Design andFabrication ofHybrid Solar-Biomass System for Crops Drying

• Main Author: Mohd Yasin, Irwan Syah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti teknologi petronas 2008
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9904/1/2008%20-%20Design%20and%20Fabrication%20of%20Hybrid%20Solar-Biomass%20System%20for%20Crops%20Drying.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/9904/

One of the applications of solar energy in agriculture industry is the drying of the agricultural crops. The limited source of solar energy becomes a problem in drying process that is slowing the drying process. With the additional source ofenergy, the problem can be solved. From here on, the project is focused on the designing, fabrication, and testing the solar-biomass hybrid system for drying the crops and also analysing its performance. Calculation ofheating energy used for drying process of80% ofcrop's moisture content and its thermal efficiency, incident ofsolar radiation, speed and mass flowrate of air are included in designing process besides the dimension of the hybrid drier unit and the material used. As the complement for the designing process, the mechanical drawings are been produces in 2D with AutoCAD and 3D with Catia. The fabrication is done as per mention in the report. Continued from it, the testing also be done by using the potato as a crop in this drying process for 24 hours and the result is gained with the drying process using this hybrid drier is actually successful to get the desired value of moisture content for crops to be stored for long period in less than 24 hours. In conjunction with the result, the analysis isdone tosee its performance together with the discussions. As the completion in this project, the recommendation on this hybrid drier is provided to be the reference for the future works and the conclusion is done.