Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

ScienceDirect
Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Performance analysis of solar drying system for red chili

Ahmad Fudholi a,, Kamaruzzaman Sopian a, Mohammad H. Yazdi a,
Mohd Hadz Ruslan a, Mohamed Gabbasa a, Hussein A. Kazem b
a

Solar Energy Research Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
b
Faculty of Engineering-Sohar University, PO Box 44, Sohar PCI 311, Oman
Received 24 July 2013; received in revised form 30 September 2013; accepted 17 October 2013
Available online 26 November 2013
Communicated by: Associate Editor I. Farkas

Abstract
This study is concerned with performance analysis of solar drying system for red chili. Red chili was dried to nal moisture content of
10% w.b from 80% w.b in 33 h using this system. In this study, energy and exergy analyses of the solar drying process were performed for
red chili. Using the rst law of thermodynamics, energy analysis was carried out to estimate the useful energy gained from the collectors.
However, exergy analysis during solar drying process was estimated by applying the second law of thermodynamics. The specic energy
consumption (SEC) was 5.26 kW h/kg. The values of evaporative capacity and improvement potential were from 0.13 kg/s to 2.36 kg/s
and 0 W to 135 W, respectively. The eciencies of the solar collector, drying system, pick-up, and exergy were 28%, 13%, 45%, and 57%
respectively, at an average solar radiation of 420 W/m2 and a mass ow rate of 0.07 kg/s.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Energy analysis; Exergy analysis; Improvement potential; Specic energy consumption; Solar drying; Red chili

1. Introduction
Red chili is traditionally dried directly under the open
sun. Open sun drying requires a large open space and long
drying times. Although this traditional method requires
only a small investment, open sun drying is highly dependent on the availability of sunshine and is susceptible to
contamination from foreign materials (dust and sand) as
well as insect and fungal infestations, which thrive in moist
conditions. Such contaminations render the products unusable. Most agricultural and marine products require drying
to preserve the quality of the nal product, but open sun
drying results in low-quality products. Therefore, solar
drying has become one of the most attractive and promising applications of solar energy systems as an alternative to
open sun drying.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 132924765.

E-mail address: a.fudholi@gmail.com (A. Fudholi).

0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.10.019

Several studies reported on the solar drying systems for

agricultural and marine products (Bala and Janjai, 2012,
2005; Belessiotis and Delyannis, 2011; Fudholi et al.,
2010; Bala et al., 2005; Bala and Mondal, 2001). Several
studies specically investigated solar drying systems for
red chili. Janjai et al. (2011) reported the use of a solar
greenhouse dryer for the commercial drying of 1000 kg of
fruits or vegetables in Champasak, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. The researchers also reported the installation of six units of greenhouse dryers at agro-industrial
sites in Thailand between 2008 and 2009. Lhendup (2005)
conducted a technical and economic performance analysis
of solar drying red chili in Bhutan. Hossain and Bala
(2007) studied a mixed-mode forced convection solar tunnel dryer for drying red chili in Bangladesh. Hossain
et al. (2005) then used a simulation model to evaluate the
technical and economical performance of the solar tunnel
dryer.

48

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

Nomenclature
collector area (m2)
specic heat of air (J kg1 C1)
evaporative capacity (kg/h)
exergy (W)
solar radiation (W/m2)
relative humidity (%)
absolute humidity of air leaving the drying
chamber (%)
hi
absolute humidity of air entering the drying
chamber (%)
has
absolute humidity of the air entering the dryer
at the point of adiabatic saturation (%)
IP
improvement potential (W)
L
latent heat of vaporisation of water at exit air
temperature (J/kg)
M
moisture content (%)
Mf
nal moisture content fraction on wet basis (%)
Mi
initial moisture content fraction on wet basis
(%)
mo
initial weight of product (kg)
air mass ow rate (kg/s)
m_
P
power (W)
S
saving in drying time (%)
SEC
specic energy consumption (kW h/kg)
SMER specic moisture extraction rate (kg/kW h)
Ac
C
E
Ex
G
H
h0

Exergy is dened as the maximum amount of work that

can be produced by a system or a ow of matter or energy
to reach equilibrium with a reference environment. Energy
and exergy analyses of the drying process should be
performed to determine the energy interactions and thermodynamic behavior of drying air throughout a drying
chamber. Exergy analysis allows for a more ecient energy
resource use because the analysis enables the determination
of the locations, types, and true magnitudes of the losses.
Therefore, exergy analyses can reveal where and by how
much designing more ecient thermal systems is possible
by reducing the sources of existing ineciencies. Increased
eciency can often contribute in an making these processes environmentally friendly by directly reducing the
irreversibilities (where exergy is destroyed) that might
otherwise occur. Therefore, exergy is one of the most
powerful tools in providing optimum drying conditions.
In the past few decades, thermodynamic analysis, particularly exergy analysis, has become an essential tool in the
system design, analysis, and optimization of a thermal
system (Chowdhury et al., 2011). The energy analysis
method is widely used in evaluating the performance of
the food drying system, but studies on exergy analysis
remain relatively limited.
Several studies were conducted on the exergy analyses of
food drying. Midili and Kucuk (2003) performed energy

T
t
tOS

temperature (C)
drying time (h)
time taken for drying the product in open sun
(h)
tSD
time taken for drying in solar drying (h)
v
volumetric airow (m3/s)
W
mass of water evaporated from the product (kg)
Xa
ambient absolute humidity (%)
Xd
dryer outlet absolute humidity (%)
XR
uncertainty in results
x1,x2,xn uncertainty in the independent variables
q
density of air (kg/m3)
g
eciency (%)
Subscripts
a
ambient
c
chamber
dci
inow of drying chamber
dco
outow of drying chamber
f
fan
h
heater
i
inlet
o
outlet
t
total

and exergy analyses of the drying process of shelled and

unshelled pistachios by using a solar drying cabinet.
Akpinar (2004) performed energy and exergy analyses in
drying red pepper slices by using a convective type dryer.
Dincer and Sahin (2004) developed a new model for the
thermodynamic analysis of the drying process. Akpinar
et al. (2006) conducted rst and second law analyses of
the thermodynamics of the pumpkin drying process. Colak
and Hepbasli (2007) performed exergy analysis on the thin
layer of a green olive in a tray dryer. Corzo et al. (2008)
performed energy and exergy analyses of the thin layer
drying of coroba slices at three dierent air temperatures.
Ozgener and Ozgener (2009) examined the exergy variation
during the drying process in a passively heated solar
greenhouse. Akpinar (2010) performed energy and exergy
analyses of the solar drying process of mint leaves. Exergy
eciencies were derived as a function of the drying time
and temperature of the drying air. Akpinar (2011) reported
on the energy and exergy analyses of the solar drying of
parsley leaves and the variations of the exergy inow,
outow, and loss with the drying time. Chowdhury et al.
(2011) also reported that exergy inow, outow, and
exergy loss follow similar pattern. The variations in the
exergy inow, outow, and loss in solar drying are caused
by variations in daily solar radiation. However, no study
has reported on the exergy analysis of the solar drying

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

system for red chili. Therefore, the main objective of this

study is to perform energy and exergy analyses of the solar
drying system for red chili.
2. Material and methods
Samples of chili (C. annuum L.) were obtained from the
farm of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor,
Malaysia. A total of 0.4 kg of fresh red chili was used in
each experiment. About 0.4 kg of red chili were taken
and dried in an oven at a temperature of 120 1 C until
a constant weight was reached. The initial and nal masses
of the red chili were recorded using an electronic balance.
The procedure was repeated at 1 h intervals until the end
of the drying process. The average moisture content was
80.2% (w.b).
The solar drying system was installed in the Solar
Energy Research Park, Solar Energy Research Institute,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The solar drying system
consists of a nned double-pass solar collector, a blower,
and a at bed drying chamber. The drying system is
classied as a forced convection indirect type. A schematic
diagram of the solar dryer is shown in Fig. 1. The width
and length of the collector are 1.2 and 2.4 m, respectively.
The solar collector array consists of four solar collectors.
The total area of the collector is 11.52 m2. The collector
has a glass cover, and the sides are insulated and painted
black on an aluminum absorber plate. The upper channel
depth is 3.5 cm, and the lower depth is 7 cm. The bottom
and sides of the collector are insulated with 2.5 cm thick
berglass wool to minimize heat losses. Air initially enters
the collector through the rst channel formed by the glass
that covers the absorber plate and then through the second
channel formed by the back plate and the nned absorber
plate. The drying chamber is 2.4 m in length, 1.0 m in
width, and 0.6 m in height.
The drying process was conducted from 9:00 AM to
5:00 PM. The solar dryer was shut down at night. The
drying process was continued until the next day, and the
process was repeated until the required equilibrium moisture content was reached. For the experiments, the solar
dryer was loaded to its full capacity of 40 kg of red chili,
which was divided and equally distributed on eight trays.

49

The red chili was also placed in a small tray positioned at

the center of the dryer to determine the moisture loss by
using a Camry R9364 digital electronic balance that
was placed on the top center of the drying chamber. The
balance has an accuracy of 0.01 g. The air temperature
(ambient, collector inlet, and collector outlet temperatures), radiation intensity, and air velocity were measured.
The air temperatures before entering, inside, and outside
the dryer chamber were also measured. Relative humidity
sensors were installed in the inlet, middle, and outlet
sections of the drying chamber. An air ow DTA 4000
anemometer was used to determine the air ow velocity
in the solar collector. T-type thermocouples and a Li-200
pyranometer with accuracies of 0.018 C and 1%, respectively, were used. During the drying process, the temperature and relative humidity in the solar dryer were
recorded at 1 min intervals by using the ADAM Data
Acquisition System, which is connected to a computer.
An experimental uncertainty analysis was also performed
(Fudholi et al., 2013a). The uncertainty estimation was
calculated using (El-Sebaii et al., 2011; Akpinar, 2010):
2

2 1=2

X R x1 x2 . . . xn 

The schematic illustration of the drying system with the

input and output terms is shown in Fig. 2. The gure shows
the four major points to consider, namely, (1) input of drying air to the drying chamber to dry the products, (2) input
of moist products to be dried in the chamber, (3) output of
the moist air after removing the evaporated moisture from
the products, and (4) output of the dried products. The
moisture contents are reduced to the level required for each
commodity of the product. In the analysis, the thermodynamic balance equations for the mass, energy, entropy,
and exergy of the drying system as a control volume are
rst written for the product, air, and moisture content in
the air (Fig. 2). Comprehensive details of such an analysis
were provided by Dincer (2011). Using exergy calculations
of drying process, Exergy Band Diagram is shown in
Fig. 3.
3. Performances analyses
The performances of solar drying systems for red chili
have been reported by Fudholi et al. (2013a), such as

Double-pass solar collector with

finned absorber
Air
inlet

15o

Auxiliary
heater
Blower

Drying
chamber

Fig. 1. The schematic of solar drying system.

Fig. 2. The schematic illustration of the drying system (Dincer, 2011).

50

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

Exdco
[11.7-489.7 W]

collector. System drying eciency is a measure of the overall eectiveness of a drying system. The system drying eciency can be obtained using the following equation:

Exloss
[1-238.4 W]

gd

Drying chamber

Fig. 3. Band diagram of exergy balance.

saving in drying time (S), specic moisture extraction rate

(SMER), and evaporative capacity (E). Fudholi et al.
(2013a) evaluated the time savings when drying chili by
comparing solar and open sun drying. The performance
of solar drying compared with that of open sun drying
was calculated using the following equation:
2

In this study, the specic energy consumption (SEC) of

the solar drying system was obtained using Eq. (4), as
reported by Fudholi et al. (2012):
SEC

Pt
W

Evaporative capacity was used as a performance measure for solar dryers. The weight of the water that can be
extracted by air ow from the products to be dried was
dened by Jannot and Coulibaly (1998) as:
_ d  X a
E mX

3.1. Energy analysis

The useful energy gained from the collector was calculated using the magnitude of solar radiation. The thermal
eciency of a solar collector is the ratio of useful heat
gained to the solar radiation incident on the plane of the
collector. This thermal eciency is expressed as (Fudholi
et al., 2013a,b,c):
gc

_
Q
mCT
o  T i

 100%
Ac G
Ac G

gp

System drying eciency is dened as the ratio of the

energy required to evaporate moisture to the heat supplied
to the dryer. The heat supplied to the dryer for the solar
collector is the solar radiation incident on the solar

h0  hi
W

has  hi vqthas  hi

Which the mass of water removed (W) from a wet product can be calculated:
W

The specic moisture extraction rate (SMER), which is

the energy required to remove 1 kg of water, was calculated
using Eq. (3), as reported by Fudholi et al. (2013a):
W
SMER
Pt

Pick-up eciency is useful for evaluating the actual

evaporation of moisture from the product inside the drier.
It is a direct measure of how eciently the capacity of air
to absorb moisture is used. The pick-up eciency is dened
as the ratio of the moisture picked up by the air in the drying chamber to the theoretical capacity of the air to absorb
moisture. Mathematically it can be expressed by the following equation (Banout et al., 2011):

Exdci
[12.7-505.7 W]

tOS  tSD
S
 100
tOS

WL
Ac G P f P h

mo M i  M f
100  M f

3.2. Exergy analysis

The exergy values were calculated using the characteristics of the working medium from the rst-law energy balance. For this purpose, the general form of the exergy
equation applicable for a steady ow system can be
expressed as (Akbulut and Durmus, 2010):


T
_ T  T a  T a ln
Ex mC
10
Ta
For exergy inow of drying chamber:


T dci
_ T dci  T a  T a ln
Exdci mC
Ta
For exergy outow of drying chamber:


T dco
_ T dco  T a  T a ln
Exdco mC
Ta

11

12

However, during the solar drying process, the exergy

losses are determined using the following equation:
Exloss Exdci  Exdco

13

The exergy eciency can be dened as the ratio of

energy use (investment) in the drying of the product to
exergy of the drying air supplied to the system. However,
it is explained as ratio of exergy outow to exergy inow
for drying chamber. Considering this denition, the exergy
eciencies of drying chamber can be determined. Thus, the
general form of exergy eciency is written as (Akpinar,
2010; Akbulut and Durmus, 2010):
gEx

Exdco
Exloss
1
Exdci
Exdci

14

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

IP 1  gEx Exloss

15

4. Results and discussion

Solar radiation (W/m 2)

During the 5 d (33 h) experimentation period, the daily

mean values of the drying chamber air temperature, drying
chamber relative humidity, and solar radiation ranged
from 28 C to 55 C, 1874%, and 104 W/m2 to 820 W/m2,
respectively, with corresponding average values of 45 C,
30%, and 420 W/m2, as shown in Fig. 4. The drying
temperature and relative humidity under solar drying continuously varied with increasing drying time. The results
revealed that the drying temperature in solar drying was
greater than the ambient temperature, whereas the relative
humidity in this system was lower than the ambient relative
humidity. The drying temperature and relative humidity
values also signicantly diered at 15 C and 30%, respectively, during the 33 h drying period.
The eciency of the collector ranged from 11% to 74%
with an average value of 28% at a drying air ow rate of
0.07 kg/s. The thermal eciency rates during the 5 d of
drying are shown in Fig. 5, which illustrates the increase
in the thermal eciency of the collector at a low solar radiation. During the solar drying process, the useful energy
gained from the collector ranged from 399 W to 1978 W,
as shown in Fig. 5.
The results of the drying curve of the red chili via open
sun and solar drying are shown in Fig. 6. The drying curve
revealed the prole change in the moisture content (M)

versus drying time (t). The nal drying levels of the red chili
were obtained after 33 h in the solar drying system but took
about 65 h in the open sun drying system. A 49% saving in
drying time was obtained for solar drying compared with
open sun drying. Fig. 6 clearly indicates that the drying
rate in the solar drying system under forced convection
can be much higher than that of the open sun drying, as
reported by Akpinar (2010).
The drying time obtained in the present study was
compared with the results obtained in previous studies.
Fudholi et al. (2010) reported that the moisture content
of fresh chili decreased from 80% (w.b) to 5% (w.b) in
48 h of solar drying. Banout et al. (2011) compared the
use of a double-pass solar dryer with a cabinet dryer
via open sun drying of red chili in Central Vietnam.
Drying 40 kg of red chili by using a double-pass solar
dryer reduced the moisture content from 90% (w.b) to
10% (w.b) in 32 h (including nights). Mohanraj and
Chandrasekar (2009) reported that 40 kg of chili by using
a forced convection solar drier integrated with gravel as
heat storage material reduced the moisture content from
73% (w.b) to 9% (w.b) in 24 h with drying eciency of
21%. Janjai et al. (2011) reported the use of a solar greenhouse dryer to dry 300 kg of red chili. In this dryer, the
moisture content was reduced from 75% to 15% in 3 d.
Kaewkiew et al. (2012) investigated the performance of
a large-scale greenhouse dryer to dry red chili in Thailand. Drying 500 kg of red chili by using this dryer
reduced the moisture content from 74% to 9% in 3 d.
Kaleemullah and Kailappan (2005) studied the drying
kinetics of red chili in a rotary dryer. They conducted drying experiments at a temperature range of 50 C to 65 C
for 19 h to 33 h and observed that the quality of dried red
chili and drying time increased at a low drying temperature. By contrast, the quality of dried red chili and drying
time decreased with increasing drying temperature. However, Kaleemullah and Kailappan (2005) concluded that

1000

100

800

80

600

60

400

40

200

20

0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
10
:3
0
12
:3
0

30

:3
11

9:

:3
15

0
:3

:3
13

9:

0
11

30

Temperature, Humidity ( o C, %)

The maximum improvement in the exergy eciency for

a system or process is obviously achieved when the exergy
loss (Exloss) is minimized. The concept of an exergetic
improvement potential (IP) can be considered as a useful
tool in analyzing systems or processes more eectively. The
IP of a system or process is given by (Fudholi et al., 2013b;
Akpinar, 2010):

51

Time of the day

Solar radiation
Ambient temperature
Ambient relative humidity

Chamber temperature
Chaber humidity

Fig. 4. Temperatures (ambient and chamber), relative humidity of chamber, ambient relative humidity, and solar radiation from March 16, 2012 to March
20, 2012.

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

100

2000
1800

80

1600
1400

60

1200
1000

40

800
600

20

400
200

0
:3
0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
10
:3
0
12
:3
0

9:
30

11

:3
0
15
:3
0

:3
0

11

13

:3
0
9:
30

:3
0

15

13

11

:3
0

0
9:
30

Thermal efficiency (%)

Solar radiation (W, W/m 2)

Energy gained from the collector,

52

Time of the day

Solar radiation

Energy gained from the collector

Thermal efficiency

Fig. 5. Energy gained from the collector, thermal eciency and solar radiation with drying time from March 16, 2012 to March 20, 2012.

Moisture content, wb (%)

90
80
Solar drying
Open sun drying

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

16

24

32

40

48

56

64

72

Drying time (h)

Fig. 6. Moisture content (wet basis) variation with drying time.

S = 420 W/m2 to Eq. (7) yielded a drying eciency of

12.7%. Eq. (8) and a psychometric chart determined the
pick-up eciency to be 44.9%. The specic energy consumption (SEC) of 5.26 kW h/kg was calculated according
to Eq. (4). The evaporative capacity, which ranged from
0.13 kg/h to 2.36 kg/h with an average of 0.97 kg/h, was

600

100

500

80

400
60
300
40
200
20

100

Exergy efficiency (%)

Improvement potential,
Exergy (W, W))

the performance of red chili dried at 55 C was the best in

terms of drying time and quality of dried red chili.
The experimental results showed that solar drying 40 kg
of dry red chili without auxiliary heating to reduce the
moisture content of 8010% within 33 h (5 d of drying).
Adding L = 2407 kJ/kg (668 W h/kg), t = 33 h, and

9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
15
:3
0
9:
30
11
:3
0
13
:3
0
10
:3
0
12
:3
0

Time of the day

Exergy inflow
Improvement potential

Exergy outflow
Exergy efficiency

Exergy loss

Fig. 7. Improvement potential, exergy eciency, and exergies (inow, outow, and loss) variation with drying time.

A. Fudholi et al. / Solar Energy 99 (2014) 4754

Table 1
Performance evaluation of the solar drying system.
Parameters

Unit

Value

Initial weight of product (total)

Final weight of product (total)
Initial moisture content (wet basis)
Final moisture content (wet basis)
Air mass ow rate
Average solar radiation
Average ambient temperature
Average drying chamber temperature
Average ambient relative humidity
Average drying chamber humidity
Drying time
Blower energy
Solar energy
Evaporative capacity
Specic energy consumption
Overall heat collection (thermal) eciency
Overall drying eciency, up to 10% wb
Pick-up eciency, up to 10% wb
Overall exergy eciency, up to 10% wb
Overall improvement potential, up to 10% wb

kg
kg
%
%
kg/s
W/m2
C
C
%
%
h
kW h
kW h
kg/h
kW h/kg
%
%
%
%
W

40
8
80
10
0.07
420
30
44
62
33
33
4.13
160.43
0.97
5.26
28
13
45
57
47.29

calculated using Eq. (5). Evaporative capacity increased

with increasing solar radiation.
Using exergy analysis of drying process, Exergy Band
Diagram was obtained as shown in Fig. 3. Minimum and
maximum the exergy inow, outow, and loss of 12.7 W
and 505.7 W, 11.7 W and 489.7 W, and 1 W and
238.4 W, respectively, was observed. The exergy inow,
outow, and loss variation with respect to time are given
in Fig. 7. Exergy inow, outow, and loss follow similar
patterns as similarly reported by Chowdhury et al. (2011)
and Akpinar (2011). The variations in the exergy inow,
outow, and loss of the solar drying process were caused
by variations in the daily solar radiation. Midilli and
Kucuk (2003) reported similar ndings, where exergy eciency decreased with increasing drying air temperature.
During the solar drying process, the exergy eciency
was calculated using Eq. (14), which revealed a range of
4397% as shown in Fig. 7. The exergy eciency values
varied between 43% and 97% with an average of 57%.
The values of the improvement potential ranged from
0 W to 135 W with an average of 47 W, as shown in
Fig. 7. The summary of the experimental results and observations are given in Table 1. The collector, drying system,
and pick-up eciencies were 28%, 13%, and 45%, respectively, at an average solar radiation of 420 W/m2 and an
air ow rate of 0.07 kg/s.
5. Conclusion
The energy and exergy analyses of the solar drying system for red chili were performed in this study. Given the
results from these analyses, the following remarks may be
concluded:
 Drying red chili via solar drying reduced the moisture
content from 80% (w.b) to 10% (w.b) in 33 h.

53

 The solar drying system was compared with open sun

drying. A 49% saving in drying time was obtained for
the solar drying system compared with that of the open
sun drying.
 An SEC of 5.26 kg/kW h was obtained. The evaporative
capacity of the solar drying system ranged from 0.13 kg/h
to 2.36 kg/h with an average of 0.97 kg/h.
 The solar collector, drying system, and pick-up eciency rates were 28%, 13%, and 45%, respectively, at
an average solar radiation of 420 W/m2 and an air ow
rate of 0.07 kg/s. Maximum and minimum collector eciencies of 52% and 11%, respectively, were observed.
The drying temperature varied between 28 C and
55 C with an average of 44 C.
 The values for improvement potential ranged from 0 W
and 135 W with an average of 47 W. The values for exergy eciency varied between 43% and 97% with an average of 57%.
 The variations of exergy with drying time were showed
to determine when and where the minimum and maximum values of the exergy losses took place during the
drying process.
 Exergy analysis is a useful method in establishing strategies for the design and operation of solar drying systems, where the optimal use of energy is important.
Therefore, exergy analysis should be used to conduct
performance evaluations of solar drying systems with
the highest possible thermodynamic eciencies.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Yayasan Felda for
funding this research grant (RMK9 RS-DL-001-2007), and
the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for support.
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