DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM DISTANCE BETWEEN GLASS COVER AND THE ABSORBER (COLLECTOR) PLATE OF A SOLAR DRYER.

摘要

The importance of the oven temperature used for drying agricultural products cannot be overemphasized. This is determined by the amount of intensity of the radiation which passes through the glass and the absorbed by the collector plate that is converted into heat energy. The solar dryer used has its absorber (collector) plate adjustable to the glass cover at intervals of 1 cm varying from 3.0 cm to 10.0 cm. The experimental results show that the optimum distance between the glass cover and the absorber (collector) plate for maximum performance of the dryer is about 4.00 cm. This value was obtained when maximum temperature of the absorber and the glass cover occur simultaneously.