Solar Air Heating
Automobile: Paint Shop Drying
270 m² Solar Air Heater for Paint Shop dryer @ TVS Motors
Project Overview
- TVS Motor, Hosur in their factory uses a green field paint shop to dry the manufacturing components.
- A LPG burner is used to heat this air to a temperature of 180 deg C.
- To reduce LPG consumption, a 270 m2 solar air preheater for hot air generation is installed on the roof of the factory.
SUN BEST Solution
- The solar panel is formed of 45 m2 X 6 solar modular units.
- This panel is installed on the roof of the admin building.
- The fresh air is pre heated by solar collector to a maximum of 100℃.
- Insulated metal duct draws the solar heated air through a blower with necessary Controls and delivers it to the inlet points of the required regions.
Benefits
- On a sunny day, the solar air heater saves around 64 kg of LPG
- Helps offset approximately 744 tonnes of CO2 in 15 years and thereafter.
Other Solar air heating project for Paint shop:
| Company | Collector area | Fuel saved | CO2 emission reduction in 15 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| TI Cycles, Chennai | 297 m2 | 56 litre of SKO/day | 673 tonnes |
| TAFE | 135 m2 | 32 litre of Furnace Oil | 384 tonnes |
| L&T Pondicherry | 135 m2 | 38 litre of Furnace Oil | 456 tonnes |
INDEPENDENT Solar Driers
Independent Solar Dryers for remote regions
Project Overview
- Typically, 70% of the fresh fruits & vegetables are taken for food – 20 - 30% of the them are being sold in a dried form
- The most commonly used fish preserving techniques (traditional) is drying. The open drying results in dust, contamination and renders the product unhygienic.
- This unhygienic drying cuts through the investment resulting in the loss of the fishermen’s meagre savings that drives them to absolute poverty.
- Hygienic processing and value addition are the only two mantras for prosperity in the food processing sector.
- SUNBEST has installed over 250 numbers of independent solar dryers for drying various products like fruits & vegetables, chilies, turmeric, ginger, apricots, mangoes, amla, pineapple, grapes, marine products etc.,
SUN BEST Solution
- Towards enhancing the village community, SUN BEST has developed an independent Solar Drier. SUN BEST’s Solar Drier has 3 key components:
- The Solar Collector (of area 5.75 to 18 m2) produces hot air taking the heat from Sun’s radiation; a low hp blower draws the air and transfers it
- Drier – A drier of varying capacity with Stainless steel (food grade) interiors & exteriors; the product will be dried on Stainless steel (food grade) mesh tray
- A electrical back up hot air generator as a back up during non-sunshine period
- DC fans operated by solar SPV panels will suck the hot air and deliver it to the drier.
- The drier with DC fans circulate the hot air into the products and release moist air as exhaust
- The solar collector has a life of 15+ years with minimal periodic maintenance
Benefits
SUN BEST’s Solar Dryers
- Provides dried food in a clean and hygienic fashion
- Have low recurring expenses unlike conventional fuels thus an excellent choice for fishing community improving their livelihood
- Provides gainful employment to the local womenfolk
Applications of Independent Solar Dryers for remote regions
DAL DRYING
230 m² Solar Air Heater for Dal drying
Project Overview
- India is a major pulse producing country and accounts for 1/4th of worlds pulse production. Around 14 to 15 million tones of pulses are produced in India. Urad dal is a common ingredient in Indian breakfast food.
- A.M.R. Rathinasabapathy & Bros is located in Theni, Tamilnadu. Here Urad Dal and Toor dal is processed at the rate of around 20 tonnes per day. During the course of processing, the oiled dal is dried at a temperature of around 60-75℃ using diesel hot air generator.
SUN BEST Solution
- SUN BEST has installed a 230 m² Solar Air Heater to reduce the diesel consumption
- The solar panel is formed of 57.5 m² X 4 solar modular units.
- This panel is installed on the open terrace of the factory.
- The fresh air is pre-heated by solar collectors to a maximum of 80 -90 Deg C.
- Insulated metal duct draws the solar heated air through a blower with necessary controls and deliver it to the inlet points of the required regions.
- On rainy days and night time usage the company uses the conventional fuel. Using automatic controls, the unit operators could switch from solar heating to conventional heating by using a single switch.
Benefits
- On a sunny day, the solar air heater saves around 80 litres of diesel
- Helps offset approximately 961 tonnes of CO2 in 15 years and thereafter.
TEA DRYING
264 m² Solar Air Heater for Tea Drying @ Golden Hills Tea Factory
Project Overview
- Coal, firewood, briquettes or diesel are the fuel used for generating hot air of temperature 110 deg C for orthodox and 150 deg C for CTC tea.
- Due to the large quantity of fuel requirement leads to large carbon emission.
- The fuel is burnt in a hot air generator oven. By indirect method the burning fuel produce hot air. This hot air is blown through a conventional drier or Fluid bed drier to produce black tea of moisture content around 2.5%.
- The factory produces annually around 4 -5 Lakhs kg of tea.
SUN BEST Solution
Sun Best Solution
- SUN BEST has installed a 212 sq.m solar collector in 1992 and an additional collector 52 sq.m in 2010 at the Golden Hills Tea factory
- A 212 m² solar air heating system consists of 4 numbers of 53m2 sections with air overflow system. Glazing by 4mm tempered glass, 20 degree tilt angle, black paint metals absorber is used.
- The hot air was pumped to the coal operated hot air generator at the inlet point using a blower.
- Solar air heating in the oven leads to a reduction of 25 to 40% fuel for 8 -9 months/year. The system works for 230 – 250 days/annum.
Benefits
Benefits
- Typically the system is operated for 1545 hours per annum, saving 71 tones of lignite coal leading to annual CO2 reduction of 121 tonnes.
AGRO/FOOD PRODUCTS DRYING
Hygienic solar fish dryer at Chavakkad, Kerala
Project Overview
- Typically, 70% of the fresh fish are taken for food - 20% of the fish are being sold in a dried form with or without salt - 5% of the fish which are damaged are used for cattle feed and a very negligible percentage of the fishes are goes for canning of export.
- The most commonly used fish preserving techniques (traditional) are drying and salt curing. The open beach drying results in insects laying egg inside the fish that renders the product non-consumable.
- This unhygienic drying cuts through the investment of the fishermen resulting in the loss of his meagre savings that drives him to absolute poverty.
- Hygienic processing and value addition are two mantras for prosperity in the fish processing sector.
- Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation – has empanelled SUN BEST’s solar dryer for promotion of hygienic solar fish drying in Kerala.
- Under the program, SUNBEST has installed a 250 kg solar fish dryer at Chavakkad
SUN BEST Solution
- Towards enhancing the fishermen’s livelihood, SUN BEST has developed an advanced Solar Drier. SUN BEST’s Solar Air Drier has 3 key components:
- The Solar Collector (of area 45 m2) produces hot air taking the heat from Sun’s radiation; a low hp blower draws the air and transfers it
- Drier – A recirculation drier of varying capacity with Stainless steel (food grade) interiors & exteriors; the fish will be dried on Stainless steel (food grade) mesh trays placed on movable trolleys
- A biomass burning hot air generator as a back up during non-sunshine period.
- A 0.75kW blower will suck the hot air and deliver it to the drier. Using insulated pipes the hot air is taken to a recirculation drier
- The drier has a fan to circulate the hot air into the products and release moist air as exhaust
- The solar collector has a life of 15+ years with periodic maintenance
Benefits
SUN BEST’s Solar Dryers
- Provides dried fish in a clean and hygienic fashion
- Have low recurring expenses unlike conventional fuels thus an excellent choice for fishing community improving their livelihood
- Will provide employment to the local womenfolk
Rubber/Latex: Tumble Dryers
113 m² Solar Air Heater for Tumble dryer @ HLL Lifecare
Project Overview
- M/s. HLL Lifecare Limited is manufacturing condom at its factory Peroorkada in Trivandrum.
- The factory uses latex rubber as raw material and produces around 900 million pieces of condom
- The factory uses 3 Tumble driers where the hot air is generated using heat exchange of air through steam coil consuming 210 kg of stream per hour.
SUN BEST Solution
- A 113 m2 solar air heater is installed to reduce the steam consumption in the tumble dryers.
- The solar panel is formed by 55.5m2 X 2 solar modular units on the factory’s rooftop
- The fresh air is pre heated by solar collector to a maximum of 100 Deg C.
- Insulated metal duct draws the solar heated air through a blower with necessary Controls and deliver it to the inlet points of the required regions.
Benefits
- On a sunny day, the solar air heater saves around 72 kg of FO consumption
- Helps offset approximately 836 tonnes of CO2 in 15 years and thereafter.
Other Solar air heating project for Latex rubber tumble drying
| Company | Collector area | Fuel saved | CO2 emission reduction in 15 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| TTK LIG, Chennai | 55.5 m2 | 12000 units of electricity/year | 77 tonnes |
| TTK LIG, Virdhunagar | 293 m2 | 144000 units of electricity/year | 925 tonnes |
| TTK LIG Pondicherry | 105000 m2 | 38 litre of Furnace Oil | 674 tonnes |
Leather: Auto Sprayers
270 m² Solar Air Heater for Auto sprayer @ Calico Impex, Kanpur
Project Overview
- Among many process machineries in a leather factory, auto sprayer dryers consume a large quantity of fossil fuel-based steam / thermal oil to produce hot air for drying leather moving in a conveyor.
- UNIDO, Vienna under a project for clean leather processing in Kanpur, has selected SUN BEST’s solar air heating technology for Calico Leather Company, Kanpur, as a model project with a partial fund support to reduce coal consumption.
- An auto sprayer has two sections with a conveyer. In the first section, paint is sprayed on the leather placed on a conveyer. The second section has five compartment dryers.
- Each compartment has steam coils on both sides and its top side is fitted with an axial fan, which blows air over the steam coil creating hot air to pass over the leather, moving in the conveyer leading to drying of paint.
SUN BEST Solution
- A detailed energy audit was done to assess the energy flow with steam consumption in each compartment and total demand.
- Based on the total demand, a solar air collector of area 270m2 which could give an average energy delivery of 100–120 kWh was designed and installed.
- The solar hot air outlet is connected to an inlet of a 3.75 kW centrifugal blower through an insulated metal duct which distributes the hot air at top locations in the autospray dryer.
- The system generated a maximum hot air temperature of 970C
Benefits
- On a sunny day, the solar air heater saves around 1,500 to 1,600 kg of steam (or)
- 300 kg of coal saved thereby reducing the load on the conventional fuel
- Helps offset approximately 3242 tonnes of CO2 in 15 yearsand thereafter. The steam consumption reduction is proved using a steam flowmeter fitted before the steam entry.
Client Testimonial:
“ The solar hot air solution of M/S SUNBEST to auto sprayer in Calico leather factory, Kanpur sponsored by UNIDO has demonstrated the concept of clean technology to leather industry.“
M. Viswanathan
National Project Coordinator - UNIDO Kanpur Leather DevelopmCopyright ©2021 SUN BEST All Rights Reserved