ISSN 2167-0447
International Journal of Agricultural Sciences ISSN 2167-0447 Vol. 10 (4), pp. 001-008, April, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Performance evaluation of a v-groove solar air collector for drying maize (Zea mays) in lraq
Mudafer kareem Abdullah and Ahmed Abed Gatea*
Department of Agricultural mechanization, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, lraq.
Accepted 21 January, 2020
Abstract
In this work, a solar drying system was constructed, consisting of three parts (solar collector, drying chamber, and air blower). Solar collector having V-corrugated absorption plate of two air passes, a single glass cover was used. The total area of the collectors is 2.04 m². The dimension of the drying chamber is 1.06, 0.66 and 0.56 m for width, depth, and height, respectively. 38 kg of corn were dried. The moisture content was reduced from 21 to 13% within four hours drying. The drying air temperatures at the inlet of the dryer were found in the range of 30 to 45ºC when the range of ambient air temperature was from 8.5 to 20ºC and total solar radiation intensity was from 270 to 560 W/m2. Increasing volumetric air flow rate from 0.025 to 0.030 m3/s raises the daily solar collector efficiency by 3.25%, while increasing volumetric air flow rate from 0.030 to 0.035 m 3/s raises the solar daily collector efficiency by 11.11%. The drying rate is reduced with the decrease of moisture content. Efficiency of the collector is very much dependant on air flow rate.
Key words: Solar energy, solar air collector, two passes collector, V-corrugated collector, solar drying, performance evaluation.