Study of the Technical and Economic Performance of a Solar Drying System Utilizing Intensive Infrared Heating
摘要
The research aims to conduct a technical and economic analysis to substantiate the economic viability and future prospects of the solar drying system developed by the authors, provisionally named “Termika.” Its economic efficiency is achieved through enhanced productivity, facilitated by effective infrared heating of the products being dried, utilizing additional metal ribs that serve as supplementary sources of infrared radiation. Numerical calculations have confirmed the feasibility of manufacturing and operating solar drying systems. The primary distinctions between the various designs of solar drying systems include the area of the loading surfaces and the direction of the heat carrier flow within the heat exchanger. Some designs incorporate additional elements to improve heat exchange, such as aluminum sheets installed at the lower part of the solar collector to reflect rays and varying ratios of the surfaces of the solar collector and the heat exchanger. The proposed solar drying systems can be effectively employed in the drying of agricultural products. As a result of the conducted research, the authors identified the economic benefits derived from using the “Termika” solar drying system. Based on the evaluation of the technical and economic indicators of the developed systems, the authors concluded that the economic benefit of using the “Termika” system depends on the type of product being dried, ranging from 8028 to 21,831.4 soms relative to the basic solar drying systems (BSDS) and from 21,664.7 to 96,510.2 soms relative to the air-solar drying (ASD). Furthermore, the payback period for the “Termika” system, based on the average economic benefit, is 0.64 years.