Modeling of solar energy systems using artificial neural network: A comprehensive review

Most of the energy generated globally utilize fossil fuels involving the emission of environmentally hazardous carbon dioxide and depletion of fossil fuel resources. The continuous variation in fuel prices has added a major concern on its sustainable use for future energy requirements. In order to minimize the environmental degradation during energy production process due to emissions of hazardous gases, the utilization of renewable energy resources can make the energy use clean as well as sustainable. Due to an ever increasing demand of clean energy, a sharp rise in the utilization of naturally available solar energy has been observed. Currently, there are several possible routes for solar energy technological developments. In order to effectively utilize the solar power system, one needs to know the technology and its suitability according to the requirements and nature of usage. In this article, different solar power technologies have been reviewed which can be utilized for the global sustainable electric power generation. Major emphasize has been on solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies. Their types, mechanism, efficiency and cost factors have been discussed. It has been observed that solar PV being more commercially developed and mature technology is suited for both small and large scale applications while CSP technology despite being expensive yield higher economic returns and is suited for large scale applications. Every solar power technology has its own advantage and disadvantage and their preferred usage is basically dependent on the specific case and given conditions. It has also been observed that solar energy, which is a fairly stable and consistently available source of clean energy has the significant potential to cater ever increasing world electricity requirements.

Solar power technologies for sustainable electricity generation – A review

Uncertain price rise and rapid depletion of fossil fuels accelerated the development of renewable energy sources in the form of alternative power sources. Solar is an abundant, renewable and sustainable energy source that attracted many eminent researchers across the world to work in the field of solar energy applications. In developing countries, solar drying is capable of fulfilling the increasing demand of healthy, low cost natural foods and need for sustainable income. Solar dryers used for agricultural product drying can be proved to be most useful device from energy conservation point of view that not only save energy but also saves a lot of time, occupying less area, improves product quality and personnel life style. A solar crop drying system does not solely depends on solar energy for its functioning besides many recent advancements in drying process which combines other form of auxiliary heating source with sun energy are also in recent trends for reducing fuel consumption. In this paper, a review of various types of solar dryers namely, direct solar dryers, indirect solar dryers, hybrid solar dryers and their various drying applications are represented.

Progress in solar dryers for drying various commodities

In developing countries, industries and manufacturing sectors consume a major portion of the total consumption of energy, where most of the energy is used for low, medium or high temperature heat generation to be used for process applications known as process heat. The necessity to commercialize clean, cheap and efficient renewable sources of energy in industrial applications emerges from increasing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and global warming and decreasing fossil fuel use in commercial sectors. As an abundant source of energy, solar energy technologies have proven potential. Recent research shows currently only a few industries are employing solar energy in industrial processes to generate process heat while replacing fossil fuels. Solar thermal power generation is already very well-known and getting popular in recent years while other potential applications of the concentrated heat from solar radiation are little explored. This review paper presents a detailed overview of the current potential and future aspects of involving solar industrial process heating systems in industrial applications. In order to keep pace with this emerging and fast growing sector for renewable energy applications, it is necessary to get in depth knowledge about the overall potential of industrial processes in individual industrial sector where solar process heat is currently in use and identifying industrial processes are most compatible for solar system integration depending on temperature level and the type of solar collector in use. Furthermore, the promising sectors needs to be identified for the use of solar heat using industrial processes for the integration of solar heat, so that countries with immense solar energy potential can use those technologies in future to reduce fossil fuel consumption and develop sustainable industrial systems. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the potential industrial processes that can adopt solar process heating systems and thus driving towards sustainable production in industries.

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Solar process heat in industrial systems – A global review

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/1495195.pdf

Design, Development and Performance of Indirect Type Solar Dryer for Banana Drying ☆

Crop drying is essential for preservation in agricultural applications. It is performed either using fossil fuels in an artificial mechanical drying process or by placing the crop under the open sun. The first method is costly and has a negative impact on the environment, while the second method is totally dependent on the weather. By contrast, using a solar dryer is comparatively cheaper and more efficient. Some solar dryers run without electrical grid power or fossil fuels. This paper presents the state of various kinds of solar dryers that are widely used today. The indirect, direct, and mixed mode dryers that have shown potential in drying agricultural products in the tropical and subtropical countries are discussed. Aside from identifying the active and passive mode solar dryers, we also highlight the environmental influence on solar energy (harnessing) that plays a vital role in the solar drying sector. This paper also presents the related technologies that can help improve existing solar dryers.

Performance study of different solar dryers: A review

In this paper, the performance of an efficient solar dryer was experimentally investigated and tested. The dryer was configured for harvesting maximum rate of solar radiation by having a longer drying period. The three axial flow fans provide the air inlet which can accelerate the drying rate. An electrical backup was also used for continuous drying process. Final moisture content and cabinet temperature (CT) were recorded and compared to the open sun drying and oven drying process. White oyster mushroom was dried at 50°C to 60°C and the desired moisture content of 7.97% has been achieved without affecting the product color. Activation energy, product output rate (POR), evaporation rate have been calculated. Shrinkage of drying mushroom was analyzed at different temperatures. The important climatic variables such as solar radiation, temperature and relative humidity are the main factors that affect the drying rate constant (k). Final output indicates that the quality of dried product in solar powered air ...

Performance Evaluation of a Solar Powered Air Dryer for White Oyster Mushroom Drying

Particularly in the low drying temperature drying is an energy intensive process and requires a suitable optimization technique. This work represents the kinetic simulation and energy efficient optimization technique for drying long grain, i.e. rice. At 30–60°C temperature the grains have been dried in a solar powered air dryer. After certain time interval the enzymatic activity and the moisture content have been measured. Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been used for the simulation and the optimization process while the experimental data have been used to fit the thin layer drying model. The results indicate that between 40 and 50°C temperature and the 1.3–1.5 m/s air flow rate the drying time for the rice is around 120–180 min. The kinetic simulation and the quality analysis confirm that the dried products have a better enzymatic activity which resembles the quality standard and the required energy for the optimized drying process is lower than the others.

/pdf/the-optimization-of-solar-drying-of-grain-by-using-a-genetic-2fuelk7xli.pdf

A. G. M. B. Mustayen

Papers

Performance study of different solar dryers: A review

Performance Evaluation of a Solar Powered Air Dryer for White Oyster Mushroom Drying

The Optimization of Solar Drying of Grain by Using a Genetic Algorithm

Remote areas and islands power generation: A review on diesel engine performance and emission improvement techniques

Thermodynamic analysis of diesel engine ignition delay under low load conditions