Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33209-w

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Computational study of the performance of a solar dryer

for improvement in the shelf life of the food materials
Mukul Sengar1 · Dhananjay Singh1 · Pradeep Kumar Mishra2 · Deepak Singh1 · Balendu Shekher Giri3

Received: 1 July 2023 / Accepted: 2 April 2024 / Published online: 6 May 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024

Abstract
In this study, the thermal and drying characteristics of a thin layer food sample were investigated. An indirect type, simple,
efficient, and economically feasible solar dryer was fabricated and used for food preservation. However, a dynamic model of
a fabricated solar dryer was also presented to gain a better insight into the drying and thermal actions. This model consists
of thermal modeling of the drying chamber, solar collector, and solar-dried food sample. The law of conservation of energy
was applied to evaluate the temperature at different sections of the solar dryer with respect to drying time. All listed model
equations were solved in the MATLAB environment. This study helps to examine the influence of solar radiation on the
collector plate temperature, drying chamber temperature, food sample temperature, and performance parameters such as
thermal efficiency with respect to drying time. Model data was found in good agreement with experimental data within a
4% error. It is concluded that the drying of food material is affected by air temperature, the collector temperature, mode of
heat transfer, and material characteristics such as dimension and mass of the food sample.

Keywords Shelf life · Infrared thermometer · MATLAB · Solar power meter · Solar drying

Introduction wind, solar, geothermal, tides, and small hydro. Among all
these sources, solar energy is a very powerful and inexhaust-
Renewable or non-conventional energy resources are non- ible energy resource. Solar energy can be utilized for heating
polluting and available in considerable quantities in all purposes such as building heating, desalination, cooking,
developing countries. Some examples of these sources are and drying of vegetables, cereals, fruits, and some other
crops. Solar drying is a better option for food preservation
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
to enhance the shelf life or preservation period of the food
products.
Highlights Solar dying consists of two types of drying, i.e., open or
• A thermal model of fabricated indirect type solar dryer has been direct solar drying, and indirect solar drying. A direct type
developed.
of solar drying takes place in an open area directly in the
• Model equations have been solved in the MATLAB
environment. presence of sunlight, but in the case of the indirect type, a
• Experimental work has been performed in fabricated solar dryer. sample is placed in the drying chamber, and drying takes
• Thermal efficiency of the dryer was found 53.7%. place by circulating the hot air (Arslan and Özcan 2012;
Darvishi et al. 2013). Open sun drying is a very economical
* Balendu Shekher Giri
[email protected] drying method but due to some disadvantages like a need
for larger space and food materials can be contaminated
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute due to foreign materials. An indirect type of solar drying
of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow, UP, India is better than open solar drying because the food prod-
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute ucts are placed inside the drying chamber (Akpinar 2010;
of Technology, BHU, Varanasi, UP, India Tunde-Akintunde 2011). A solar dryer mainly consists of a
3
Department of Sustainability, University of Petroleum solar collector and a drying chamber. A solar collector has
and Energy Studies, Dehradun, UK, India

Vol:.(1234567890)

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557 34551

been made with glass and a metal sheet to receive the solar mathematical model of the fabricated dryer is more suitable
radiation and convert it into heat energy. This heat energy with its experimental data.
is transferred to the drying chamber. The drying chamber is
the combination of various sample trays and circulates the
heat from tray to tray for drying the food sample. Experimental setup, measuring instruments,
In the present scenario, scientists and researchers are and procedure
focused on improving the performance of the solar dryer.
Therefore, they have studied different methods and tech- Experimental setup
niques to enhance the performance of the solar dryer and
found some useful conclusions from their studies (Mghazli An indirect type solar dryer has been fabricated to gain a
et al. 2017; Tomar et al. 2017). The convective single-layer better insight into the mathematical model shown in Fig. 1.
solar drying of Citrus aurantium has been performed by An indirect type of solar dryer consists of four different
various authors (Kumar et al. 2013; Aghbashlo et al. 2015; sections—a drying chamber, solar collector, stand, and
Hegde et al. 2015). Some other properties such as drying solar energy-operated exhaust fan. The area of the solar
air temperature, product surface area, and projected surface collector is 4 ft × 2 ft. The volume of the fabricated dryer
area to the weight of the product have also been measured is 2 ft × 2 ft × 6 ft. The tilt angle of the solar collector is
(Babu et al. 2018; Hamdi et al. 2018; Reyes et al. 2019). measured as 30°.
Some authors have fabricated a novel cylindrical type solar Four sample feeding trays have been placed inside the
dryer and studied its influence on the farmer’s income and drying chamber. The bottom surface of the solar collector
impact on the environment (Sharma et al. 2022). has been polished with black paint, and the top surface is
Modeling is an effective technique to analyze the vari- covered with transparent glass. Our fabricated solar dryer
ation in temperature inside the food sample as well as the has been fully insulated with a 1.5-mm-thick layer of PVC
drying chamber with respect to global radiation hourly. The thermocol and PVC sheet.
mathematical models are a combination of partial differen-
tial equations and ordinary differential equations along with
their boundary values (Simo-Tagne and Bennamoun 2018; Measuring instruments
Muralidhar Singh et al. 2019; Djebli et al. 2020). Many
scientists and researchers have developed a mathematical Apart from the solar dryer setup, some other equipment
model for drying the mint, parsley, and basil under direct sun has been used during experimentation. A solar power
drying (Aydin et al. 2019; Badaoui et al. 2019; Wenceslas meter (TENMARS, TM-206) is used to monitor the radia-
and Ghislain 2019). Thermal modeling of solar collectors tion received by the surface of the dryer. The weight loss
and drying chambers has been done to examine the tem- in the samples has been measured by a digital balance
perature variation with respect to global radiation and time machine (Citizen, CY-220). Similarly, variations in the
(Mahapatra and Tripathy 2019; Hidar et al. 2020). temperatures of a glass sheet, drying chamber, and metal-
This study is focused on thermal and drying characteristic lic sheet have been recorded by a digital thermometer
analyses of the food material. A modified thermal model is (ACETEQ, MT-4). The specifications of all used measur-
to calculate the temperature variation in a drying chamber, ing instruments have been shown in Table 1.
solar collector, and food sample without doing any experi-
mental work. Also, global radiation has been measured
during this study with respect to the drying time. Thermal Experimental procedure
efficiency as a performance parameter of the solar dryer has
also been estimated. This study can be beneficial for the A food sample (potato) has been purchased from the mar-
food producer company bypassing the experimental process. ket and washed in running water and peeled with the help
The novelty of this work is to utilize renewable energy of a peeler. Then, the sample was cut in the dimensions
through the fabrication of the solar dryer to enhance the of 35 × 30 × 5 mm with the help of a sharpened knife.
preservation period of the food sample. For better insight The sample was initially weighted by digital balance and
into the drying characteristics, the modification in the ther- placed inside the drying chamber. Simultaneously, the ini-
mal model for drying time has also been done. The solu- tial temperatures of the drying chamber, glass surface, and
tions of complex equations have been done in MATLAB polished surface were recorded. During the experimental
software environment. Experimental runs were conducted work, the temperatures of all components and global radia-
by the authors to validate the model data with experimental tions were recorded on an hourly basis with the help of an
data. We found 53.7% thermal efficiency of our fabricated infrared digital thermometer and solar meter respectively.
solar dryer setup. The major novelty of this study is that a The experimental work was conducted during the summer

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34552 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557

Fig. 1  An indirect-type solar

dryer

season (1-week continuation) in peak hours of sunshine 3. The food sample is thin-layered, homogeneous, and
(11:00 A.M. to 05:00 P.M.). All experimental procedures compact
have been performed in triplicate to analyze the data. 4. The heat capacity of air, drying chamber, glass sheet,
and feed tray are negligible
The hypothesis of thermal modeling of a fabricated 5. Initially, temperature and moisture are uniform in the
indirect‑type solar dryer sample

Many researchers have studied the natural convection- By using the first law of thermodynamics, the energy bal-
based thermal model for different food materials like jag- ance equations for different parts of the solar dryer have been
gery (Kumar and Tiwari 2006; Srivastava and Shukla 2017). written by considering the energy input and output or losses
Thermal modeling of a solar drying system is a technique from the system or within the system.
to examine the behavior of temperature variation within the The energy balance for the solar collector plate is given by
system. Thermal modeling depends on the law of conserva- the following equation:
tion of energy or the first law of thermodynamics, energy
(1)
( ) ( )
equations, etc. 𝜏 𝛼p I Wdx = Ut Tp − Ta W dx + hpf Tp − Tf W dx
During thermal modeling, some assumptions have been
Overall top loss coefficient:
adopted (Mohana et al. 2020):
[ ]−1
1 1
1. No condensation of water vapor inside the drying chamber Ut = +
hpg hga
2. Shrinkage in the volume is negligible

Table 1  Specifications of the measuring instruments

Instruments Manufacturer Accuracy Range Error (%)

Solar power meter (TENMARS, TM-206) Tenmars Electronics Co., Ltd ± 10W/m2 0–1999 W/m2 5
Digital balance (Citizen, CY-220) Citizen Scale (I) Pvt. Ltd ± 0.01 g 0–220 g 1.2
Digital thermometer (ACETEQ, MT-4) ACETEQ Instruments ± 1.5 °C − 50 to 550 °C 1.5

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557 34553

The energy balance for working fluid (air) is given by the along with suitable initial and boundary conditions. All these
following equation: listed equations have been solved in a MATLAB environment
( ) ( ) by suitable programming to get the results. Experimentation
hpf Tp − Tf W dx = ṁ Cf Tf x dx + Ub Tf − Ta W dx (2) of the sample has been done with a fabricated dryer to monitor
the temperatures of the different sections of the dryer with the
Tf x is the derivative of f luid temperature with respect to change in x. help of an infrared thermometer (Singh et al. 2020a).

Initial and boundary conditions: Statistical analysis

Tf = Tfi at x = 0
The obtained experimental data have been fitted in a suitable
model. ORIGIN lab software has been used to plot the profiles
Tf 0 = Tf at x = L of the temperatures of the drying chamber, collector plate, and
sample with thermal efficiency. The standard deviation of each
And the rate of thermal energy available at the outlet of
data point has been calculated to find out the error between the
the air collector:
model and experimental results data.
(3)
( )
Q̇ u = mC
̇ f Tf 0 − Tfi
Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
Energy balance for the drying chamber:
It is used to analyze the differences within and between the
(4)
( ) ( )
ṁ Cf Tf 0 − Tfi = Ms Cs Tst + h Ts + Tch Ach samples. Here, three different experimental data samples have
been used to prepare the ANOVA table. ANOVA depends on
Energy balance for the food sample:
the following equations:
h Ts − Tch Ach = ṁ Cf Tch − Ta + hsw Asw Tch − Ta (5)
( ) ( ) ( )
Grand total (T) = X1 + X2 + X3 (7)

Thermal efficiency
( )
T2
Correction factor = (8)
M
The thermal efficiency of a solar dryer is the ratio of the
amount of heat utilized by the food sample to the heat sup- �∑
X1
�2 �∑
X2
�2 �∑
X3
�2
T2
plied by the solar dryer. Thermal efficiency is calculated by Sum of square between samples (SSC) =
n1
+
n2
+
n3
−
N
(Mohana et al. 2020): (9)
Mev × 𝜆 Degree of freedom for SSC = K − 1 (10)
𝜂= × 100 (6)
3600 × I(t)
∑ 2 ∑ 2 ∑ 2 T2
Total sum of square (SST) = X1 + X2 + X3 −
N
Numerical solution (11)
Degree of freedom for SST = M − 1 (12)
The mathematical model of a fabricated solar dryer has been
discussed. Equations 2 and 4 are ordinary differential equa-
tions, and all other equations are algebraic. These equations
Sum of square within sample (SSE) = SST − SSC (13)
have been solved in a MATLAB environment to obtain the
results (Singh et al. 2020b). Degree of freedom for SSE = M − K (14)

Simulation algorithm Mean sum of square between samples (MSC) =

SSC
K−1
A simulation algorithm is a technique to explain the step-by- (15)
step procedure of the experimental work and solution of the SSE
Mean sum of square with in sample (MSE) = (16)
developed thermal model. In the modeling section, the process M−K
is started from the energy balance and converted in the model
equation in terms of drying chamber temperature (Tch), collec- MSC
tor plate temperature (Tp), and food sample temperature (Tc)
F − ratio (F) = (17)
MSE

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34554 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557

Table 2  Analysis of variance of Source of variation Sum of square Degree of freedom Mean sum of square F-ratio
experimental data
Between samples SSC = 0.06 2 MSC = 0.031 F(2,11) = 0.013
Within sample SSE = 26.55 11 MSE = 2.19
Total SST = 26.61 13

M is the total number of samples. variation in average solar radiation and average ambient tem-
Where, X1, X2, and X3 are the experimental sample data perature with respect to drying time has been shown in Fig. 2.
values. It depicts that initially at 11:00, the value of average solar
K is the number of experimental runs. radiation and average ambient temperature are 312 W/m2
n1, n2, and n3 are the number of samples in each run. and 35 °C respectively. In the morning time, initially, weak
The solution of the above-listed equations has been solar radiation was found, but with the increase in sunshine,
obtained by putting the experimental data value and shown the value of average solar radiation and average ambient
in Table 2. temperature also increased gradually and achieved maxi-
mum values of 664 W/m2 and 41 °C respectively at noon.
After some time, the amount of solar radiation decreases
Results and discussion when the sun moves towards the West direction.

The heat transfer–based model has been solved by using Observation of collector plate and drying chamber
some input parameters. These input parameters have been temperatures with respect to drying time
observed and calculated manually and listed in Table 3
(Mohana et al. 2020; Singh et al. 2020b). The experimental A solar collector is a receiver of solar radiation (solar radia-
work has been performed for 1 week continuously at the tion intensity) and converts it into heat energy and transfers
same time interval. All experimental result data has been this heat to the indirect type solar dryer (Wenceslas and
compiled and plotted in the form of average data with the Ghislain 2019). Figure 3 a shows the temperature variation
help of ORIGIN software. received by the collector with respect to drying time. Solar
The modified mathematical model was quite simple and plate temperature depends on the amount of solar radiation
easily demonstrated in comparison to other existing litera- falling on it. Initially, the average collector plate sample was
ture (Kumar and Tiwari 2006; Srivastava and Shukla 2017). measured as 64.5 °C at 11:00 m A.M.
After 1 h, the solar collector plate achieved a maximum
Observation of ambient temperature and solar temperature of 73.7 °C at noon due to maximum solar radia-
radiation with drying time tion (solar radiation intensity) of 664 W/m2. When the sun

Solar radiation is an important parameter to generate heat

inside the dryer. It is the amount of energy received by the
solar collector (Wenceslas and Ghislain 2019). Ambient
temperature and solar radiation have been measured by the
infrared thermometer and solar power meter respectively. The

Table 3  Input parameter values

Parameters Values

Dimensions of food sample (l × b) (mm) 35 × 30

Fluid (air) temperature (°C) 45
Air velocity (m/s) 1.5
Latent heat of vaporization of water (J/g) 2257
Mass of evaporated water (g) 3.4
Initial moisture content (g/gm db) 2.66
Final moisture content (g/gm db) 0.11
Total run time (h) 6 Fig. 2  Variation in average solar radiation and average ambient tem-
perature (hourly)

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557 34555

Fig. 3  Hourly temperature variation in (a) collector plate and (b) drying chamber

moves in the West direction, the temperature of the collector than 50 °C. This temperature range was suitable for moisture
plate has been decreased due to a reduction in solar radiation. evaporation. When moisture is removed from the food sample,
A drying chamber is the main part of a solar dryer. It the temperature of the sample increases gradually.
receives the heat from the solar collector and circulates it
through the sample trays. The temperature of the drying Estimation of thermal efficiency
chamber does not directly depend on the solar radiation, but
it can be influenced by the losses of heat from the chamber The thermal efficiency of a solar dryer is defined as the
through the dryer’s walls (Wenceslas and Ghislain 2019). ratio of heat utilized by the food sample to the heat sup-
Figure 3 b depicts the variation in the temperature of the plied by the solar dryer. It directly depends on the amount
drying chamber with respect to the drying time. Initially, of moisture evaporation from the potato food material for
the temperature of the chamber was measured as 57.7 °C at
11:00 with the help of an infrared thermometer. After some
time, the temperature profiles have been shown the incre-
ment and decrement due to the non-regularity of the heat
supply by the solar collector.

Variation in food sample temperature with respect

to drying time

A food sample has been placed on the feed tray inside the dry-
ing chamber. The food sample has received the amount of heat
from the drying chamber to evaporate the moisture content for
food preservation. The moisture content in the food sample
is a key parameter in analyzing the shelf life (Kavak Akpinar
2019; Mahapatra and Tripathy 2019; Tagnamas et al. 2021).
Figure 4 shows the variation in the average sample temperature
with respect to drying time. Initially, the average temperature
of the food sample was around 30 °C, but as soon as the sample
received heat from the drying chamber, it increased to more Fig. 4  Hourly variation in sample temperature

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34556 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557

• The modified thermal model can be useful for some

other fruits, grains, and vegetables
• This drying method can replace the fossil fuel–based
heating or drying method to save conventional resources

Conclusions

To explain the thermal and drying behavior, a modified thermal

model of a fabricated solar dryer has been analyzed through
computational and experimental studies. MATLAB software
has been used to solve the mathematical equations of the ther-
mal model. The performance of the solar dryer was evaluated
by thermal analysis. Variations in the temperature of different
sections of the solar dryer such as the collector plate, drying
chamber, and food sample have been monitored and calculated.
Fig. 5  Thermal efficiency of the solar dryer with respect to time The maximum solar radiation intensity (solar insolation) and
ambient temperature have been found as 664 W/m2 and 41 °C
respectively at noon. The maximum thermal efficiency of the
given solar radiation (Wenceslas and Ghislain 2019; Darici solar dryer has been calculated as 53.7%. It is also found that
and Kilic 2020). Figure 5 depicts the hourly variation in the model data are in good agreement with experimental data
the thermal efficiency of the solar dryer. The maximum within a 4% error. This fabricated solar dryer has been found
thermal efficiency was found as 53.7% at 11:00 A.M. at suitable to provide enough heat to the food sample to enhance
312 W/m2 because at this stage, maximum moisture evapo- the shelf life (preservation period) of the food material. It is
ration takes place, and the food sample has utilized the expected that this study will be useful for processing different
maximum heat for evaporation. food materials such as grains and vegetables.
After some time, the food sample attained the equilib-
List of symbols τ: Transmissivity (dimensionless); Mev: Evaporated mois-
rium moisture condition and took less amount of heat for ture content (g moisture (gm db)−1); αp: Absorptivity ­(m2/s); I: Solar
moisture evaporation, and then the value of the thermal radiation (W/m2); W: Width of absorber (m); Tp: Plate temperature (°C);
efficiency has been decreased continuously because the Ta: Ambient temperature (°C); hpf: Convective heat transfer coefficient from
amount of utilized heat decreased, but the amount of the plate to fluid (W/m2 °C); Tf: Fluid temperature (°C); hga: Convective heat
transfer coefficient from glass to ambient (W/m2°C); ṁ : Mass flow rate of
heat transferred by the solar dryer continuously increases fluid (g/s); Cf: Specific heat of fluid (J/g K); Ub: Overall heat transfer coeffi-
with drying time. Therefore, we got minimum efficiency at cient from fluid to ambient through bottom insulation (W/m2 °C); Ms: Mass
14:00, while there was a sufficient amount of solar radia- of the sample (g); Cs: Specific heat of the sample (J/g K); Ts: Sample tem-
tion at 664 W/m2. perature (°C); Tch: Drying chamber temperature (°C); Ach: Drying chamber
area ­(m2); hsw: Heat transfer coefficient of side wall (W/m2 °C); Asw: Area
of side wall ­(m2); λ: Latent heat of vaporization of water (J/g)

Validation of the model Supplementary Information The online version contains supplemen-
tary material available at https://d​ oi.o​ rg/1​ 0.1​ 007/s​ 11356-0​ 24-3​ 3209-w.
Model validity is a key component to prove the truthness of Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Dr. APJ AKTU, Luc-
the developed thermal model with the help of experimental know, and the Institute of Engineering and Technology Lucknow for
investigations. Figures 3 and 5 represent the temperature vari- their support.
ations of the collector plate, drying chamber, and food sample
Author contribution Mukul Sengar: methodology, original draft prep-
respectively with drying time for the model as well as experi- aration, software. Dhananjay Singh: conceptualization, supervision,
mental data. The model data has been found in good agree- editing, P.K. Mishra: reviewing, investigation. Deepak Singh: data
ment with performed experimental data within an error of 4%. curation, validation, Balendu Shekher Giri: supervision.

Data availability Not applicable.

Practical applications and future research prospects
Declarations
It is expected that this drying process-based study will
be beneficial for domestic and food producer companies. Ethical approval and consent to participate Not applicable.
Some practical applications for this study are:

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024) 31:34550–34557 34557

Consent for publication Not applicable. Kumar A, Singh M, Singh G (2013) Effect of different pretreatments on
the quality of mushrooms during solar drying. J Food Sci Technol
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numerical modeling of heat transfer during solar drying of car-
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