Novel hybrid active greenhouse solar dryer with evacuated tube solar collector: energy and exergy analysis

A novel hybrid active greenhouse solar dryer (HAGSD) attached with an evacuated tube solar collector is developed for faster drying of high moisture crops. Bottle gourd is taken as the drying product and dried to 10% moisture content. The energy balance of the greenhouse room air, crop surface, floor, and PV module has been established using the first law of thermodynamics. The exergy balance is also established to predict the heat loss through the dryer more accurately. The maximum exergy efficiency of the dryer is 7.92%, and the overall thermal efficiency of the setup is 7.88%.