An innovative 'passive-solar' timber drying kiln: Progress Report I

This report details the technical progress in the design of an autonomous solar kiln for timber drying and covers the development of IoT-based monitoring and control systems, including hardware selection, software in Arduino IDE for autonomous regulation, and system validation through testing. Solar PV and battery systems were sized using PVsyst, a comprehensive solar energy simulation tool, to evaluate the solar potential and system performance of the solar kiln at five locations across Scotland. This finds that all five sites are suitable for the installation of off-grid solar systems and indicates that solar-powered wood drying can be a viable and sustainable solution in these locations.The kiln’s structural configuration was optimised through computational modelling, examining airflow dynamics, channel spacing, and fan placement to maximise drying efficiency while minimising energy consumption. To validate the airflow simulations, a scale model was constructed and evaluated against simulation results to ensure the simulation and optimisations correspond to real-world performance. This report outlines the methodologies, results, and key conclusions, serving as a foundation for further development toward a full-scale prototype.