Research Article
Performance of Polymer Composite Constituted Cabinet Dryer
Integrated within a Solar Flat Plate Collector
S. Raj Sachin ,
1
Anton M. Kuzmin ,
2,3
Subramanian Krishnakumar ,
4
Anandhan Jayaganthan ,
5
and Yesgat Admassu
6
1
epartment of Mechanical Engineering, Sanjivani College of Engineering, Kopargaon, Maharashtra 423603, India
2
epartment of Mechanization of Agricultural Products Processing, Ogarev Mordovia State University, Saransk 430005, Russia
3
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, 36, Stremyanny Ln, Moscow 117997, Russia
4
epartment of Mechanical Engineering, Gnanamani College of Technology, Namakkal, Tamilnadu 637018, India
5
epartment of Automobile Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600119, India
6
efence University College, Bishoftu, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Yesgat Admassu; yesgat.admassu@dec.edu.et
Received 19 October 2022; Revised 8 December 2022; Accepted 4 April 2023; Published 20 April 2023
Academic Editor: Pudhupalayam Muthukutti Gopal
Copyright © 2023 S. Raj Sachin et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Generally, solar dryer cabinets are made up of sheet metals that are heavy, costly, tend to rust over time, and possess the high heat rate to
the outer atmosphere. In order to overcome these drawbacks, this research urges to develop a natural fber reinforced polymer•based
cabinet dryer, specially designed and fabricated for the purpose of solar drying. Nylon is used as the matrix material and Prosopis julifora
in particulate form is used as the natural fber reinforcement. Te dryer cabinet was designed at industrial scale to dry 5kg of ginger at
a single setting. Tis work also studies the efciency of the polymer composite cabinet integrated with a fat plate solar collector system
that is coated with copper and black chrome attached to corrugated fns in between the absorber plate and storage medium. Te FRP
chamber was compartmented in its interior with aluminium perforated sheets and experimentation was performed to determine the
efciency of the composite cabinet based on reduction of heat loss from the system. Te performance of the coating, storage medium
materials, and overall storage efciency were also studied. Te FRP cabinet resulted in a moisture level less than 8.5% within 4–7 days.
Exergy studies showed 75% efciency and energy studies gave 25.5kJ/kg peak readings of drying efciency for a period ranging between
11 and 12hours. Tis was a 75% increment in energy efciency. Termal degradation of the FRP material was found to be stable up to
300
°
C. Te overall weight of the constructed polymer cabinet was 25% lesser than the conventional systems.
1.Introduction
Ginger is a popular spice and cash crop all over the world.
India, China, Japan, Nigeria, and Indonesia are among the
countries that grow it. India is the world’s greatest producer
and consumer of ginger, accounting for 32.75 percent of
global output [1]. Te consumption pattern shows that
green ginger is used 50% of the time, dry ginger is used 30%
ofthetime,andseedmaterialsareusedjust20%ofthetime.
Dried ginger has a large market and is exported due to its
medicinal characteristics, which are used to cure stomach
aches, nausea, indigestion, asthma, and other ailments [2].
To avoid waste due to microbial and fungal attacks, the
economically valuable spice must be dried efectively to
achieve a very low moisture content. Drying has tradi•
tionally been crucial for preserving agricultural products
and extending the shelf life of food [3]. Drying diferent
food products can be carried out in a variety of ways. Te
traditional open•air drying method has a number of
drawbacks. For limiting product deterioration and re•
ducing drying time, numerous energy•based dryers are
available. Due to the increasing cost of energy, traditional
dryers and drying procedures are not cost efective [4, 5].
Drying has become an energy•intensive and unafordable
practice for farmers due to diminishing fossil fuel supplies
and rising costs [6].
Hindawi
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Volume 2023, Article ID 2708776, 10 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2708776