Computational Fluid Dynamics Based Experimental Analysis of Solar Tunnel Dryer for Tapioca Using Aluminium and Copper Absorber Plate

摘要

The present work analyses the performance of a solar tunnel dryer for drying tapioca under natural convection. An experimental setup of solar tunnel dryer has been designed and fabricated. Experiments have been performed for different ambient conditions. The present work deals withdrying tapioca using solar tunnel dryer with aluminum absorber plate and copper absorber plate, at Nagercoil (8.1700° N, 77.4300° E) to the final desired moisture content of 1.3 from 71.5% in 12 hours (for 1 kg) and 0.05 from 37.5% in 10 hours (for 0.5 kg) for aluminum plate and 2.58from 71.5% in 12 hours (for 1 kg) and 2.06 from 37.5% in 10 hours (for 0.5 kg) for copper plate as compared to one day of drying in the open sun. The dryer is simple in construction at a low cost with locally obtainable materials. These experimental parameters have been considered for CFDanalysis using Fluent 6.3 software, to estimate the pressure and velocity distribution.