Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Experimental and CFD survey of indirect solar dryer modified with low-cost T
iron mesh
Hande Özge Gülera, Adnan Sözenb, Azim Doğuş Tuncerc,d, Faraz Afsharie, Ataollah Khanlarif, ,
⁎

Ceylin Şirinc, Afsin Gungorg,h

a
Food Engineering, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey
b
Energy Systems Engineering, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
c
Energy Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering-Architecture, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey
d
Natural and Applied Science Institute, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
e
Mechanical Engineering, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey
f
Mechanical Engineering, University of Turkish Aeronautical Association, Ankara, Turkey
g
Mechanical Engineering, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
h
Bucak Technology Faculty, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In the present work, double-pass indirect solar dryer (DPISD) and double-pass indirect solar dryer with mesh
Solar air collector absorber modification (DPISDMA) have been designed, analyzed, manufactured and tested. The main aim of this
Double-pass study is improving the thermal efficiency of double-pass solar air collector by integrating iron meshes. Pepino
Mesh modification fruit (Solanum muricatum L.) samples in two thicknesses have been used in the experimental study. Also, CFD
CFD
analysis of both solar air collectors and drying chamber and quality metrics such as phenolic, total flavonoid
Pepino drying
Antioxidants
contents and antioxidant activity have been conducted. Numerical simulation and experimental results showed
that using mesh modification has positive influence on the performance of the collector. The highest value of the
average efficiency of the dryer was obtained in DPISDMA for the thin sample thickness as 23.08%. According to
quality analyses, the experiments which done in DPISDMA gave the best results with highest values of TPC, TFC
and antioxidant activity values (p < 0.05). Drying data of the pepino fruit for different experiments were
modelled according to 8 different most used mathematical models. Accordingly, the best fitted kinetics model
was determined as Logarithmic model for all experiments which gave the most accurate statistical values.

1. Introduction widespread storage techniques which preserve their nutritive properties

Pepino (Solanum muricatum L.) is a fruit belonging to Solanacea
family, can grow in bush form which is a perennial plant of South
American origin (Polat et al., 1997). Pepino fruit is rich in A, B, C vi-
tamins and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium. The
fresh fruit generally is used in breakfasts, appetizers, salads and com-
mercially known as Peru melon and bush melon. Antioxidant com-
pounds in food products as phenolics, flavonoids, vitamin E and vitamin
C have gained popularity in last decades by their main free radical
preventing effects for human body. Pepino is rich in antioxidants by its
carotenoids and anthocyanins content that provide cleansing effect. The
fruit calorie is quite low because the large part of the fresh weight of
pepino is composed of water (about 92%) (Herraiz et al., 2016; Sudha
et al., 2012; Martinez-Romero et al., 2003).
Drying of the agricultural crops is one of the most economical and
(Aghbashlo et al., 2008; Aghbashlo et al., 2015; Kırbaş et al., 2019).
Various drying techniques are available in the literature, however
conventional drying techniques have some disadvantages such as; ne-
gative influences on product quality and contamination risks (Garau
et al., 2007; Kulapichitr et al., 2019). Studies on the product quality of
dried pepino fruit as its phenolic composition, antioxidant activities and
flavonoid content were presented in the available studies in literature
(Uribe et al., 2011; Di Scala et al., 2011; Hsu et al., 2011; Top, 2018).
Moreover, high energy demand of drying application was made it
essential to develop efficient dryers to decrease drying costs. Different
types of solar collectors can be utilized in drying process due to low cost
and also simple structure of them. Solar collectors can be directly used
in various drying application or combined with various types of dryers.
There are lots of studies in literature which analyzed different solar
collectors or solar assisted dryers. Most of the researchers are generally

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: azimdtuncer@gmail.com (A.D. Tuncer), ata_khanlari@yahoo.com (A. Khanlari).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.01.021
Received 28 August 2019; Received in revised form 26 November 2019; Accepted 6 January 2020
Available online 17 January 2020
0038-092X/ © 2020 International Solar Energy Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

Nomenclature Sh Sherwood number

t drying time (min)
A area (m2) T temperature (°C)
cp specific heat capacity (kJ/kg K) T0 reference temperature (°C)
Cw water concentration near product (kg/m3) u velocity (m/s)
C water concentration of air (kg/m3) V velocity (m/s)
COP coefficient of performance W power (W)
D diffusion coefficient (m2/s) WR the total uncertainty (%)
Deff effective diffusivity coefficient (m2/s) w1, w2, wn the uncertainties in the independent variables
DR drying rate (g water/g dry matter per minute) kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
E energy (kJ) specific humidity (kg water/kg dry air)
h enthalpy (kJ/kg) density (kg/m3)
hfg latent heat (kJ/kg) efficiency (%)
hm mass transfer coefficient (m/s) TPC total phenolic content
I solar radiation (W/m2) TFC total flavonoid content
k thermal conductivity (W/m.K) ABTS antioxidant activity
L length (m) a, b, c, k, g, h, n drying constants
MCdb moisture content (g water/g dry matter)
MR moisture ratio Subscripts
Mi initial wet weight (g)
Md final dry weight (g) abs absorber
Me equilibrium moisture content (g water/g dry matter) c collector
Mo primary moisture content (g water/g dry matter) e exhausted
mw vaporized water weight (kg) eva evaporate
m mass flow rate (kg/s) f fan
Nu Nusselt number i inlet
P pressure (Pa) o outlet
Pr Prandtl number p product
Qeva energy used to evaporate the moisture (kJ) R the function uncertainty
Q rate of heat transfer (W) th thermal
Re Reynolds number u utilized
Ra ideal gas constant (kJ/kgK) us upside surface
Sc Schmidt number

investigated the influence of design parameters of the absorber on
collector efficiency (Bakry et al., 2018; Abdullah et al., 2018; Verma &
Varshney, 2015). Integrating baffles (Hu et al, 2018; Khanlari et al.,
2020; Kabeel et al., 2018; Hu et al., 2019), fins and turbulators to the
absorber surface (Fudholi et al., 2013) are most wide spread methods to
enhance the efficiency of collector.
Besides the experimental studies, in some studies Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method has been utilized to design and study
various energy systems such as dryers. Sanghi et al. (2018) simulated a
solar assisted corn dryer. Keshani et al. (2015) modeled various spray
dryers to analyze the effect of wall deposition. In another study, Roman
et al. (2018) simulated maize dryer system by using Ansys Fluent
software. Moreover, in food industry it is essential to use the experi-
mental, semi-experimental and theoretical drying models to control or
optimize the drying processes (Midilli et al., 2002).
However, there are few researches are available in the literature
that examined drying behavior and quality characteristics of pepino
fruit. Different from other studies, it was aimed to perform and optimize
the drying process of pepino fruit by different drying systems. In this
regard, double-pass indirect solar dryer (DPISD) and double-pass in-
direct solar dryer with mesh absorber modification (DPISDMA) have
been designed, analyzed, manufactured and tested. In addition, CFD

Fig. 1. Main structure of this work.

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analysis of both solar air collectors and drying chamber and quality
metrics such as phenolic, total flavonoid contents and antioxidant ac-
tivity have been conducted. Finally, drying kinetics for different sample
thicknesses have been investigated. The main steps of this work are
illustrated in Fig. 1.
2. Material and method
2.1. CFD simulation
In this part Ansys Fluent software has been utilized to analyze de-
signed solar air collectors and drying chamber to study thermal beha-
vior of them. According to simulation results, the most convenient
design for solar air collector has been selected for manufacturing and
utilizing in test rig.
2.1.1. Solar air collectors
In this study, two different designs for solar air collector have been
selected, including flat plate double-pass collector and mesh modified
double-pass collector. Geometry of designed solar air collectors are
given in Fig. 2. Both absorber plates have the same dimensions as
600 × 400 × 1 mm. In addition, both solar air collectors have been
designed with same box dimensions (700 × 400 × 250 mm) to be able
to compare their performance and the effect of adding iron meshes. The
outlet temperatures of two solar collectors have been compared to de-
termine the effect of adding mesh modification on collector perfor-
mance. The generated mesh for flat plate double-pass collector and
modified double-pass collector are presented in Fig. 3. As it can be seen
in Fig. 3, in zones near flat absorber plate (Fig. 3a) and meshed absorber
plate (Fig. 3b) finer meshes have been generated to achieve reliable
findings. The optimum mesh element sizes for flat plate double-pass
collector and modified double-pass collector are 1,603,750 and
4227007, respectively. Maximum skewness value for flat plate double-
pass collector and modified double-pass collector are 0.41 and 0.85,
respectively. Also, average skewness value for flat plate double-pass
collector and modified double-pass collector are 0.04 and 0.24, re-
spectively.
2.1.2. Drying chamber
Geometry of drying chamber is illustrated in Fig. 4 where the ana-
lysis domain is displayed. For CFD solution, the assumptions for fluid
(air) which have been utilized in the derivation of energy, momentum
and continuity equations are;
converged approximately in 500,000 mesh number. Finer mesh has
been applied in regions close to the samples to reach accurate findings
in the boundary conditions. Different cell types and also sizes have been
investigated and no significant change has been observed in finer cells.
Curvature mode and triangle surface have been utilized with maximum
face size of 1.43 × 10−2. Generated mesh for drying chamber is pre-
sented in Fig. 5. Maximum skewness value for drying chamber is 0.82.
Also, average skewness value for drying chamber is 0.23.
2.2. Experimental setup
The utilized test setup is presented in Fig. 6. The experimental setup
includes a drying chamber assisted with a double-pass solar air col-
lector. Moreover, two various solar air collectors have been utilized in
the experimental procedure. In other words, two different solar air
collectors have been designed and manufactured with same box di-
mensions (700 × 400 × 250 mm). First collector has matt black
painted flat copper plate absorber. But, the second one has been mod-
ified with iron wire meshes which placed under the absorber plate.
Dimensions of both absorber plates are 600 × 400 × 1 mm. Fig. 7
shows the view of iron wire mesh modification of the absorber plate.
Iron wire meshes have been added in three rows and each row includes
21 iron wire meshes. Glass with 4 mm thickness which has 0.92
emissivity and 0.05 absorptivity has been utilized as collector trans-
parent cover. Also, both collectors have 40 W DC fan to supply intended
air flow.
Drying chamber frame has 400 × 400 × 400 mm dimensions with
200 × 400 mm area for inlet and outlet ports in both sides. Technical
specifications of measurement apparatus utilized in experimental setup
are given in Table. 1.
2.3. Experimental process
The tests have been done in 37.69°N latitude and 30.34°E longitude
in March. Platform with 32° tilt angle have been generated for the solar
air collectors. Collectors have been covered with a fabric cover before
beginning the experimental procedure. Before starting tests, fan of
collector was run for 15 min to achieve steady regime. The experi-
mental procedure was started at 09:00. In the tests, temperature values
of different points have been measured and recorded every 5 s by

• Incompressible fluid,
• Fluid has constant physical properties,
• Influence of gravity is neglected.
At this stage, k- RNG model by adding enhanced wall functions
option has been applied in Ansys-Fluent software as:

µ + µt k vi vj vi
( k) + ( kvi ) = + µt +
t xi xj k xj xj vi xj
(1)

( )+ ( vi )
t xi
µ + µt vi vj vi 2 2
= + C1 µt + C2
xj xj k vj vi vj k k
(2)

k2
µt = Cµ
(3)

In the present work, grid independence test has been performed for Fig. 2. Generated geometry for solar collectors; (a) flat plate double-pass, (b)
the analyzed zone and the achieved data illustrated that the problem is mesh modified double-pass.

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samples was 22.10 ± 0.30 g water/g dry matter. The process was
finished when the variation among two sample weight record was less
than 1%. In the first experiment (Exp. 1) samples with 5 mm thickness
have been dried with double-pass indirect solar dryer (DPISD). In the
second experiment (Exp. 2) same drying system (DPISD) has been used
to dry samples with 3 mm thickness. In Exp. 3 and Exp. 4, double-pass
indirect solar dryer with mesh absorber modification (DPISDMA) has
been utilized to dry samples with 5 mm and 3 mm thicknesses, re-
spectively.

2.4. Theoretical analysis

In this part theoretical analysis which have been used for drying
chamber and collector are presented. The expressions below have been
utilized to investigate energy and mass balance during drying tests. The
mass conservation for drying air could be shown as follows (Çengel &
Boles, 1994):

mi, air = mo, air (4)

The mass conservation balance for moisture is given as:

(mi, air . i, air + mm , p ) = mo, air . o, air (5)

General form of energy conservation for drying process is expressed
as:

Vo2, air Vi2, air

Qdry, p W = mi, air . (ho, air hi, air + )
2 (6)
The enthalpy for drying air could be calculated as follows
(Aghbashlo et al., 2012):
hair = cs. (Tair T0 ) + hfg (7)

cs = 1.004 + 1.88 (8)

Energy balance in the drying system can be defined as:
Fig. 3. Mesh configurations for collectors; (a) flat plate double-pass, (b) mesh
modified double-pass. Derived energy by collector (Qc )
= Utilized energy (Qu ) + Energy losses (Qloss ) + Exhausted
energy (Qe ) (9)
Samples
The derived energy by solar collector can be calculated by Eq. (10).

Qc = Vair . air cp, air (To Ti ) (10)

where cp, air denotes the specific heat capacity of fluid and can be
achieved utilizing Eq. (11) (Zare et al., 2006).
cp = 1009.26 0.0040403T + 0.00061759T 2 0.0000004097T 3 (11)
Coefficient of performance, as a valuable indicator to evaluate solar
air collector can be defined as follows:

Qc Vair . air . cp, air . (To Ti )

Fig. 4. Geometric view of drying chamber and pepino fruit samples. COP = =
W Wf (12)

utilizing two data loggers. Also, solar radiation and air velocity values Another important indicator to evaluate the collector’s performance
have been recorded in 15 min intervals. is the thermal efficiency. Collector′s efficiency could be described as the
Pepino (Solanum muricatum L.) samples have been cleaned and their ratio of the derived heat by the collector to the incident radiation.
peels have been removed. Then samples have been sliced in two Vair . air . cp, air . (To Ti )
thicknesses (3 mm and 5 mm). Finally, seeds have been taken and each =
th
Aabs I (13)
slice has been divided into four equal parts. Prepared sliced pepinos
have been placed on dryer tray with 200 mm height that is mounted The required thermal energy to evaporate product moisture could
inside the dryer. The samples mass has been measured at each 15 min be calculated by using Eq. (14) (Çengel & Ghajar, 2011).
by using a digital balance (WEIGHTLAB WL-3002L, Germany). All ex- Qeva = hm (Cw C ) Ahfg (14)
periments have been done at 0.011 kg/s air mass flow rate. In this
study, the effects of sample thickness and mesh modification have been where hfg is the evaporation heat and could be obtained by using Eqs.
investigated in detailed, however the effect of air velocity was not (15) and (16) (Aghbashlo et al., 2012).
considered as variable. The initial moisture content of the prepared hfg = 2.503 × 106 2.386 × 103T for 0 T (°C ) 65.57 (15)

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Fig. 5. Mesh configuration for whole geometry (right) and near samples (left).

hfg = (7.33 × 1012 1.6 × 107T 2)0.5 for 65.57 T (°C ) 260 diffusivity to mass diffusivity.
(16)
Sc =
The water concentration (Cw ) in product surface could be achieved D (26)
by utilizing ideal gas law for water vapor (Çengel & Ghajar, 2011). The energy amount which is utilized to evaporate product moisture
pus during drying period designate efficiency of drying system. The energy
Cw =
Ra Tus (17) efficiency of the dryer can be described as the ratio of the thermal
energy utilized to evaporate available moisture in sample to the overall
Reynolds number that is utilized to determine flow behavior in energy demand. Energy consumed to evaporate moisture content can be
drying system can be expressed as follows: defined by Eq. (27) (Vieira et al., 2007).
uL
Re = Qeva = hfg . m w (27)
(18)
Also, Nusselt number could be defined using Eq. (19). Qeva
=
dry
E (28)
Nu = 0.453Re0.5 Pr 1/3 (19)
Moisture content of the pepino fruit samples is a crucial parameter
Heat transfer coefficient among product and drying air which is in evaluating drying system. The moisture content of sample could be
necessary in calculating the carried energy (Qair ) by air flow can be obtained using Eq. (29) (Aghbashlo et al., 2012).
obtained by using the Nusselt number definition as given in Eq. (20).
Mi Md
Nuk MCdb =
h= Md (29)
L (20)
Another important parameter in drying process is the moisture ratio
Qair = hA (Tus Ti ) (21) (MR). This parameter could be defined as:
Similar to Nusselt number, Sherwood number could be expressed as M Me
MR =
follows: Mo Me (30)
h L Because of high moisture content of fresh products, Eq. (30) could
Sh = m
D (22)
be expressed by Eq. (31).
where D is diffusivity of water vapor in the sample’s surface in contact M
with flowing air and calculated using Eq. (23). MR =
Mo (31)
2.336 T 1.81
D= ( ) The effective moisture diffusivity coefficient of drying sample
P 273 (23)
among the experiment could be calculated by Fick’s second model.
Mass transfer coefficient which is related to the geometry of drying Based on Fick’s law drying behavior could be defined as (Vieira et al.,
tray, diffusion coefficient and Sherwood number is given as: 2007):
ShD 8 1 (2n 1)2 2Deff t
hm =
L (24) MR = 2
exp
n=0
(2n 1) 2 4Ls 2 (32)
where Sherwood number could be obtained by using Eq. (25) (Çengel &
Ghajar, 2011). In addition, in long drying time Eq. (32) can be rewritten as:
2D t
Sh = 0.453Re0.5Sc( 3 )
1
(25) 8 eff
MR = 2
exp
4Ls 2 (33)
Sc is Schmidt number could be expressed by the ratio of momentum

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Table 1
Technical specifications of measurement apparatus.
Equipment Quantity Range Accuracy

2
Solarimeter 1 0–1999 W/m ± 10 W/m2
Anemometer 1 0.4–30 m/s 2%
Thermocouples 7 −200 + 1200 °C ± 0.5 °C
Datalogger 2 −195 + 1200 °C ± 0.3 °C
Digital balance 1 0–3000 g ± 0.02 g

2.5. Drying kinetics

In this work, mostly used 8 different semi-theoretical thin layer

models have been used which were stated by the equations below as
Newton (Eq. (35)) (Lewis, 1921), Page (Eq. (36)) (Page, 1949), Hen-
derson and Pabis (Eq. (37)) (Henderson & Pabis, 1961), Logarithmic
(Eq. (38)) (Chandra & Singh, 1995), Midilli (Eq. (39)) (Midilli et al.,
2002), Two Term (Eq. (40)) (Henderson, 1974), Diffusion Approach
(Eq. (41)) (Kassem, 1998), and Verma (Eq. (42)) model (Verma et al.,
1985) which a, b, c, k, g, h and n in the models represent the drying
constants. Drying kinetics of the pepino fruit have been mathematically
modeled by examination of the compatibility of samples that the most
suitable models have been selected.
MR = e ( k t) (35)

(36)
n
MR = e ( k t )

MR = a e( k t) (37)

MR = a e( k t) +c (38)

(39)
n
MR = a e( k t ) +b t

MR = a e( k t) +b e( k t) (40)

MR = a e( k t) + (1 a) e( k b t)
(41)

MR = a e( k t) + (1 a) e( g t)
(42)

2.6. Analysis for product quality characteristics

2.6.1. Extract preparation

Fig. 6. Experimental setup; (a) Schematic assembly (b) A view of test setup.
To prepare the pepino fruit extracts, dried samples (2 g) have been
mixed with aqueous ethanol (40 mL, 80% by volume) and the mixture
has been subjected to a homogenizer and then an orbital shaker in-
cubator for 30 min at 200 rpm. Then the prepared solution added to the
volumetric flask (50 mL) and completed to the line by aqueous ethanol.
To achieve a clear supernatant, required amount of the mixture was
transferred to Eppendorf tubes and after that exposed to 12,225×g
microcentrifugation (Daihan Scientific Co. Ltd., WiseSpin CF-10, Korea)
for two minutes.

2.6.2. Total phenolic content (TPC)

For determining TPC, Folin-Ciocalteu technique has been used
(Cemeroğlu, 2007). In this regard, 0.5 mL of clean supernatants and
also 2.5 mL of the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent has been mixed in test tubes
and after three minutes 2 mL of Na2CO3 solution (20%) has been en-
trained. After 2 h of left in dark, absorbance values of the mixtures were
Fig. 7. View of mesh modification of the absorber plate. determined by spectrophotometer at 760 nm. The extracts have been
diluted 5 times if necessary and findings have been represented as mg
gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per 100 g dry matter.
Finally, total uncertainty during the experiments can be obtained by
using the following equation:
2.6.3. Total flavonoids content (TFC)
1/2 The TFC of pepino fruit has been achieved by the utilized technique
R R R
WR = ( w1)2 + ( w2 ) 2 + +( wn )2 by Zhishen et al. (1999). To obtain calibration curve 20, 40, 60, 80 and
x1 x2 xn (34) 100 mg/L of catechin solutions have been used. After that, 0.3 mL of
NaNO2 was mixed into 4 mL of distilled water and well with 1 mL of

376
H.Ö. Güler, et al.
supernatant. Then, AlCl3 (0.3 mL) and 1 M NaOH (2 mL) were en-
trained that the solution was shaken before adding 2.4 mL deionized
water. The mixture was then subjected to spectrophotometer at 510 nm
and TFC values were obtained in catechin equivalents (CE) per 100 g
dry matter.
2.6.4. Antioxidant activity (ABTS)
For the ABTS analyses, the ABTS + radical portion has been de-
termined and the findings have been indicated as Trolox equivalent
antioxidant capacity (TEAC) (Miller et al., 1993). To get the ABTS stock
solution, 7 mM of ABTS (diammonium salt) has been made in deionized
water, and added with 2.45 mM of potassium persulfate. Until the dark
blue color obtained, the prepared solution was kept in dark at ambient
temperature for about 16 h. Then, the mixture was diluted with me-
thanol. After obtaining the absorbance as 1.10 ± 0.05, 2850 μL of
utilizing mixture was mixed with 150 μL of supernatant and put in dark
(30 min). The mixture was then subjected to spectrophotometer at
734 nm. The extracts were diluted 5 times if essential and ABTS values
were given as μmole TE per 100 g dry matter.
2.7. Statistical analyses
To obtain the statistical results, SPSS package program (SPSS, Ver.
20, 2011) have been used. During the determination of drying kinetics,
R2 (regression coefficient), root mean square error (RMSE) and chi-
square (X2) by Eq. (43) and (44) have been used as the statistical
parameters to achieve the correlation of the drying models with the
empirical data. In the equations, MRexp represents the experimental
moisture value, MRprd is the estimated moisture value of models, n is
the number of model coefficients and N is the number of observations.
Fig. 8. Velocity distribution in solar collectors; (a) flat plate double-pass, (b) mesh modified double-pass.
377
Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384
n
1
RMSE = (MRprd, i MR exp, i)2 0.5
N (43)
i=1
n
(MRexp, i MRprd, i ) 2
2 i=1
=
(44)
N n
During the experiments, chemical analyses have been done as tri-
plicate and findings have been represented as mean ± standard de-
viation. In addition, variance analysis (ANOVA) and Duncan′s multiple
range test have been used at α = 0.05 level of significance.
3. Findings and discussion
3.1. CFD simulation results
Velocity contour in the air domain at middle part of two solar col-
lectors is shown in Fig. 8. In the initial numerical simulations, flat plate
double-pass solar collector (Fig. 8a) has been analyzed. In the second
step of simulations, iron meshes have been added to the lower side of
the absorber plate. Adding iron meshes to the lower side reduces air
velocity as it can be seen in Fig. 8b. This fact increases the time that air
spent inside the channels of the collector. Therefore, air can gain much
energy inside the collector.
Fig. 9 illustrates the temperature contour in the air domain at
middle part of two solar collectors. Fig. 9 clearly presents how the air
absorbs thermal energy in the collectors. It is obvious that temperature
in modified solar collector (Fig. 9b) is more homogeneous than flat
plate solar collector (Fig. 9a). The temperature difference between
outlet and inlet air in flat plate double-pass solar collector and mesh
modified solar collector were obtained as 10.49 °C and 12.78 °C,
H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

Fig. 9. Temperature distribution in solar collectors; (a) flat plate double-pass, (b) mesh modified double-pass.

respectively. These obtained temperature differences are comparable to
select the effective solar collector.
Two-dimensional velocity contour, temperature contour and velo-
city vectors in drying chamber are presented in Figs. 10–12. In Fig. 10,
velocity contour shows that, the velocity value decreases when ap-
proaching the wall of drying chamber. It can be stated that, higher
velocity values were observed in the zones near drying tray in the
central direction. In Fig. 11 temperature distribution in drying chamber
demonstrates that, inlet air flow is warm at first stage when enters to
the chamber, but was gradually cooled by the effect of wall and product
temperature. It was shown in Fig. 12 that the large vortex was
generated at the opposite side of the inlet flow, which can help mixing
and distributing of the fluid and as a positive influence, the temperature
gradient grew into higher in boundary layers.
3.2. Experimental results
The experiments have been conducted utilizing two different solar
air collectors combined with drying chamber. Drying test have been
performed in two sample thicknesses for each collector. In other words,
this study contains four experiments. In the first experiment (Exp. 1)
samples with 5 mm thickness have been dried with DPISD. In the

Fig. 10. Velocity distribution in drying chamber.

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H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

Fig. 11. Temperature distribution in drying chamber.

Fig. 12. Velocity vectors in drying chamber.

1400 50

1200
40
Ambient temparature ( oC)
Solar radiation (W/m )
2

1000

800 30 Exp. 1, I
Exp. 2, I
Exp. 3, I
600 Exp. 4, I
20 Exp. 1, Ta
Exp. 2, Ta
400
Exp. 3, Ta
Exp. 4, Ta
200 10
09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00
Drying time (hour)
Fig. 13. Solar radiation and ambient temperature during drying.

second experiment (Exp. 2) same drying system (DPISD) have been
used to dry samples with 3 mm thickness. In Exp. 3 and Exp. 4
DPISDMA have been utilized to dry samples with 5 mm and 3 mm
thicknesses, respectively. Fig. 13 shows ambient temperature and also
solar radiation in four experiments. Mean ambient temperature in Exp.
1, 2, 3 and 4 are 22.98 °C, 22.50 °C, 14.60 °C and 16.70 °C, respectively.
Moreover, mean solar radiation in Exp. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 1026 W/m2,
1069 W/m2 1025 W/m2 and 910 W/m2, respectively. As it is seen,
mean solar irradiance in Exp. 4 is relatively low in comparison with
three other experiments.
The variation of temperature difference of solar air collector outlet
and inlet air temperatures in four experiments and absorber plate
temperature values of the collectors during drying are presented in
Fig. 14. The highest temperature difference was obtained in Exp. 3 as
20 °C. As it seen in Fig. 14, absorber plate temperature in Exp. 3 and
Exp. 4 was low in comparison with Exp. 1 and Exp. 2. Integrating iron

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H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

80

60

Temperature ( oC) Exp. 1, Tabs

Exp. 2, Tabs
40 Exp. 3, Tabs
Exp. 4, Tabs
Exp. 1, ∆Tcol
20 Exp. 2, ∆Tcol
Exp. 3, ∆Tcol
Exp. 4, ∆Tcol
0
09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00
Drying time (hour)
Fig. 14. Temperature difference and absorber plate temperature values of the collectors during drying.

90 40
Exp. 1
85 Exp. 2
Exp. 3
80 30 Exp. 4
Collector efficiency (%)

∆T/m w ( C/g)

75
o

70 20

65

60 10
Exp. 1
Exp. 2
55 Exp. 3
Exp. 4
50 0
09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00 09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00

Drying time (hour) Drying time (hour)

Fig. 15. Solar collector′s thermal efficiency. Fig. 17. Obtained temperatures during drying.

1.0
Exp. 1
Exp. 1 20
Exp. 2
Exp. 2
Exp. 3
Exp. 3
MC (gwater/gdry matter)

0.8 Exp. 4
Exp. 4
15

0.6
MR

10
0.4

5
0.2

0.0 0
09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Drying time (hour) SMER (g/kWh)

Fig. 16. Moisture ratio values during drying. Fig. 18. Change of MC via SMER.

wire meshes to the absorber enhanced the efficiency of the collector. The collector efficiencies in four experiments are presented in
Ambient air temperature in Exp. 3 and Exp. 4 was low in comparison Fig. 15. The mean collector efficiency in Exp. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are 70.60%,
with two other experiments, nevertheless adding iron wire meshes to 72.15%, 80.39%, and 78.06%, respectively. The maximum collector
the absorber caused to increase in outlet temperature. efficiency was achieved as 78.09%, 79.75%, 85.96% and 85.65%,

380
H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

0.007
Table 2
ABTS, TPC and TFC values of dried pepino fruit samples in different experi-
0.006 ments (mean ± standard deviation).
Experiment TPC TFC ABTS
DR (g water /g dry matter min )

0.005
(umol TE/ 100 g dry (mg CE/100 g dry (mg GAE/100 g dry
matter) matter) matter)
0.004
Exp. 1 583.52 ± 13.72B 185.15 ± 16.94C 840.71 ± 28.57B
Exp. 2 519.07 ± 3.60C 242.86 ± 13.02B 770.44 ± 18.54C
0.003
Exp. 3 965.39 ± 9.67A 368.40 ± 12.38A 1557.41 ± 44.07A
Exp. 4 472.05 ± 7.38D 202.49 ± 24.88C 753.85 ± 6.79C
0.002
Exp. 1 *Various letters in every column show statistical significances for the average
Exp. 2
0.001 values (p < 0.05).
Exp. 3
Exp. 4
0.000 values were achieved between 21 and 76% and 12–15.3 °C, respec-
0 5 10 15 20 tively. In another study, thermal efficiency and temperature difference
MC (gwater /g dry matter) values were changed between 54.3 and 67.1% and 11.3–21.6 °C, re-
spectively (Zhu et al., 2019). As it can be seen, the obtained findings for
Fig. 19. Drying rate variation with moisture content. efficiency and temperature difference are in good agreement with lit-
erature.
50 Change in moisture ratio values during drying is shown in Fig. 16.
Exp. 1 As it is seen, Exp. 2 and Exp. 4 had lower drying time in comparison two
Exp. 2 other experiments because thin samples have been used in Exp. 2 and
Exp. 3
40 Exp. 4. The collector efficiency in Exp. 4 was high in comparison with
Exp. 4
Exp.2 because of the iron wire mesh modification, but lower ambient
temperature and solar radiation in Exp. 4 led to increase drying time.
30
The positive effect of integrating iron wire meshes to the collector could
EE (%)

be seen clearly by comparing drying time of Exp. 1 and Exp. 3. It should

be stated that ambient temperature in Exp. 3 was lower than Exp. 1,
20
however drying time shortened as 45 min in Exp. 3 because of the
modification mentioned above.
Also, average COP values in Exp. 1, Exp. 2, Exp. 3 and Exp. 4 are
10
4.83, 5.15, 5.53 and 4.96. In a study conducted by Khanlari et al.
(2020) COP values are in the range of 4.46–5.19. However, higher COP
0
were obtained in this study which related to the high residence time of
09:00:00 11:00:00 13:00:00 15:00:00 the flowing air inside the double-pass collector that lead to higher en-
ergy gain.
Drying time (hour)
Fig. 17 shows the ratio of the temperature variation among outlet
Fig. 20. Energy efficiency of drying system. and inlet of the dryer to the vaporized moisture from the sample. As it
can be known, drying process includes three phases (Belessiotis &
Delyannis, 2011). In first phase of drying moisture evaporation is fast
respectively. It could be indicated that DPISDMA had higher collector
because the product has high moisture content. In second phase of
efficiency in comparison with other one. In a study performed by Razak
drying, surface of the sample has not moisture saturated. In third phase
et al. (2019), average collector efficiency and temperature difference
product has the lowest moisture content and because of this,

Experimental
CFD

DPISDMA, Drying chamber outlet

DPISD, Drying chamber outlet

DPISDMA, Collector outlet

DPISD, Collector outlet

0 10 20 30 40 50

Temperature ( C)
o

Fig. 21. Comparison between CFD and experimental results.

381
H.Ö. Güler, et al. Solar Energy 197 (2020) 371–384

evaporating moisture content slow down as it can be seen in Fig. 17.
Similar behavior was obtained in a research was done by Şevik et al.
(Şevik et al., 2019).
Fig. 18 presents the variation of moisture content with SMER. As it
seen, in the first step of the experiment SMER is high due to high
moisture content of drying sample. Average SMER values for Exp. 1,
Exp. 2, Exp. 3 and Exp. 4 are 275.6, 317.07, 311.28 and 341.14 g/kWh,
respectively. By passing drying time and reducing moisture content of
pepino slices, SMER values is reduced. There are fluctuations in Fig. 18
which arise from meteorological conditions. Similar values for SMER
were obtained by Yahya et al. (2016) and Fudholi et al. (2014).
DR variation with MC is presented in Fig. 19. Drying rate has high
values at the beginning of the drying when MC is high as mentioned
above.
The change in energy efficiency of drying system with time is illu-
strated in Fig. 20. The mean energy efficiency in Exp. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are
18.53%, 23.01%, 21.06% and 23.08%, respectively.
Fig. 21 presents numerically and experimentally obtained drying
chamber outlet temperature and collector outlet temperature values. As
it is obvious numerically obtained values are close to the experimental
values. The maximum obtained deviation among numerical and ex-
perimental temperature values is 10%.
By evaluating temperature difference and thermal efficiency for
modified collector in comparison with conventional collector, it could
be stated that adding mesh modification to the collector have positive
effect on collector performance.
3.3. Quality characteristics
times higher than the result obtained from Exp.4 (472.05 umol TE/
100 g dry matter). According to Table 2, significantly different TPC
results were obtained from different experiments (p < 0.05). Similar
to the TPC results, significantly highest TFC value was obtained for
Exp.3 (368.40 mg CE/100 g dry matter) (p < 0.05). Furthermore,
lowest TFC values were obtained from of Exp. 1 (185.15 mg CE/100 g
dry matter) and Exp. 4 (202.49 mg CE/100 g dry matter). According to
ABTS results, the highest ABTS value were obtained from Exp. 3
(1557.41 mg GAE/100 g dry matter) which was approximately 2 times
higher than the other experiments (p < 0.05). ABTS results obtained
from Exp. 2 and Exp. 4 were quite similar and the related difference is
insignificant (p < 0.05).
Top determined the total polyphenol content of the pepino fruit
extract as 176.23 µg/ g GAE (Top, 2018). In a study performed by
Sudha et al. (2012) antioxidant activity of pepino fruit was in-
vestigated. Accordingly, EC (50) value was calculated as 34.06 mg/mL
according to ABTS analysis (Sudha et al., 2012). In another study, as-
corbic acid, phenolic acid and flavonoid content of the of pepino ex-
tracts prepared in water and ethanol were analyzed by Hsu et al.
(2011). Accordingly, they found the TFC value as 875 mg 100 g−1 dry
weight for pepino aqueous extract and 461 mg 100 g−1 dry weight for
50% ethanol extract. Also, they found the total phenolic acids as 1217
for pepino aqueous extract and 1073 mg 100 g−1 dry weight for 50%
ethanol extract. Di Scala et al. (2011) investigated the quality proper-
ties of pepino fruit by convective drying which the total phenolic
content and antioxidant activities were determined. The TPC values of
the dried pomelo fruits were determined around 400 mg GAE/100 g dry
matter.

The results obtained from ABTS, TPC and TFC analyses are given in 3.4. Drying characteristics
Table 2.
Analyzing TPC values showed that the highest TPC value (965.39 Table 3presents the statistical findings of the drying models which
umol TE/ 100 g dry matter) was obtained from Exp. 3 that was nearly 2 were utilized to modelling the drying behavior of pepino fruit.

Table 3
Statistical findings of the drying models.
Model Model coefficients R2 X2 RMSE

Exp. 1 Newton k = 0.0001 0.943 0.006 0.079

Page k = 0.070, n = 7.862 0.938 0.222 0.453
Henderson and pabis k = 0.0001, a = 1.106 0.956 0.008 0.086
Logarithmic k = 5.752 × 10−5, a = 1.473, c = −0.443 0.992 0.001 0.029
Midilli k = 50.588, a = 0.885, n = −403.733, b = −4.428 × 10−5 0.956 0.484 0.642
Two term k = 0.0001, a = 0.556, c = 0.0001, b = 0.550 0.956 0.009 0.086
Diffusion approach k = 0.0001, a = −27.691, b = 0.967, 0.986 0.307 0.523
Verma k = 0.0001, a = 58.684, b = 0.0001 0.942 0.087 0.278
Exp. 2 Newton k = 0.0001 0.943 0.016 0.125
Page k = 0.070, n = 8.148 0.962 0.163 0.389
Henderson and pabis k = 0.0001, a = 1.106 0.954 0.025 0.152
Logarithmic k = 8.879 × 10−5, a = 1.361, c = −0.319 0.986 0.001 0.035
Midilli k = 162.061, a = 1.000, n = −158.557, b = −5.444 × 10−5 0.944 0.020 0.147
Two term k = 0.0001, a = 0.553, c = 0.0001, b = 0.553 0.954 0.027 0.152
Diffusion approach k = 0.016, a = -0.182, b = 0.010 0.961 0.004 0.069
Verma k = 0.0001, a = 58.684, b = 0.0001 0.987 0.018 0.125
Exp. 3 Newton k = 0.0001 0.942 0.008 0.089
Page k = 0.070, n = 7.970 0.972 0.208 0.439
Henderson and pabis k = 0.0001, a = 1.131 0.958 0.013 0.108
Logarithmic k = 6.502 × 10−5, a = 1.502, c = −0.445 0.993 0.001 0.026
Midilli k = 28.584, a = 1.000, n = −192.682, b = −5.191 × 10−5 0.934 0.011 0.097
Two term k = 0.0001, a = 0.565, c = 0.0001, b = 0.565 0.958 0.014 0.108
Diffusion approach k = 0.0001, a = −6.658, b = 0.867 0.991 0.155 0.372
Verma k = 0.001, a = 2.914 × 10−5, b = 0.001 0.971 0.173 0.392
Exp. 4 Newton k = 0.0001 0.940 0.009 0.094
Page k = 0.070, n = 8.048 0.936 0.202 0.433
Henderson and pabis k = 0.0001, a = 1.121 0.944 0.014 0.113
Logarithmic k = 4.932 × 10−5, a = 1.121, c = −0.778 0.992 0.001 0.027
Midilli k = 73.935, a = 0.939, n = −86.958, b = −5.664 × 10−5 0.972 0.003 0.047
Two term k = 0.0001, a = 0.558, c = 0.0001, b = 0.563 0.944 0.015 0.113
Diffusion approach k = 0.0001, a = −66.499, b = 0.985 0.983 0.132 0.343
Verma k = 0.001, a = 0.0001, b = 0.001 0.948 0.168 0.386

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H.Ö. Güler, et al.
Analyzing the obtained data showed that R2, X2 and RMSE values
are in the range of 0.934–0.993, 0.001–0.484 and 0.026–0.642, re-
spectively. According to the statistical results, best fitted model for
Exp.1 was Logarithmic model with the highest R2 (0.992) and lowest X2
(0.01) and RMSE (0.029) values. Similarly, for pepino samples dried by
Exp. 2, Exp. 3 and Exp. 4 conditions, the most suitable model was de-
termined as Logarithmic model according to their highest R2 and their
relatively low X2 and RMSE values. Uribe et al. (2011) conducted the
modelling of the convective dried pepino fruit for five temperature le-
vels. Accordingly, the standardized Weibull model was proposed as the
most appropriate model to express drying kinetics of the fruit.
4. Conclusion
In this work, DPISD and DPISDMA have been manufactured by
considering CFD simulation results and their performance has been
tested experimentally. Pepino fruit has been dried in two different
thicknesses and quality analysis of dried samples has been performed.
The major outcomes of this work could be summarized as:
• The mean collector efficiency in Exp. 1, Exp. 2, Exp. 3 and Exp. 4
were 70.60%, 72.15%, 80.39%, and 78.06%, respectively.
• Results of the pepino fruit dried by different experiments pointed
out that samples dried by the conditions in Exp. 3 provided superior
quality characteristics than its counterparts in terms of TPC, TFC
and ABTS values. This fact can be arisen from the changes in che-
mical structure of the micronutrients by different drying techniques
and thicknesses.
•
According to the modeling results of drying kinetics, Logarithmic
model gave the best results for all the experiments. It can be con-
cluded that all four experiments did not affect the characteristics of
the drying curves.
• CFD approach has been utilized to investigate the effect of adding
mesh modification. Analysis results showed that adding mesh
modification has positive effect on thermal performance of the
collector.
• Visualization technique has been used by simulation method using
Ansys Fluent program and the air flow characteristics and tem-
perature distribution have been observed along the drying chamber
of the pepino fruit drying device and around products. The applied
CFD method provided more information in detailed about the flow
and heat distribution, which is not available in experimental
methods.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.
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