Design, construction and performance evaluation of paddy rice solar drum dryer equipped with perforated drum

• Published in: Clean energy (Online) 2023-04, Vol.7 (2), p.328-339
• Main Authors: Leilayi, Maedeh, Arabhosseini, Akbar, Kianmehr, Mohammad Hossein, Amiri, Heman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2515-4230; 2515-396X
• DOI: 10.1093/ce/zkac074

Abstract A solar drum dryer was designed and constructed for paddy drying, including a fixed outer drum and inner perforated drum, which rotated at the desired rotational speed inside the outer drum. The maximum capacity of the dryer was 10 000 g. The rotational speed of the inner drum was controlled. The thermal energy required for the dryer was provided by a solar absorber plate. The dryer performance was examined at three levels of rotational speed (0.21, 0.42 and 0.84 r.p.m.), drum slope (1°, 1.5° and 2°) and air velocity (1.7, 1.8 and 1.9    m.s−1). The diameter of the drum was the geometrical parameter that affected the movement of the particles and the ratio of the particle diameter to the drum diameter changed with the change in the drum diameter. Therefore, increasing the diameter of the drum caused a reduction in the repose angle of the paddy without any effect on the filling angle. The displacement of the product along the drum increased with increasing slope and rotational speed. At the lowest air velocity, the time required to remove moisture (