Nayanita K
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, Assam, India
G Srinivasan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, Assam, India
G Sureandhar
School of Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati-781039, Assam, India
Palanisamy Muthukumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati,
India
Estimating the drying kinetics of products dried from solar dryers through experimental investigation is tedious and time-consuming. Thus, a numerical model is developed to study the drying behaviour of spherical products dried in a solar dryer using COMSOL Multiphysics. A 3-D finite element model is developed to solve the transient heat and mass transfer process occurring in the drying process. The influence of different drying air temperatures (318 K and 333 K) on the mean product temperature and moisture content variations are analyzed in detail. The variation of product temperature within the product is reported. The numerical values are compared with the experimental work available in the literature and are found to be in agreement. The developed model will assist in estimating the drying kinetics of various spherical-shaped products like figs, peas, etc.