Development and performance investigation of a solar dryer integrated with latent heat storage

Abstract

In this study a hybrid solar dryer consisting of a solar air heater panel a latent heat storage module a blower and a drying chamber has been developed Performances of the solar dryer has been tested by drying some of the agricultural products available in the prevailing weather conditions of the North Eastern part of India The preliminary experiments on the dryer were carried out without the thermal energy storage material The first experiment was performed to study the drying kinetics