Experimental Evaluation of Thermals Performances of The Solar Dryer with Parabolic Trough Collector

A cylindrical-parabolic solar-thermal converter, with 0.5m2 of capture surface, was manufactured and attached to a furnace, constituting an indirect solar dryer. Thermal balances of the elements of the receiver, housed in the focal point of this collector, are settled. A campaign of vacuum tests of this dryer indicated temperatures of the heat-bearing air in natural convection, along the absorber tube (70°C) and inside the drying cage (almost 60°C,on average). The average thermal efficiency of said converter has been evaluated at 50%.The higher the efficiency, the less the converter's capture surface is required and, therefore, less investment is required. These promising results testify to the effective performance of this new dryer compared to dryers with flat collectors, whose efficiencies could not exceed 40% despite the large surface area of these collectors.