OPTIMIZATION WITH TAGUCHI METHOD FOR INCREASING THE HEAT TRANSFER AND DRYING EFFICIENCY IN A NOVEL SOLAR COLLECTOR

To enhance the solar radiance absorption capability of a solar collector, a novel approach was employed by coating the absorber surface with a blackbody and utilizing nanofluid as the primary fluid to improve heat transfer performance and ultimately increase system efficiency. This study contains the performance analysis of the solar system that was performed by the Taguchi experimental optimization method with the aid of the Minitab program, utilizing the Taguchi L16 (4<^>2*2<^>2) experiment plan. The effects of solar radiation (600, 700, 800, and 900 W/m2), drying air speed (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 m/s), coating type (conventional selective glass collector and Black 3.0-coated collector), and nanoparticle mass ratio (SiO2-0.1/0.2%) on system efficiency were investigated. The Taguchi technique was utilized to consider multiple factors and obtain optimal results with fewer experiments. The optimal values obtained were 900 W/m2 radiation, Black 3.0-coated flat surface collector, 0.5 m/s drying air velocity, and 0.1% weight nanoparticle ratio. The study determined that 3 kg of apples, 2.55 kg of peppers, 2.38 kg of peaches and apricots, 2.35 kg of bananas, and 2.23 kg of plums could be dried using the optimized solar collector system.