A global thermal node model for analysing the effect of glass cover geometric parameters for no-load indirect solar dryer
by Ernest Léontin Lemoubou; Carine Pamela Aghogue Donchi; Hervé Thierry Tagne Kamdem; René Tchinda
International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation (IJESMS), Vol. 16, No. 2, 2025

Abstract: In this paper, a global thermal node model is developed for describing no-load indirect solar dryer with double-glass collector. The dryer is formed with drying unit and double air pass collector mounted with two absorber plates separated by confined air. The nodal model takes into account the time variations of solar flux, convection heat losses to the ambient and radiated flux from the soil surface. The mathematical model describing the transient heat transfer process is derived from the node theory, while the surface soil fluxes are approximated using the boundary layer similarity theory. The resulted equations are solved numerically using the iterative finite difference method. The results obtained indicate excellent agreement of the global node model proposed when compared predictions to experimental values of the literature. The simulation reveals significant effect of glass cover thickness and glass covers confined air thickness on the thermal behaviour of the dryer.

Online publication date: Thu, 06-Mar-2025

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