Study and Simulation of A Solar System for Drying Purpose in Rwanda

Abstract

This study aims to simulate and present the hourly thermal analysis of a forced convection solar dryer along with the parametric analysis of the drying process made using the drying characteristics of green pepper. Under the consideration of Rwanda weather condition on August 21st, the designed solar collector shows low performance before noon and high-performance afternoon. It generates output air temperatures above 50°C from 12:00 until 19:00 with the highest value of 74°C generated at 15:00. In the drying chamber, the green pepper drying time shows dependence on the air temperatures obtained from the solar collector and on the tray positioning number. The graphical results show that the products dried in the first tray dries quickly compared to those in the last trays, the effect of drying at high temperatures lead to the reduction in the drying time. The obtained results are confirmed by their similarities in curves trends with those of results diagrams in related literature studies.