Design and Simulation of a semi-transparent photovoltaic thermal (PVT) indirect solar dryer integrated with kitchen chimney using ANN technique

Abstract

In the proposed research, an effort has been made to develop a thermal model for a semi-transparent PVT solar dryer integrated with a kitchen chimney for faster drying of agricultural produce to enhance their shelf life. The thermal model is based on energy balance equations derived based on the design of the dryer and different climatic parameters for April month in New Delhi. It has been observed that there is an increase of 8oC in the drying chamber for the initial kitchen chimney outlet temperature of 72oC with a packing factor of 0.83 for the semi-transparent solar cells, which has also been validated by the ANN model. An exhaust fan placed between the PVT air collector and drying chamber is operated using electrical energy generated from the PVT air collector, making the entire set up self-sustainable.