Thermal Modeling and Parametric Study of a Forced Convection Greenhouse Drying System for Jaggery: An Experimental Validation

摘要

This communication presents the thermal modeling for the greenhouse drying of jaggery under forced convection mode to predict the jaggery temperature, the greenhouse air temperature and the moisture evaporation (jaggery mass during drying). The parametric study has also been performed to find the effects of various parameters namely number of air changes/h, relative humidity and mass of the jaggery. The jaggery cubes (total mass of 2.0 kg) having dimensions of 0.03 x 0.03 x 0.03 m3 has been dried in the roof type even span greenhouse with floor area of 1.20 x 0.78 m2 during the month of March, 2004 at IIT Delhi (28°35`N 72°12`E) from 10 am to 5 pm. The jaggery temperature, the greenhouse air temperature and the moisture evaporation have been calculated theoretically in terms of design and climatic parameters by using the MATLAB software. The theoretical results have been experimentally validated and a fair agreement has been observed between the theoretical and experimental results.