has been carried out for design and developed of the Evacuated Tube Solar
Grape Dryer system, work done in the area of solar food drying mainly focused on
grape drying by researchers have been thoroughly reviewed with regards to
approaches used and tools and techniques employed. The thrust of the ongoing
research and limitations of existing approaches are highlighted. The review of
literature has been categorized as follows:
1. Design and developments of flat plate solar dryer with natural and forced
convection heat transfer.
2. Design and developments of Evacuated Tube Solar Collector for food drying and
water/ air heating applications.
3. Pre-treatment used to improve the water permeability, to increase Drying Rate.

4. Drying kinetics study of the high moisture content food product like grape to
predict mathematically the drying phenomenon.

5. Mathematical modelling of Evacuated Tube Solar Collector.

The main parts of the drying system are the Solar Collector and Dryer. The function
of the Solar Collector is to convert and store the solar energy in the form of heat
energy; which is further passed in the dryer to do the useful work of moisture removal
from the product. In this chapter other aspects of the solar drying systems are also
studied.

2. 1 CLASSIFICATION OF SOLAR DRYERS

Solar dryers are broadly classified based on, how the solar energy is utilized in the
system that is Direct, Indirect and Mixed mode types of Solar Dryers as shown in the
figure 2.1

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 Fig. 2.1 Classification of Solar Dryer Systems

2.1.1 Direct Solar Dryers

As the name implies, the Direct Solar Dryer uses the direct radiation from sun.
Radiation transmit through a transparent cover, usually glass, is widely used as cover
and incident on the food product placed for drying. The glass cover reduces
convective losses, direct to the surroundings, increasing the temperature inside the
dryer. These types of dryers are further classified based on their design of the dryer
cabinet as follows:

2. 1. 1.1 Cabinet type Solar Dryer

Cabinet Type Solar Dryer is shown in figure 2.2. Usually it is a small box, made
from wood, having the ratio of a length to width is about three. All the inner sides and
bottom of this cabinet are painted with dull black colour to absorb solar radiation
transmitted through the glass cover.

Fig. 2.2 Solar cabinet dryer (Direct type)

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This inside surface works as black body which absorbs heat energy. The holes are
provided at the bottom as well as upper sides of the dryer, to have proper air
ventilation in the cabinet.

2. 1.1. 2. Staircase Solar Dryer

Fig. 2.3 Staircase type Direct Solar Dryer

A Staircase Type Direct Solar Dryer is shown in figure 2.3. Its shape is same as that
of a metallic staircase. The base and sides of this dryer are covered with two walled
galvanized sheet metal and the sandwiched cavity is filled with glass wool, for
insulating this system from surrounding, to reduce the heat losses by convection. The
top surface of dryer is covered with a transparent glass or plastic sheet, to allow solar
radiation to pass through and be trapped inside. The dryer consists of three shelves
and wire mess to load the food product. The upper transparent glazed surface is
divided in 3 equal sections which can swing to open, to have access to these three
compartments inside the dryer. Food product to be dried is spread on
aluminum/stainless steel trays, having wire mesh at the bottom and exposed to solar
radiation. The temperature inside the dryer rises due to trapping the long wave solar
radiation, resulting in evaporation of moisture from the food product (Sharma, 1986).
A chimney is normally located at the top end of the dryer to remove moist air from
cabinet. This setup is placed in a north-south alignment at 30 to 450with the
horizontal to harness maximum solar radiation. At the base of the dryer, four holes are
made to allow air entry in cabinet. The partition walls between compartments also
have similar type of air holes to allow air flow (Halak, 1996).

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2.1.1.3 Solar dryer with Glass Roof

A solar food dryer with glass roof is shown in figure 2.4. In this type of dryer two
long inclined glass roofs are presents, which are aligned along the length to cover the
cabinet. These roofs are inclined to the north-south direction. A hood cap is provided
on the top of roof with a longitudinal slot to remove the moist air. So with this
arrangement, a partial vacuum is created inside the cabinet. Due to pressure,
difference generated between cabinet and atmospheric air, fresh atmospheric air is
sucked in through holes, which are provided on the side walls. These holes are
normally facing east and west below the drying platforms to observe uniform air flow.
The inner wall and trays are painted with black colour to absorb the energy. Fresh air
enters into the dryer from shutters, which are provided in the lower portion of the wall
below the glass roof and above the drying platforms. This controls the air circulation
and temperature inside cabinet, so that food products which are evenly spread over the
trays get heated up by using solar radiation transmitting through the glass and the
inside temperature increased.

Fig. 2.4 Solar Dryer with Glass Roof

However these types of dryers have disadvantages as follows,

 As food products getting dried are directly exposed to the solar radiation, their
skin becomes hard decreasing the quality of the products.
 In case of Open Direct Type of Solar Dryers there is always the threat of
accumulation of dust, dirt and insects on the food products.

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  The colour of the final dried food product gets deteriorated due to harmful
radiations.
 Efficiency of this type of dryer is less as its temperature remains very close to
ambient temperature so on.
Hence it is not advisable to use direct type of solar dryers to dry the food stuffs like
grape in which the colour and other nutritional quality decides the market value of
that dried product.

2. 2 INDIRECT TYPE OF SOLAR DRYER

The Indirect Types of Solar Dryers are mostly used to overcome the
drawbacks of the Direct Type of Solar Dryers. In this section two different types of
Indirect Solar Dryer are discussed in detail. They are: Natural convection/circulation
of Air and Forced convection/circulation of Air.

2. 2. 1 Solar Dryer with Natural Convection

An air movement in such types of dryer is made by natural convection. Solar

collector collects the heat by natural convection and passes in to the dryer chamber.
Food products kept in such dryer get heat from this hot working fluid. Due to this
movement of hot air over the products, the moisture which is migrated and free
moisture present on the surface gets evaporated and escapes from the dryer by natural
circulation of hot air.

2.2.2 Natural Convection Solar Dryer with Chimney

Natural Convection Solar Dryer with Chimney, which is normally called as passive
type of Solar Dryer, is shown in figure 2.5. This system has flat plate type solar
collector to absorb the solar radiation. The drying chamber is directly connected to
solar collector and a chimney is present at the top of dryer. The solar collector has a
black painted copper flat plate, which works as an absorber. A transparent cover is
placed on the top of this plate with some air gap, to make the passage for the air flow.
The bottom of the collector is insulated to reduce heat losses from the bottom surface
of the collector plate.

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 Fig. 2.5 Natural Convection Indirect Type Solar Dryer

One end of this collector is kept open to atmosphere and other end is connected to the
bottom of drying chamber which is made of wood. The inside surface of this chamber
is painted with black colour to gain maximum amount of heat supplied to it. The
chimney is fixed on the top of this chamber, which increases the buoyant force
imposed on the air stream. Due to this arrangement air flow velocity increases inside
the chamber, causing the pressure drop. Hence pressure gradient is formed inside and
outside the dryer, causing the flow of air in it naturally called as Natural Circulation.
Non corrosive metal trays are placed in the chamber on which the food stuff which is
to be dried can be placed (El-Sebaii, 2002).

2.2.3 Natural Convection Solar Dryer with Heat Storage Material

It has the similar setup as that of simple flat plate solar dryer system. The flat plate
collector chamber is normally insulated from all side, except top exposed side, to
minimize the heat losses. The top exposed surface of the absorber is fitted with a
toughened transparent glass plate to pass the solar radiation. Sand is filled in the gap
of the absorber and the insulation layer of the collector box. This sand acts as heat
storage material collecting heat in the form of its sensible heat to obtain hot air even
after sunset. Inner surface of the dryer chamber is made by Aluminium sheet and
outer surface is made by Galvanize Iron sheet, Insulation is provided in between the
inner and outer surface of the dryer chamber, to minimize the heat loss. Five drying
trays are placed one above other with equal distance between them. Loading and

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unloading the trays is done through a door, which is made at one of the vertical sides
of the dryer chamber. To create the required draft, through of air in the dryer chamber
usually, a chimney provided at the top of the chamber (Pangavhane, 2002).

Fig. 2.6 Natural Convection solar Dryer with Heat Storage Material

Pangahvane and Sawhney (2000) have developed and tested the natural convection
solar grape dryer. The Natural Convection Dryer was described in detail.

Fig. 2.7 Natural Convection Indirect type Solar Dryer

(Pangahvane, 2000)

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In their developed dryer the rate of drying was reduced by 73% as that of shade
drying. They have also demonstrated in the year 2002 that, Natural Convection Solar
Drying System is suitable not only for drying of grapes but also for various
agricultural food products and vegetables were dried effectively with their developed
setup. In their study, Thompson seedless grapes were successfully dried in the Natural
Convection Flat Plate Solar Dryer. The qualitative analysis showed that the traditional
drying methods like Open Sun and Shade Drying dried the grapes in 7 and 15 days
respectively, while with the developed Solar Dryer grapes were dried in only 5 days
and produced better quality raisins (Sharma, 1993).

Fadhel (2005) has compared the solar grape drying with Open Sun and Greenhouse
drying and found Solar Drying was suitable and economical over other types of
drying. The experimented drying of Sultana grapes with three different drying
techniques were carried out and compared all. The drying kinetics were studied for
the solar grape drying with three different types like natural convection solar drying,
tunnel greenhouse drying and open sun drying. It was observed that the time required
to dry the grapes with tunnel type green house was nearly same as compared to solar
dryer with natural convection. But it was commented that overall, the Greenhouse
Tunnel Dryer had performed better than the Natural Convection Solar Dryer and
Open Sun Dryer.

2. 3. FORCED CIRCULATION TYPE

Unlike the Natural Convection Solar Dryer in case of Forced type Solar Dryers
the working fluid is circulated forcefully throughout the system that is from the
collector inlet to dryer outlet. To make the force circulation of the air through the
system a blower or fan is used which is operated either by convention or non
conventional source of energy.

2. 3. 1 Forced Convection Flat Plate Solar Dryers with Obstacles

Figure2.8 shows a simple solar air flat plate collector system with forced convection
method used for food product drying. In this system obstacles are placed in solar
collector and air blower is used to make force convection of working fluid. The

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system has a solar air flat plate collector, a drying chamber attached with this
collector and a fan on the top of the chamber.

Fig. 2.8 Forced Convection Flat Plate Solar Dryers with Obstacles
In this system forced circulation of air is made with the help of blower or fan fitted at
the inlet of solar collector. The absorber plate is made up of aluminium sheet painted
with black paint to absorb maximum solar energy falling on it. The surface of the
absorber is created with some small obstacles to the air flow, reducing the air velocity
inside the collector. The reduced air velocity improves the heat transfer rate from the
absorber plat to working fluid. Usually the collector surface is at an inclined angle of
45o with the horizontal facing due south to gain maximum solar radiation without
tracking. Hence, the temperature of working fluid increases in this type of system
resulting Higher Thermal Efficiency of the solar collector than other type of flat plate
collector using Forced Circulation of working fluid (Abene, 2004).

Idlimam and Kane (2007) have carried out Solar drying experiments in thin layer for
drying food product with Forced Convection Solar Dryer. An auxiliary heater along
with solar collector was also used in the experimentation. The experiments of drying
food product were carried out which was sufficiently dried in the ambient temperature
range between 32 °C to 36 °C whereas, the dryer temperature was recorded as 45°C
to 70°C. The relative humidity, mass flow rate of air and solar radiations were
2
observed in the range of 32% to 53 %; 0.028 - 0.056 m3/s and 200 - 950 W/m
respectively. It was observed experimentally that, drying of food product occurs in

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only the falling rate of drying. It was found that main factor which controls the drying
rate was the drying air temperature.

Fig. 2.9 Forced Convection Flat Plate Solar Dryer (Idlimam, 2007)
The drying rate was determined empirically from the characteristic drying curve.
Twelve well known mathematical models were tested to fit the experimental data. It
was concluded that MR = a*exp(-ktn )+bt model was found satisfactory to describe
the solar drying curves of that particular food product. The experimental setup is
shown in the figure.2.9

Tchaya et al. (2008) has designed and developed a prototype of an Indirect Type Solar
Dryer with Forced Convection to carry out experimental analysis. The velocity of the
working fluid was kept in the range of 1 m/s to 1.4 m/s. Various experiments were
performed to obtain 3 different flux modes of operations. A device was mounted at
the output of the collector which manually created 3 different modes like the Licking,
the Cross Flow and the Mixed Mode. It was observed that change of more than 8 °C
in temperatures on different trays in Crossing Mode, as compared to the Licking
Mode, where no difference was recorded. The total setup was constructed by using
local material. The temperature ranging from 40 ° C to 69 ° C in the drying chamber
was achieved for each mode of airflow drying on each tray. It was concluded that, the
Solar Dryer has improved the performance of crop drying.

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 Fig.2.10 Experimental setup of Forced Convection Flat Plate Solar dryer
(Tchaya, 2008)

Rushi et al. (2010) has successfully compared the results of flat plate collector with
and without tracking. He performed the experimentation on a 100 liters/day capacity
flat plate water heater, which was commercially available. He instrumented that
collector and developed into an experimental test-rig to conduct the experiments on it.
The experiments were conducted for seven days, when the atmospheric conditions
were almost uniform. The data was collected both for fixed and tracked conditions of
the flat plate collector. It was observed that there was an average rise of 4oC in the
outlet temperature. It was found that there was a gain in collector efficiency by 5-7%
by using tracking mechanism.

Pardhi and Bhagoria (2013) have experimentally studied a Forced Convection Type
Solar Dryer with the help of smooth and rough plate solar collector for grape drying.
The work of the development of dryer considerations was explained in detail. The
performance of the system was compared from the results of various experiments of
the smooth and the rough plate collector. It was found poor thermal performance of
solar collector due to low heat transfer rate by convection, from the absorber plate to
working fluid (air). An artificial rib roughness on the underside was provided to the
absorber plate. With that system it was found that heat transfer coefficient was
increased considerably. The absorber plate temperature was observed to 69.2°C

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which, was attained with the maximum air temperature in the dryer chamber to
64.1°C under no load condition. 3 kg of grapes were dried from an Initial Moisture
Content of 81.4%, to the Final Moisture Content of 18.6% within 4 days while it took
8 days for drying in Open Sun Drying of same quality and same quantity grapes. The
prototype dryer developed for a maximum collector area of 1.03 m2. It was shown that
solar dryer with rough plate collector performs better than smooth plate collector for
drying of grapes.

Jithinraj (2014) has designed and experimentally tested a new type of efficient solar
dryer specially made for drying fruit. The Flat Plate Solar Dryer system was designed
by using the Forced Air Circulation arrangement to absorb maximum solar radiation.
The sensible heat of granite sheet was used as heat storage material. Forced
Circulation of Air is made by using the air blower which is placed at the air inlet. The
absorber plate temperature was recorded to 770C under no load conditions with
maximum air temperature in the dryer was found 410C. 2 kg of grapes were dried
from an Initial Moisture Content of 80%, to the Final Moisture Content of 6% within
36 hours. The collector surface was inclined at a particular angle based on the
location, to absorb maximum solar radiation

Fig. 2.11 Forced Convection Solar Grape Dryer (Jithinraj,2014)

The detail analysis was performed, with and without thermal storage medium and
compared the results. It was observed that drying time was decreased and moisture
removal rate was increased with thermal storage material.

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Husainy (2015) has designed Forced Convection Solar Dryer for grapes and it was
studied experimentally at Miraj, India (16.830N). The Flat Plate Solar Collector
System was used which was connected to drying chamber. The experimental study
was carried out with a batch of 30kg of good quality of grapes.

Fig. 2.12 Experimental setup of Forced Convection Solar Grape Dryer

(Husainy, 2015)

It was observed experimentally that, in case for Solar Dryer drying time was reduced
up to 6 days as compared to Shade Drying which requires 10-12 days. He reported
that solar dried grapes took less time to reach the Final Safe Moisture Content as
compared to Shade Dried grapes with superior quality of raisins.

2.4 EVACUATED TUBE COLLECTOR TYPE

A twin-glass evacuated tube consists of the outer tube made of strong transparent
borosilicate glass and the inner tube is also made of same material, but coated with a
special selective coating of Al-Ni/Al having high solar heat absorption coefficient
and very low heat reflection feature. The top of the two tubes is fused together and
evacuated as shown in Figure 2.13.

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 Fig. 2.13 Evacuated Tube Structure
The Sunlight enters through the outer glass tube, absorbed by the selective coatings
and transferred subsequently to the circulating liquid media. It is reported in literature
that Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors are more efficient throughout the year, as they
can operate under cloudy conditions as well. However, they are considerably more
expensive than Flat Plate Solar Collectors. But higher temperature can achieve in
Evacuated Tube Collector than Flat Plate Collector with higher thermal efficiency.

Yadav et al. (2011) has investigated the experimental performance of the Solar Air
Heating System by using one end open evacuated tubes. The array of parallel forty
evacuated tubes connected to each other was used to generating the hot air, with
collector surface area measured as 4.44 m2. The standard dimensions of each
evacuated tube as length and outer and inner glass tube diameters were1500 mm, 47
mm and 37 mm, respectively. It was used 1500 mm length square the header (190 mm
x 190 mm) with 108 litres of water used as primary working fluid and air was passed
through the 60 mm pipe, which it worked as secondary working fluid. It was found
that the collector outlet temperature of air depends on various factors like air flow
rate and solar radiation. Two techniques were used like, up-flow and down-flow of air
in header in similar weather conditions, with different air flow rates. It was found that
the system was very effective for the air heating purpose. The comparison was made
between the results obtained for down flow and up flow configuration with concluding
remark that down flow configuration was more efficient due to less losses.

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 Fig. 2.14 Evacuated Tube Solar Collector (Down Flow) (Yadav, 2011)

Dabra et al. (2013) has experimentally studied the performance of the Evacuated Tube
Solar Collector with air used as working fluid for different collector tilt angles. It was
shown that tilt angle has a significant influence on the collector outlet temperature and
in turn thermal efficiency of the system. It was carried out the experiments with and
without reflector arranged at the bottom of ETC system. It was also showed that the
thermal performance of the ETC system with a tilt angle of 30° by using reflector is
better than the system arranged at tilt angle of 45°, with or without reflector. Through
the experimental study it was concluded that increasing collector tilt angle had not
any positive effect on the thermosyphon process of the evacuated tubes

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 Fig. 2.15 Experimental setup of ETC System with Reflector (Dabra, 2013)

Kumar (2013) studied experimentally performance of the ETC solar system for
different air flow rates. The experimental study was carried out in Indian climatic
conditions, with air used as working fluid. The array of 15 evacuated tubes was
arranged with a central manifold channel (a square pipe) connecting all tubes parallel
to each other. The inlet and outlet temperature was measured and instantaneous
thermal efficiencies of the system were calculated, to analyze the performance of the
ETC solar system. The thermal performance of the system was studied with and
without using reflector and found the collector outlet temperature 97.4°C and 74.4°C
respectively at an air flow rate of 6.70 kg/hr.

Rajagopal (2014) has design and developed Evacuated Tube Solar System with
Forced Air Circulation made by blower. The system was used for drying
experimentation of food products at Coimbatore district Tamilnadu, India. It was
found in the literature that, by using Forced Convection Mode of heat transfer used
for ETC solar system improves the drying of food products, significantly the quality
of dried products also improved. Hence the experimental study was carried out for
drying agriculture food product with forced convection and he compared the
performance with Natural Convection Solar Drying. The food product was dried

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successfully from Initial Moisture Content of 52.3% (wb) to Final desired Moisture
Content of 8% (wb) with the developed setup. During the experimentation, the
temperature was recorded inside the drying chamber as 78ºC for forced convection,
with the ambient air temperature of 32ºC. It was noticed that solar dried product was
free from dust, smoke, rodent damage and bird. The ETC solar dryer with Forced
Convection performed better and dried the food material faster than Natural
Convection Solar Dryer.

Fig. 2.16 Schematic Evacuated Tube Solar Dryer (Rajagopal, 2014)

Panwar et al. (2015) has carried out the thermal performance analysis of ETC solar air
heating system, similar to that of Kumar (2013) done with additional aluminium tubes
which were inserted in each evacuated tube to improve the performance. Various
experiments were carried out with Forced Air Circulation generated by air blower. It
was observed that the thermal efficiency of the system, using reflector with high air
flow rate, was nearly double than the thermal efficiency of system without using
reflector and low air flow rate. It was also recorded that the highest temperature
difference between the inlet and outlet air of 65.80C with the use of reflector.

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Fig. 2.17 Experimental Setup of Evacuated Tube Solar Collector (Panwar, 2015)

This long wave radiation gets trapped in the systems creating the green house effect.
Due to this effect the temperature inside the chamber can rise up 200C, more than
ambient air temperature. This heated air inside the drying chamber passes through the
trays stacked and evaporates the moisture of food product. These kinds of systems are
suitable for large scale production, with relatively low drying temperature (Fohr,
1992)

2.5 CONCENTRATED TYPE COLLECTORS

Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) is reflected or refracted and concentrated on small

absorber area to generate high temperature, which is known as concentrated type
collectors. They are further classified as Central Receiver Tower type, Parabolic Dish
and Parabolic trough type collectors. These types of collectors are merely used in
food drying operation due to high requirement of lands and due to high temperature
output of the system, which is not essential in food drying and continuous tracking
mechanism is required to collect maximum amount of solar energy.

2.6 DRYING KINETICS

The prediction the moisture loss or drying phenomenon analytically is termed as study
of drying kinetics of the food product, following literature was studied for studying
this phenomenon in depth.

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Hong-Wei Xiao and et.al (2010) have studied drying kinetics and quality of Monukka
seedless grapes in an impingement dryer under different drying temperatures and air
velocities. It was observed that the effect of the drying air velocity has less influence
on the drying rate than the drying air temperature. The effective moisture diffusivity
was calculated by using Fick’s equation and found in the range of 1.82x10-10 to
5.84x10-10 m/s2. It was reported that the hardness of the raisins had shown increasing
trend with drying air temperature. It was shown with experimental results that the
drying air temperature has significant effect on the retention of Vitamin C, and there
was no definite correlation between the drying air velocity and retention of Vitamin C
of the raisins. The retention ratio of Vitamin C was observed in their experiments in
the range of 10.26 to 39.73%.

Sundari and Neelamegam (2013) have studied drying behaviour of the Muscat grapes
by using Evacuated Type Solar Drier in Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India. During their
experimentation temperature at various places, relative humidity, wind velocity and
mass of the sample was recorded and quantities were calculated with drying period,
dryer efficiency per hour basis. They observed the temperature difference in the range
of 550C- 600Cwith developed ETC solar system against the solar radiation of 155.6 to
1115 W/m2. It was found that the drying of Muscat grapes occurred in falling rate of
drying within 14 hours to desired moisture content of 9.5% (wb). The dryer efficiency
was recorded as 29.92%. Hence it was concluded from the statistical analysis of the
grape drying that Page’s model described drying of the Muscat grapes accurately with
R2 = 0.991, lowest reduced Chi-Square as χ2 = 0.001 and lowest RMSE = 0.0297.

Da-Silva (2014) has carried out the comparative drying study of seedless grape which
were dried at low temperature. It was found that models which were chosen have, a
common characteristic, an analytical expression for the derivative of dimensionless
moisture content with respect to time. The results were compared to simulate the
drying kinetics which indicated that, despite Page’s and Silva et al models well
represented the process, the best model was Peleg model. For this model, the
statistical indicators of the simulation were calculated as coefficient of determination
R2 = 0.99944 and Chi-Square is χ2 = 1.2335 x 10-3.

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2.7 PRE TREATMENTS ON GRAPE BEFORE DRYING

Treating the grape with an oil emulsion or a dilute alkaline solution is a commonly
followed practice. This treatment accelerates the drying process by increasing the
water permeability of grapes, and by improving the internal moisture diffusion
coefficient. It was observed from literature that two different pre treatment processes
are available as hot dipping and cold dipping method. In the hot dipping method
bunches of grapes are dipped in the aqueous boiling solution while in cold dipping
method the temperature of emulsion is kept at ambient condition. It is found that hot
dipping method increases the drying rate but in cold dipping method an attractive
golden brown colour is achieved. It is uneconomical to use hot dipping method in
case of mass production. Each component of the drying emulsion may interact with
the berry skin, the cuticle, and underlying layers. Chemical composition,
concentration, pH, temperature and pre-treating time has great influence on micro
structural changes occurring on the skin of grapes. Dipping of grape bunches in
solution of 2.5% alkaline solution of Ethyl Oleate (EO) and 2% K2CO3/Na2CO3 for 2
to 4 minutes is common practice. Nowadays some commercial grape drying dipping
oils are also available in the market and extensively used by raisins processors. The
durations for which the grapes are dipped in the solution has significant effect on the
moisture content, colour intensity and other quality attributes.

Based on the information available in the literature, the pretreatment which was
selected for this research was, a cold dipping method, by using the dipping oil (Ethyl
Oleate) 2.5% and 2% Na2CO3. The fresh Thompson seedless grapes were dipped in
the solution for 2-3 minutes and then spread over the trays in dryer chamber.

2.8 THERMAL MODELING

Praene (2005) has developed an analytical model of an Evacuated Tube Solar

Collector for variable weather conditions, to predict theoretically the performance of
the system. The mathematical model was validated with experimental results, and
Parametric Sensitivity Analysis was applied to the model to improve the accuracy. It
was described the mathematical model of an ETC solar collector by using air as
working fluid and the model was validated in the initial phase with experimental data.
In second phase a Parametric Sensitivity Analysis was applied to the modelled data to

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validate the results. According to Praene it was very interesting study, to determine
the relative importance and the nature of the effect of the parameters. It was
important, so as to improve the model by controlling these parameters or accurately
measuring it. Following equation are representing the thermal model developed by
Praene to predict the analytical performance of the Evacuated Tube Solar Collector,

(2.1)
= � �( � − )+ ℎ − ( − ) + � �( − )

(2.2)
= �� + � �( − )+ ℎ − ( − )

(2.3)
+ = ℎ − ( − )

Where, , , − Specific heat of Evacuated Tube outer Glass, Absorber/Inner

Glass and air respectively,
, �, , , − Temperature of ambient, Sky, working fluid (air), Outer
and Inner glass respectively.
� − Emissivity of glass tube,
� − Stiffen Boltzmann constant,
ℎ − ℎ − − Heat transfer coefficient between air and glass, working
fluid and absorber glass respectively,
�� − Transmittance and absorbtance coefficient,
− Time required

−Velocity of air.

Taha et al. (2010) has explained the importance of simulation models as one of the
designing tools and useful for predicting the solar collector performance. The study
was carried out to design Analytical Model for predicting Thermal Efficiency of Flat
Plate Solar Collector. Various parameters were calculated analytically, like heat gain
by the working fluid and temperature at various places on the solar collector outlet air
temperature, glass cover temperature and absorber plate temperature under steady
conditions. The basic principles and relationships of heat transfer techniques were
used to simulate the behaviour of the solar collector under various conditions. The
solar collector was divided in five sectors for their model. The effect of the air flow
and wind speed above the collector, were investigated on its thermal efficiency

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collector, by using the mathematical model. The analytical data and their attributes for
predicting the values of solar radiation, was developed through the program. The
mathematical model derived by the Taha is shown in Equations 2.4 to 2.6,

∗ � + − � + − + − + − � = (2.4)

− � + − � =0 (2.5)

∗ � ∗ � + − + − � + −� =0 (2.6)

Where, , ,, , − Heat transfer by conduction convection and radiation,

− Solar radiation,
� − Transmittance of top glass cover,
� − Absorbsivity of plate.

According to the author, direct solar radiation was the largest component of total
radiation, and diffused radiation was the second largest component; whereas the
reflected radiation considerably contributed very small proportion in total radiation,
except for the locations surrounded by highly reflective surfaces such as concrete
cover. Based on the comparative analysis, it was concluded, that developed model is
accurate enough to predict the performance of solar flat plat collector.

Sharma (2011) has investigated mathematically thermal performance of a novel mini

channel based Solar Evacuated Tube Collector. A U-shaped flat-tube absorber was
inserted in the conventional ETC solar system instead of heat pipe arrangement. The
surface of the plate was coated with a selective coating, to absorb maximum amount
of heat. Air was used as working fluid, which was made to flow through the array of
mini-channels. The performance was evaluated experimentally and pressure drop at
different inlet temperatures and air flow rates were tested. The comparison was done
of the thermal performance of the Mini Channel-based Solar Collector with
conventional type of an Evacuated Tube Solar Collector without mini-channels from
the literature. Better results were found in case of the ETC solar collector using mini
channel. The mathematical model used in this work is given by following set of
equations,

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� {( − )+( − )} + � ( − )=ℎ � ( − � ) (2.7)

(2.8)
� { − + − }+� { − + − }= ( − )

− (2.9)
=

Where, � , � , � , � , − area of glass inner and outer, area of absorber with coating
without coating respectively,
, , , − Solar radiation incident on inner, outer glass, on absorber with,
without coated surface respectively,
, , , − Surface radiocity of inner, outer glass, and absorber with, without

coated surface respectively,

, � , , − Temperature of glass, inlet working fluid, absorber with, without
coated surface respectively,
ℎ Heat Transfer Coefficient,
− Absorber Resistance, −Mass of Air.

Beithou (2014) has modelled a system of double pass under floor heating with
Evacuated Tube Solar Collector. The used energy was a renewable energy that does
not affect the environment. The system modelled consists of an Evacuated Tube Solar
Collector for heating the water, the under floor heating system consists of two lined
up pipes to help in the case of low inlet water temperatures, the control unit is used to
manage the heating system and save energy in case of excess solar radiation. The
governing equations for the system, based on energy conservation were written and
simulated iteratively. It has been found that at low temperatures the required mass
flow rate of hot water increases dramatically, as a result of insufficient heat to cover
the heating load of the space, this system allows the double pass heat transfer mode to
be switched on to reduce the flow velocity and allow the workability of the system to
be valid at lower temperatures. Also in the case of low heating loads, the amount of
hot water required to cover the heat requirement of the space will be very low. The
reduction in the heating load will allow the system to send a part of the hot fluid to the
storage tank, to store the hot water and achieve a lower temperature water flow. The
simulation of such model may give a clear idea about the workability of the under

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floor heating system, the required solar collector area, and manage the energy within
the system. The under floor was considered with multi-pass arrangement, and the
control unit was simulated transient conditions of the system. The realistic system was
considered by accounting for the floor heat losses and the thermal storage. The set of
equations mentioned below describe the mathematical model of the system,

−� = �∗�∗ (2.10)

� ∗ � = ∗ ∗ � − �− (2.11)

=�∗ (2.12)

Where, , � and −� − Solar energy transmitted through ETC, heat gained at

second manifold by water and heat gained by working fluid in first manifold
respectively,
� − Efficiency of ETC,
� − Transmittance of ETC tube,
� − Area of single ETC,
and − mass and specific heat of water,
− Solar radiation,
� and �− − Temperature of water at successive nodes.

Aboulmagd (2014) has described a new model for the performance analysis of
Evacuated Tube Solar Collectors. The analyzed collector was equipped with truncated
compound parabolic reflectors, but the analysis was also extended to the case of
collectors without reflectors. The original software was developed under MATLAB
environment for the simulation purpose. A novel numerical procedure was
implemented, to obtain the solution for the nonlinear set of equations, representing the
mathematical model. In the model, the variation of important parameters is considered
in the circumferential, longitudinal and radial directions. The length of the tube,
where the heat transfer fluid flown, was divided into a specified number of segments
and the energy analysis was performed for each segment along the tube length, in
order to obtain the variation of different parameters in the longitudinal direction. The
model analyzed separately the optics and the heat transfer in the evacuated tubes and
this approach allowed extending the analysis to new configurations. The model can be
simulated the efficiency curve under steady-state conditions, according to the standard

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EN 12975-2 (EN 12975-2. Thermal solar systems and components - solar collectors -
Part 2: Test Methods. Brussels: CEN; 2006). A comparison with experimental data
showed the accuracy of the presented model. The mathematical model developed is
given with the help of following set of equations,

"
− { − − } (2.13)
� =
+ /

"
[ − − ] (2.14)
=
+ /

= � + (2.15)

Where, , � , − Net heat gained by working fluid, heat rate flow through fins and

tube respectively,
− Collector efficiency factor,
, − Perimeter of fin,
− Diameter of the tube,
" −Absorb solar power
− Overall loss coefficient and
− Thermal conductivity of fin.

2.9 FOCUS

During the literature survey the main focus was the practical adaptability of the
research work. Most of the times it is observed that the experiments carried out are
under known and controlled environment. But in practice the environmental
conditions like, temperature relative humidity, etc. may vary with time, hence it
generates the errors while commercializing the research work. In this research work
this aspect is kept at important level and hence drying is done under the uncontrolled
environmental conditions.

A selective review of available literature in the field brings out an important

consideration related to different technique used for solar grape drying using ETC
solar system. The gaps in the literature with regard to developing a prototype solar

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ETC grape dryer using Forced Air Circulation Systems have also come to the force.
The present work is an attempt in the direction of developing an efficient and
economical grape drying system, by utilizing solar energy.

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