Experimental investigations of a chimney-dependent solar crop dryer

An experimental investigation into the performance of a solar crop dryer with solar chimney and no air preheating is described. Tests were first performed on the cabinet dryer, using a normal chimney. The trials were repeated with a solar chimney. Still with the solar chimney, further trials were carried out with the roof of the drying chamber inclined further to form a tent dryer. The described tests include no-load tests for airflow rate measurements and drying tests, with cassava as the crop. Air velocities, temperatures, ambient relative humidity and the drop in crop moisture contents at different stages of the drying process are also presented. The effects of the various configurations described above on the drying process are deduced and discussed while comparing the experimental results with one another. In addition, the performance of the dryer in relation to other natural convection dryers is discussed. The results show that the solar chimney can increase the airflow rate of a direct-mode dryer especially when it is well designed with the appropriate angle of drying-chamber roof. However, the increase in flow rate only increases the drying rate when the relative humidity (RN) of the ambient air is below a certain mark (60% for cassava). (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.