I have been doing research on solar drying,this the latest project I recently did. The dryer is mixed mode natural convection of solar dryer integrated with a simple biomass burner and bricks for storing heat. The dryer was designed for small-scale commercial producers of agricultural products in non-electrified locations. From a series of evaluation trials of the system, the capacity of the dryer was found to be 60–65 kg of unshelled fresh harvested groundnuts.
The drying efficiency of the solar component alone was found to be 23%. While, the efficiency of the burner with heat storage in producing useful heat for drying was found to be 40%.The key design features of the dryer contributed to produce an acceptable thermal efficiency, and uniformity of drying air temperature across the trays, were the jacket and gap enclosing the drying chamber and arranged bricks for storing heat.
This my dryer was exposed by local TV station, wow not bad.
