This document describes the design and fabrication of a solar dryer with phase change material (PCM) as an energy storage medium. The solar dryer uses PCM to improve thermal efficiency by storing thermal energy during phase changes from solid to liquid and back. PCM provides constant, moderate temperatures needed for drying crops while reducing heat losses compared to conventional dryers. The dryer operates via natural circulation - absorbing solar radiation to heat air which dries and circulates crops before exhausting through a chimney. Literature on previous solar dryers is also reviewed.

1. NEHRU INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF SOLAR DRYER WITH
PCM AS ENERGY STORAGE MEDIUM
BATCH MEMBERS
ARAVINDH S 721417114009
GANESAN R 721417114028
GOWDHAM E 721417114034
RAJESH J 721417114075
Guide by:
Dr. P. Maniiarasan
Professor
Principal NIET

2. INTRODUCTION:
Pyrolysis is one of the general techniques,
which is used to convert the waste plastic into
useful energy in any form like solid, liquid and
gaseous fuels.
• Pyrolysis is the thermal degradation of the
wasted plastic at the various temperatures in
the range of 300º C to 900º C with the oxygen
absence to produce the liquefied oil.

3. ABSTRACT:
• Using phase change material (PCM) as an energy storage medium is one of
the most efficient ways of storing thermal energy.
• The latent heat storage provides much higher storage density than sensible
heat storage, with smaller temperature difference between storing and
releasing heat.
• In addition phase change materials provide constant and moderate
temperature needed for drying agricultural crops sufficiently.
• This method that have been used for improving the thermal conductivity of
the used phase change material( Paraffin wax).
• It is concluded that solar dryers with a PCM reduces the heat losses and
improves the efficiency of system.

4. WORKING PRINCIPLE:
• Dryer operates by the action of solar-energy striking directly on the product within
the dryer. The product and a vertically-hung, black absorbing curtain within the
chimney absorb the solar radiation and are heated which, in turn, heats surrounding
air.
• As this heated air rises and flows up the chimney to the outside of the dryer, fresh
replenishing air is drawn in from the other end of the dryer.
• Apart from the obvious advantages of passive solar-energy dryers over the active
types , the advantages of the natural circulation solar-energy ventilated greenhouse
dryer over other passive solar-energy dryer designs include its low cost and its
simplicity in both on-the-site construction and operation.

5. • PCMs changes its phase at a constant temperature, by storing a large amount
of latent heat and again changes back its phase by releasing the stored heat,
• Solid-Liquid PCMs are used generally used as handling of material in this
stage is easier. The thermal energy transfer occurs when a material changes
from solid to liquid, or liquid to solid. Initially, these solid-liquid PCMs
perform like conventional storage materials; their temperature rises as they
absorb heat [26]. PCMs absorb and release heat at a nearly constant
temperature. They store 5-14 times more heat per unit volume than sensible
storage materials such as water

6. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Sl.No.
Paper published
Year
Authors’ Name Paper Title & Journal Name Findings
[1] 2014 Guofeng Yuana*,
Liang Hongb , Xing
Lia , Li Xua ,
Wenxue Tangc ,
Zhifeng Wang
Experimental investigation of a solar
dryer system for drying carpet
International Conference on Solar
Heating and Cooling for Buildings and
Industry, SHC 2014
The work presents a
solar dryer system for
carpet drying. A flat
plate solar air heater
was designed for the
large scale industry
drying process. The
thermal performance
of the designed
collector was tested
[2] 2016 Y. Baradey1 , M.
N. A. Hawlader2 ,
A. F. Ismail3 , M.
Hrairi4 , M. I.
Rapi5
Solar Drying of Fruits and Vegetables Water removal process
from foodstuffs
commonly used for
preservation and
storage purposes,but
drying process is the
most common method
of food preservation
because it increases the
storage life.

7. Sl.No.
Paper published
Year
Authors’ Name Paper Title & Journal Name Findings
[3] 2020 Eugene Park,
Thomas T.Kivevele
Thermal Performance Analysis
of solar Dryer Integrated with
heat energy storage
System and a Low-Cost
Parabolic solar
Dish Concentrator
for Food Preservation
solar dryer maintain colour and
flavour
and lowered the moisture
content.
[4] 2020 Halil Atalay, Eda Cankurtaran Energy, energy, exergoeconomic
and exergo-environment
analyses of a large scale solar
dryer with PCM energy storage
medium
Exergoeconomic and
environmental sustainability
analysis where handle together
for the first time, and all
performance values of a high
capacity industrial solar dryer
were determined in detail.
[5] 2020 Rahul Girase1, Vishwas Mahajan2,
Ankita Kotwal3, Akash Ugale4
A Solar Dryer Technology
International Research Journal of
Engineering and Technology
(IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 07
Issue: 01 | Jan 2020
The device used for
preservation of food products
using solar energy is called as
solar dryer or solar dehydrator.
The solar dryer is classified on
the basis of mode of drying,
circulation of air, type and
arrangement of solar air
collector.

8. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:
• In normal solar dryers, sensible heat energy storage system is prefered and
used.
• On replacement of sensible heat energy storage, we using latent heat energy
storage system.
• Because , when compared to sensible heat energy, latent heat energy provide
high temperature, high thermal efficiency.

9. LATENT HEAT STORAGE SYSTEM:
• Latent heat energy storage involves heating a material until it experiences a phase
change.
• It can be from solid to liquid or from liquid to gas.
• When the material reaches its phase change temperature it absorbs a large amount of
heat.
• In order to carry out the transformation(solid –liquid or liquid to gas), known as
latent heat storage system.

10. METHODOLOGY:
• The paraffin present in the PCM by absorbing the heat.
• So when the solar radiation becomes NILL the drying takes place by
using the heat stored in PCM.
• The dry heated air removes the moisture from the material to be dried
and is exhausted via chimney.

11. 2D SKETCH:

12. SAMPLE 3-D SKETCH: