Solar food drying combined with a thermal energy storage (TES) system to increase drying capacity

In order to reduce the dependency of small island states on the use of fossil fuels for thermal processes, the use of solar energy has great potential. However, sunlight is only abundantly available during non-cloudy days. For some applications, such as food drying processes, a thermal energy storage system can provide a solution to the intermittent presence of solar energy as it can be charged during periods of sunshine and discharged during times when solar energy is not available. Therefore this PhD research aims to develop engineering models for such thermal energy storage systems applied to food drying applications using both experimental measurements as well as numerical modeling. With these models, the drying installation can be optimized towards increased drying capacity and uniformity.