A design procedure was proposed for sizing solar-assisted crop-drying systems and assessing the combination of solar collector area and auxiliary energy needs that meets the requirements of the load. Two empirical correlations were compared for use with high thermal inertia solar collectors that are cheap and appropriate for rural areas. A case study as performed in the city of Campinas in southeastern Brazil. Grain drying with partial air heating by solar energy can provide an annual savings of 30% in fuel consumption for 1.80m² collector area during the drying of 1.2t of corn at 50ºC at a daily air rate of 1526.8 m³/day.
Solar crop drying; Solar collectors; Solar air heating; Design procedure; Appropriate technologies
