Papers by Aravindh M. A.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
This paper explains the experimental performance evaluation of a Corrugated Type Solar Air Heater... more This paper explains the experimental performance evaluation of a Corrugated Type Solar Air Heater (CTSAH) for understanding its performance in a humid tropical climatic condition in Puducherry, India. This helps in understanding its effectiveness in using it for drying application of products like seafood, etc. Experiments were conducted at different mass flow rates and their effect on the heat gain, efficiency, friction factor heat transfer, etc., was analyzed. Experiments were carried out at different mass flow rates, i.e., M1 = 0.06 kg/s, M2 = 0.14 kg/s, M3 = 0.17 kg/s, M4 = 0.25 kg/s, M5 = 0.3 kg/s, and were conducted from 11:00 h to 14:00 h. The air inlet & air temperature is found to be at an average of 40°C whereas the incident solar radiation is at an average of 795 W/m 2. Experimental results show that the optimum performance of the CTSAH is in the mass flow rate range of 0.14-0.25 (kg/s). Also, the calculated useful heat produced, convective heat transfer coefficients, effective efficiency, optical efficiency provides knowledge on the potential use of the air heater.
The only Asian country to have surplus energy generation is Bhutan. Not only energy surplus, but ... more The only Asian country to have surplus energy generation is Bhutan. Not only energy surplus, but also energy export to India forms an important part of the country's economy accounting to 45% of the net national revenue and 19% of the GDP in 2012-13. 99% of the energy produced is from hydropower. It is of serious concern that for developing hydropower lot many considerations like environmental, economic etc. are to be made. Also there is reduction of about 300MW during the winter dry season and there is less possibility of energy export from India, which is Bhutan's main energy partner. Therefore alternative energy sources are to be sorted out so that the energy sources will become diversified. Bhutan is looking for energy production from renewable resources like solar, wind and biomass and have programs for improving energy efficiency and also for using clean fuels for transportation. This paper looks into the current energy scenario of Bhutan to understand the solar energy potential of the country. The technologies which can be developed indigenously like solar collectors, solar dryers, and solar cookers were also explained. The methods to overcome the challenges for implementing solar based energy systems were also discussed.
In the current scenario of increasing population and rapid urbanization, energy requirements in h... more In the current scenario of increasing population and rapid urbanization, energy requirements in human habitats are exponentially increasing which is nearly 40% of the total energy produced. Therefore technologies and methods for reducing energy utilization in buildings are being developed throughout the world. Energy efficiency and conservation are two important aspects as it takes a larger stack in running the buildings, which is being highlighted in the " Green Building " concept. In urban buildings, energy is required mostly for lighting and air conditioning. In terms of lighting, daylighting and less energy intensive lighting devices like LED, CFL etc. are being used. Use of renewables like solar energy for power generation and also for air conditioning were also found to be used in buildings. Recent researches are based on using the building itself or its parts like roofs, facades, windows etc. for utilizing solar powers using technologies like Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) and Building Integrated Solar Thermal (BIST). Similarly building integrated thermal energy storage using phase change materials along with construction materials for space cooling and heating were also been used. This paper highlights such sustainable technologies which are used to reduce the energy requirements for lighting and air conditioning in buildings.
This paper outlines a complete review on modifications made on the absorber plate of solar air he... more This paper outlines a complete review on modifications made on the absorber plate of solar air heaters in order to improve the turbulence and heat transfer rate, thereby efficiency. Corrugated sheets, fins, extended surfaces, wire mesh, porous medium, etc. are a few of the modifications used. Most of such alterations in the absorber plate resulted with an increase in efficiency but associated with drawback of increased pumping power due to raising friction factor. Pumping power is considered here as a predominant comparison parameters of various solar air heaters with different absorber plate in terms of effective efficiency.
In a developing country like India, having the second largest population and agriculture as the s... more In a developing country like India, having the second largest population and agriculture as the source of income to nearly 60 % of the total population, post-harvest and storage loss is a major quandary, which needs to be addressed in due diligence. Many food preservation techniques like cold storage, drying, etc., have been evolved out over the years to tackle the above losses. The major constraint is that almost all the technologies are utilizing fossil fuel resources, which are depleting very fast and wise use of these precious resources are preferred for long-term energy sustainability. Therefore, sustainable methods for food preservation are the need of the hour. Solar drying is one of the best choices in this context. Different models of solar dryers have been developed and good quantum of research is progressing in most of the countries to propagate the solar drying technology for value addition of agriculture products. The solar drying technology is a classical example to showcase how sun’s free energy could be effectively utilized for the benefit of mankind. This chapter explains the different types of dryers, different aspects of solar drying, parameters involved in the drying process and the economic analysis to analyse the feasibility of the solar drying system. Case studies of a few of the successful installations are also included.
In the current world energy scenario, use of renewable energy is found to be exponentially increa... more In the current world energy scenario, use of renewable energy is found to be exponentially increasing every year. India, being in the tropical region, has very good solar energy resource with nearly 300 sunny days on average. Many Solar PV and Thermal installations have been done to utilize the same. Hot air generation through solar air heaters is considered as one of the prominent applications of utilizing solar energy. Few development has been taken place to utilize solar air heaters for applications like drying, process heating etc. This paper explains the development of a solar air heater with wire mesh as absorber, with nominal porosity for flow of air through it. The main advantage of this type of design is the hot air will not have contact with the glazing and hence top loss coefficient is minimized. The performance of the air heater is studied using a dryer as the end application. Thermal analysis of the air heater was done to determine its efficiency. Products, used in dryer, are different types of vegetable, say bitter guard and hence the study was done to compare the open sun dried and the solar dried samples. Economic analysis for the drying application was also investigated.
This paper explains the development of a solar air heater with wire mesh as absorber of nominal p... more This paper explains the development of a solar air heater with wire mesh as absorber of nominal porosity for drying application. A comparative study between open sun-dried and solar-dried samples was done using bitter gourd as drying product. Solar drying showed a faster drying rate, reducing the moisture content from 93% to 6.17% in 3 h less than open sun-drying. Economic analysis shows a lifetime savings of roughly INR 2,746,707 for a period of 20 years, with a payback period of 0.62 years, i.e. 161 drying days.
Conference Presentations by Aravindh M. A.
Food spoilage is one of the critical problems the world is facing today. A majority of food spoil... more Food spoilage is one of the critical problems the world is facing today. A majority of food spoilage is happening in the post-harvest period due to inadequate storage and processing facilities. Cold storage is a good option but it is very much expensive and energy intensive. Hence food drying comes to lime light. Drying is one of the oldest methods used for food preservation. It is method by which the moisture will be removed, thereby restricting microbial and fungal growth. Direct sun drying has some disadvantages like exposure to dust, colour change, pigmentation, insects attack etc. Use of fossil fuel derived energy for drying has been used for getting good quality products. But fossil fuel usage is too costly and will add up to the energy demand and climate problems. Hence, solar drying is best suited sustainable way for food drying. This paper explains the concept of solar drying with case studies and economic feasibility is also discussed.
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Papers by Aravindh M. A.
Conference Presentations by Aravindh M. A.