Utilizing a novel method of sand-filled thermal energy storage system for performance enhancement in PVT solar dryer

Food storage is essential for a sustainable future, since it enables use throughout many seasons and preservation without deterioration, resulting in advancing drying technology. Utilizing thermal energy storage (TES) units in solar dryers is a promising new field of study since they allow the dryers to run continuously throughout the day. The adoption of TES facilitates the utilization of clean energy sources effectively and reduces operational costs for the solar dryer. This experiment approach intends to improve the performance of a photovoltaic thermal solar dryer by fabricating it with modification that uses a novel method of sand-filled TES (SF-TS) units. The performance comparison was conducted by operating a solar dryer with and without SF-TS units under three different cases (C1-0.048 kg/s, C2-0.096 kg/s, C3-0.144 kg/s). Drying product of Moringa oleifera leaves was used to reduction in moisture content from 3.73 (d b.) to 0.19 (d b.). The utilization of SF-TS units decreased drying time by 53.65 % compared to OSD and 9.52 % without it. The performance enhancement of charging and discharging efficiency was 21.75 % & 17.69 % for the collector and 26.10 % & 10.48 % for the dryer, respectively in C-2. The maximum energy storage efficiency was attained in C-2, and the improvement was 47.36 % and 39.65 % for the collector and dryer respectively, in comparison to C-1. The findings of this study might have a beneficial effect on the future evolution of drying methods utilizing TES