Experimental Evaluation of Forced Convection Indirect Type Solar Dryer Without and With Energy Storage System During Drying Green Chilli

ABSTRACT The indirect type solar dryer (ITSD) is popular due to higher efficiency and better hygienic food products compared to open sun drying. In the present study, an experimental analysis of drying the green chilli in a forced convection ITSD without a thermal energy storage system (TSS) (mode‐1) and with TSS (mode‐2) was executed to differentiate the attainment of the systems and drying parameters. TSS is a rectangular box that is made up of polycarbonate sheets and was kept on the steel structure inside the drying chamber. The TSS box consists of 50 concentric tubes that contain paraffin wax which is used to store and release the heat energy during experiments. Experiments were done on adjacent days in both modes. The performance, thermal and drying parameters, and drying models were found and compared in both modes. The best drying model was found to be the two‐term exponential model and modified Page model for mode‐1 and mode‐2, respectively. The drying rate was 0.5523 and 0.7661 kg/h (average) in mode‐1 and mode‐2, and the drying efficiency was 11.8% and 17.03%, respectively. The green chilli reached its final moisture content at 15 and 9 daytime hours in mode‐1 and mode‐2, respectively. The temperature in tray‐1 was enhanced from 7.8°C to 8.8°C in mode‐2 due to the release of heat from TSS after the sunset. Uncertainty analysis was executed, and the outcomes were compared with existing analyses.