Project Report on “Design and performance

evaluation of an evacuated tube solar dryer for drying

raw mango”

SUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
(AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING)
(2023-2024)

RBEE-491
Project Planning and Report Writing

Sachin(2020AE35BI
V)
DEPARTMENT OF RENEWABLE AND BIO-ENERGY ENGINEERING

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY , CHAUDHARY

 CHARAN SINGH HARYANA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY HISAR, HARYANA

DEPARTMENT OF RENEWABLE AND

BIO-ENERGY ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,
CCSHAU, HISAR, HARYANA

CANDIDATE'S DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the project report entitled
“Design and performance evaluation of an evacuated tube solar dryer for drying raw
mango” by me for partial fulfillment of requirements for the award of degree of
Bachelor of Technology, submitted in the Department of Renewable and Bio-Energy
Engineering at College of Agricultural Engineering And Technology ,CCSHAU, Hisar
is an authentic record of my own work carried out under the supervision of Dr. Arun
kumar Attkan. The matter presented in this report has not been submitted by me in any
other University / Institute .

Signature of the Student

 DEPARTMENT OF RENEWABLE AND
BIO-ENERGY ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,
CCSHAU, HISAR, HARYANA

SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. SACHIN, student of B.Tech. Agricultural

Engineering ,Department of Renewable and Bio-Energy Engineering ,CCSHAU ,Hisar
has completed his project entitled “Design and performance evaluation of an evacuated
tube solar dryer for drying raw mango” under my guidance and supervision. I further
certify that the whole work is original and genuine and has not been submitted either
partly or fully to any other University or Institution for the award of any degree.

I find this project report complete and fit for submission.

Dr. Arun kumar Attkan
(Advisor)
Assistant Professor
Department of Renewable and Bio Energy Engineering
College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology
CCS Haryana Agricultural University
Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4

My most profound appreciation goes to my college, advisor and mentors, for their time,
effort, and understanding in helping me succeed in my project. First and foremost, I would
like to express my heartfelt appreciation to my Advisor Dr. Arun kumar Attkan, for his
invaluable guidance, expertise, and support throughout this research project. Mentorship and
constructive feedback of Dr. Arun Attkan has also been instrumental in shaping my work.
I express my sincere thanks to Dr. S.K. PAHUJA, Dean, College of Agricultural
Engineering and Technology for providing facilities. I humbly express my gratitude to Dr.
Yadvika, Prof & Head, Department of Renewable and Bio-Energy Engineering for his
wholehearted support and encouragement. I extend my gratitude to faculty members of
Department of Renewable and Bio-Energy Engineering for providing a conducive
academic environment. This project would not have been possible without the participation
and cooperation of Pardeep who generously volunteered their time and shared his
experiences for the success of project. To conclude, I’d like to thank God, my parents, friends
and family. It would have been impossible to finish my studies without their unwavering
support .I am humbled and grateful for the contributions of all those who have supported me
on this journey. While it is not possible to individually name every person who has played a
role, please accept my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for your part in making this project a
reality.

With sincere gratitude,

SACHIN (2020AE35BIV)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERS
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Solar drying – Applications , Benefits & solar
dried food products
1.2 Introduction to the project
1.3 Mangifera indica – importance and significance
1.4 Introduction to Evacuated tube solar dryer
Chapter 2 MATERIAL AND METHOD

2.1 Design and experiment conditions

2.2 Equipments used in the design procedure

Chapter 3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Table of design results
Chapter 4 Review of literature
Chapter 5 Bibliography and references
 Introduction

Drying is an energy-intensive unit operation in food preservation, as it removes the excess

moisture content and enhances the shelf life of food products. The energy needed for drying
is obtained either via renewable or non-renewable energy sources. Different drying
techniques such as hot air, vacuum, fluidized bed, microwave, freeze, spray, solar, etc., are
used for drying agricultural produce [1,2]. Amongst these techniques, solar drying is most
commonly used at the farm level because it is an easily available renewable source of energy,
low environmental impact, reduces the cost of drying, and specifically useful for drying food
materials and agricultural products [3]. The solar drying system has the provision to maintain
the desired temperature, relative humidity, and flow of heated air during drying and therefore
better quality of dried products is achieved [4]. The best effective and efficient way of solar
energy utilization for drying applications is through different types of solar dryer systems.
Solar dryers are broadly categorized into direct, indirect, and mixed-mode solar dryers. In
direct type, both the solar collection and drying operation are carried out in the same
chamber. In the case of an indirect type of solar dryer, the solar collector separately absorbed
heat energy and transferred to the drying chamber by natural or forced convection. The
indirect type solar dryer is most commonly used to increase the drying performance and to
preserve the quality attributes of food products during the drying process [5]. The main
components of an indirect type of solar dryer are solar collector, drying chamber, and blower
assembly for airflow. Evacuated tubes solar collectors (ETSC) are predominantly used for
heating air, solar cooling, and water heating due to its steady and high thermal performance
as compared to flat-plate solar collectors [9]. ETSC has much better efficiency than flat plate
collectors and can be used for drying applications [10,11].
Mango (Mangifera Indica L.), family Anacardiaceae, is a highly nutritious and economically
important fruit crop grown in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. India is a
leading producer of mango, sharing 40% of the global production. China, Thailand,
Indonesia, Pakistan & Mexico are other major Mango producing countries after India. In
India, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Gujarat are five major Mango
producing states.
Mangoes are rich in vitamins (A, C, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5 and B6), minerals (potassium,
magnesium, calcium and sodium), phytonutrients (α, β-carotene, and crypto-xanthin),

carbohydrates, calorie, while low in protein, fat and dietary fiber (Zafar and Sidhu,
Citation2017).
Green mango has several medicinal properties, including cure scurvy, stomach troubles,
promote liver and heart health, and prevent body dehydration (Lauricella et
al., Citation2017); and widely used for the preparation of pickle, chutney, sauce, green mango
drink, and a dehydrated powder called as amchoor (Zafar and Sidhu, Citation2017).
Though mangoes are rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients, they have a short shelf life due
to high moisture content (80% w.b.) (Dereje and Abera, Citation2020), as mangoes are
seasonal crop, overproduction during peak season and scarcity during offseason. Moreover,
studies have reported that annual postharvest losses for mangoes in India are about 12.74%
(Narayana et al., Citation2014). Preservation of green mango is one of the best options to
reduce postharvest losses.
The objective is to design and evaluate the performance of an Evacuated Tube Solar Dryer
for drying raw mangoes. By studying the solar drying kinetics of mangoes, valuable insights
can be gained into the efficacy of solar drying technology for agricultural applications.
 Material and method

The project entitled as “Design and performance evaluation of an evacuated tube solar dryer
for drying raw mango’’ involves the design procedure of the evacuated tube solar dryer . This
report consist of various design parameters of evacuated tube solar dryers like Measurement
of loss of air pressure, capacity of cabinet tray dryer, collector efficiency, total heat required,
heat required per hour , effective heat utilization and dryer efficiency.

Table -1 Design and experimental conditions

Parameter conditions Specifications/Values

Location of drying experiment COAE&T CCS-HAU Hisar Haryana

Solar collector Evacuated tubes with heat pipes

Heating fluid Air

Density of fluid 1.23kg/m3

Dryer type air flow Forced convection indirect solar

dryer

Drying operation/product Batch type/ Agro-food product

Drying experiment time April – may

solar radiation 820W/m2

Ambient condition Temperature 40-50o C

Agricultural produce Raw mango

Loading capacity 6kg

Initial moisture content 84.47%

Final moisture content 7.58%

Drying period 8h

Drying temperature 65o C

 DVρ
1. Reynolds Number (Re) = (Reynolds, 1895)
µ
(eq.1)

Where D is the diameter of the pipe in meter (m), V is the velocity of air (m/s), ρ is density
of the fluid (kg/m3) and µ is dynamic viscosity of fluid (Ns/m2).

2. Darcy Weisbach equation of pressure loss Ploss =

λ ( DL ) ( ρ V ) (Weisbach, 1845)
2

2
(eq.2)

Where L is length of the pipe (m) and λ is friction loss coefficient

2
ρv
3. Air pressure loss in pipe fittings and components P loss = ξ (ochrona,2008)
2
(eq.3)
Where ξ is minor loss coefficient for components and fittings
4. Collector efficiency η c=(M ¿ ¿ a ×C p (T co−T a ))/( Ac × I T )¿ Sivakumar et al.
(2012) rai (2005),Nayak (2008) (eq.4)

Where ηc is the efficiency of the evacuated tube solar collector, M a is the mass flow rate of air
through the manifold (kg/h), Cp is the specific heat of the air (kJ/kg.K), A is the area of ETSC
(m2 ), I is the solar intensity (W/m 2 ), and Tco ,Ta are the collector outlet temperature and
ambient temperature (K), respectively

5. Mass flow rate(kg/h) = ρAV (eq.5)

Where ρ is the density of the fluid kg/m 3 , A is the area of the manifold in m 2 and V is the
velocity of the fluid in m/s

M T ( mi−mf )
6. Amount of removable moisture content Mw = (Sengar,2012)
100−mf
(eq.6)

Where Mw is the amount of removable moisture content during drying (kg), m i and mf are the
percentage of initial moisture and final moisture content of raw mango (wb), respectively.
 7. Total amount of heat required Q=M T × C pr × ( T p−T a ) + M w ×h fg (okoroigwe et
al ,2013 ) (eq.7)
8. Heat of vapourization h fg =4.186 × 103 (597−0.56 T p ) (eq.8)

Where, Q (kJ) is the total quantity of heat energy required for sensible heating and removal of
water (kJ), Cpr is the specific heat of produce (kJ/kg K), T a and Tp are ambient temperature
and product drying temperature (K) respectively, ℎfg is the latent heat of vaporization (kJ/kg)

It Measure solar irradiance,

ambient and PV module
temperature, array orientation
and tilt angles.
Solar insolation meter

A digital thermometer is used

to verify a smart temperature
Digital transmitter under flowing
Thermometer conditions and a successful
calibration of the smart
temperature transmitter.
Anemometer A device which is used
to measure air velocity.

Design procedure of Evacuated tube solar dryer

 Measurement of the loss of air pressure :-

Air velocity of the blower (V) = 21.2 m/s (Measured using Anemometer)

Diameter of the pipe (D) = 2 inches or 0.0508 meter

Air flow rate (Q) = Suction area (A) m2 × Air velocity (V) m/s

Π 2
= D × V = 0.785×0.0508×0.0508×21.2 = 0.04294 m3 /s or 154.584 m3/hr
4

DVρ
Reynolds Number (Re) = using eq.1
µ

D = Diameter of the pipe (m)

v = velocity of air (m/s)

ρ=¿ Density of air (kg/m3)

Density of air (kg/m3) =1.23kg/m3

μ = Dynamic viscosity ( Ns/m2)

μ = 1.79 × 10-5 Ns/m2

0.0508 ×0.0429 ×1.23

Reynolds Number (Re) =
1.79 ×10−5

Reynolds Number (Re) = 0.00149×105

 K
Relative roughness ratio (R) = = 0.0029
D

K Surface roughness (mm) = 0.15 mm

D diameter of pipe (mm) = 50.8 mm

K for GI sheet is 0.15 (data from table)

By using moody’s chart (moody, 1994) the value of friction factor(λ) corresponding to R and
Re is 0.0277 .

Darcy Weisbach equation of pressure loss is given by Ploss =

λ ( DL ) ( ρ V )
2

using eq.- 2
2

L( length of the pipe ) = 1.7526 m

So Ploss =
0.0277 ( 1.7526
0.0508 )
( 1.23 × 21.22)
= 264.147 Pa
2

Air pressure loss in pipe fittings and components

2
ρv
Ploss = ξ using eq.- 3
2

ξ = Minor loss coefficient ρ=¿ Density of air (kg/m3) v = velocity of air(m/s)

Value of ξ for different components :-

For Threaded tees (ξT )= 2.0

Threaded union(ξU) = 0.08

Threaded regular 90o elbow (ξB) = 1.5

Fully open ball valve (ξV) = 0.05

 No. of different components :-

Total Tees = 3

Elbow = 3

Union = 2

Check valve = 1
2
ρv
Ploss = ¿ξT + ξB+ ξU+ ξV)
2
2
1.23× ( 21.2 )
Ploss = ¿2.0+ 0.08+ 1.5+ 0.05) = 1003.35 Pa
2

Ptotal loss = 1003.35+264.147 = 1267.49 Pa or 1.267 Kpa

 Capacity of the cabinet tray Dryer :-

Width of the tray (W) = 39.5 cm or 0.395 m

Length of the tray (L) = 42 cm or 0.42 m

Area of the tray = 0.42×0.395 = 0.1695 m2

No of trays = 13

For maximum drying material per tray = 0.4 kg

So total capacity of the dryer for efficient drying = 0.4 × 13 = 5.2 kg ( for mango)

 Total insolation on the collector :-

Length of the the evacuated tube(L) = 1.7018 m

Diameter of the evacuated tube(D) = 0.0436 m

Area of the tube = circumference of the tube × length of the tube

= Π D × L = 3.14×0.0436×1.7018 = 0.2329 m2
 Total no of tubes = 15

So total surface area = 15 ×0.2329= 3.4947 m2

Maximum insolation of the day = 902 W/m2

Total insolation = 902 W/m2× 3.4947 m2 = 3152.21 W

 Collector efficiency:-

η c=(M ¿ ¿ a ×C p (T co−T a ))/( Ac × I T )¿ using eq-4

Where as

η cis the efficiency of the solar collector

M a = mass flow rate through the manifold(kg/h)

C p = specific heat of the air (1.005 kJ/kgK) =

T co∧T a = temperature at the collector outlet and ambient temperature ( K)

Ac = Area of the collector (m2)

I T = Total insolation (W)

Π × ( 0.0508 m )2 21.2 m×3600

1.23 kg × ×
Mass flow rate(kg/h) = ρAV = 4 s = 190.14kg/h
3
m
using eq.-5

190.14 ×1.005 ( 58.9−42.5 )

η c= =12.42 %
3.4947 × 8 ×902

Collector efficiency = 12.42%

 Amount of heat required (Q) :- Quantity of heat energy required for drying to obtain
desired moisture content from initial moisture content can be determined based on sensible
and latent heat. So, the heat required for sensible heat and latent heat of vaporization to
evaporate the desired quantity of moisture content.

Q=M T × C pr × ( T p−T a ) + M w ×h fg using eq.- 7

3
h fg =4.186 × 10 (597−0.56 T p ) using eq.- 8

M T = mass of product (Kg)

 T p=¿Temperature to dry the produce (K)

T a = Ambient temperature

Mw = Amount of removable moisture content(Kg)

h fg = latent heat of vapourisation Kj/kg

Specific heat of mango (C p)= 3.65 kJ/kgK

Temperature to dry the produce T p=338 K

Specific heat of mango = 3.65 kJ/kg K

Mw (Amount of removable moisture content) = The amount of moisture to be removed to

get desirable moisture content from the assumed quantity of the raw mango for safe storage
is given by

M T ( mi−mf )
Mw = using eq. - 6
100−m f

Intial moisture content of mango (mi ¿=84.47 %

Final moisture content of mango (mf ¿=7.58 %

84.47−7.58
Mw = 6 × =4.98 kg
100−7.58

Mw (Amount of removable moisture content) = 4.98 Kg

h fg = latent heat of vapourisation

3
h fg =4.186 × 10 (597−0.56 ×338)

latent heat of vapourisation =1706.71 KJ/kg

Q=M T × C pr × ( T p−T a ) + M w ×h fg

= 6 kg × 3.65×(65-44)+4.98×1706.71 = 8959.3158 kj

Total heat required = 8959.3158 KJ

The timing of drying is 9 am to 5 pm so the total hours is 8 hours

4.98 0.6225 kg
 Average moisture removal per hour = =
8 h
 8959.3158 1119.92kj
 Energy required per hour = =
8 h

Table – 2 Results and discussion

Parameters Values
Loss of pressure 1.267 kPa
Capacity of cabinet dryer 6 kg
Total insolation 3152.21 W
Collector efficiency 12.42%
Amount of heat required 8959.3158 kj
Amount of removable moisture 4.9 kg
content
Latent heat of vapourisation 1706.71 kj/kg
Average moisture removal per hour 0.6225 kg/h
Energy required per hour 1119.92 kj/h
 Bibliography

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
292728968_Solar_drying_of_major_commodity_products

 Design and performance evaluation of an evacuated tube solar dryer for drying garlic clove -
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148120320085
 Evacuated tube solar and sun drying of beetroot slices: Comparative assessment of thermal
performance, drying kinetics, and quality analysis -
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038092X22000329
 https://fmipa.umri.ac.id/wp-
content/uploads/2016/03/Amalendu_Chakraverty_Arun_S._Mujumdar_HosahalliBookFi.org_.pd
f
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota

 n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_collector