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Energy
EnergyProcedia 138
Procedia 00(2017)
(2017)1048–1054
000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
2017 AEDCEE, 25‐26 May 2017, Bangkok, Thailand

Meat Products Drying with

The 15th International a Compact
Symposium on DistrictSolar
HeatingCabinet Dryer
and Cooling

Assessing the feasibility Woranuch of using

Jangsawang* the heat demand-outdoor
temperatureFaculty
function forResearch
Sustainable Energy a long-term district
Center, Department heat demand forecast
of Energy Engineering,
of Industrial Technology, Phranakhon Rajabhat Univesity, Bangkok, Thailand.

I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc

Abstract
a
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
c
Département Systèmes Énergétiques
The present paper presented the results of meatetproducts
Environnement
drying-with
IMT Atlantique,
a compact4solar
rue Alfred Kastler,
cabinet dryer.44300 Nantes,
To meet theFrance
requirements of
the user, the participation research (PAR) and scientific research is required for investigation. Thus this paper will present both in
term of qualitative and quantitative results. The methodology of this study comprises of four main steps such as (1) determine the
conceptual design of the solar dryer cabinet (2) selection technology (3) design and fabricate of the solar cabinet dryer and
Abstract
(4) performance testing. For all of these four steps the user and the researcher team have been involved and participated closely.
The results from the study found that the developed solar cabinet dryer is suitable for specific use of drying meat products. It is
District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the
noticed that with the special design of preheating ambient air will enhance the ambient air temperature pass through the solar
greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat
collector house. The drying results of the seasoning raw pork for the duration of two days showed that the average temperature of
sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease,
each drying tray is in the range of 45.75-48.63 degree Celsius. The temperature at uppermost tray is highest and the temperature
prolonging the investment return period.
at the upper tray is higher than the lower tray. The temperature difference among the tray is in the range of 1- 3 degree Celsius.
The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
In which showed that the temperature distribution of the drying tray is almost uniform throughout the cabinet dryer. The quality
forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665
of the drying products was accepted by the users. With the uniform temperature within the solar dryer cabinet will help to control
buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district
the quality of the drying products The comparison results between the percentage of weight loss for open sun drying and solar
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
cabinet drying showed that under the same environment of drying, using solar cabinet dryer get the weight loss higher than using
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
open sun dryer. The designed solar cabinet dryer is suitable for the drying products that require the optimum temperature in the
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
range of 47-50 degree Celsius.
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
©scenarios,
2017 Thethe error value
Authors. increased
Published up to 59.5%
by Elsevier Ltd. (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review
The value ofunder responsibility
slope coefficient of the scientific
increased committee
on average of the
within the 2017
rangeInternational
of 3.8% upConference
to 8% per on Alternative
decade, Energy in to the
that corresponds
Peer-review
­Ddecrease under responsibility
evelopinginCountries of the
andofEmerging Organizing Committee of 2017 AEDCEE.
Economies.
the number heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
Keywords: participation research,scientific research,meat products and solar cabinet dryer.
coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +662-552-5022; fax: +662-552-5022
Cooling.
E-mail address: woranuch@pnru.ac.th
Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of 2017 AEDCEE.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in
­Developing Countries and Emerging Economies.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.10.103
 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054 1049
2 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

Thailand is located in the tropical zone between latitudes 5. 37 to 20.27 ON and longitudes 97.22 to 105.37 O E
in which lies in the solar intensity zone of moderate favorable belt. The average sunshine hour for the country that
located in this zone is about 2,500 hours per year. The solar intensity is almost uniform throughout the year
[1].Thailand has the annual average daily solar radiation intensity across the country is 18.2 MJ/m2 /day [2] and
receiving the solar radiation all year long in which the country has high potential to utilize solar energy.
The application use of solar energy for drying process to replace the conventional energy is energy usage
sustainability and also it helps to reduce the environmental problems. The thermal applications of solar energy
especially for drying process of small and micro community enterprises are attractive. In the present, the solar dryer
has been developed and fabricated in different styles depending on the application purpose such as the desired
temperature range, the size of solar dryer, the construction materials, the installed location, the drying product and
etc. Drying process is one step from a number of steps in food production process from pork for small and micro
community enterprise in Thailand.Pound pork production is one of the products produced in food production process
from pork. Small and micro community enterprise is the group of the women which set the group and work together
in community. From the previous study found that there are variety methods for meat products drying process such
as open sun drying and gas oven drying. However, there are a number of obstacle for open sun drying such as
(1) cannot control the drying temperature (2) require a lot of installation space (3) cannot control the hygiene of the
drying products and etc. Generally the solar dryer can be divided into three types such as (1) the drying products
receive the solar radiation directly (2) the drying products receive the solar radiation indirectly and (3) the drying
products receive both direct and indirect solar radiation [3]. For in case of the drying products receive the solar
radiation indirectly, generally the solar collector part mostly installed separate from the solar cabinet in which
requires a lot of installation space and not convenience to use. Thus the aim of this study is to design and develop the
solar dryer that suitable for drying the meat products. There are four steps for design and development of solar dryer
(1) determine the conceptual design (2) selection technology (3) design and construct and (4) performance testing.
To meet the specific requirements of the producers, the participation research was introduced in each step of this
study. Thus the results of this study will be presented both in term of qualitative and quantitative results.
The outcomes of this study will help to promote the use of solar energy in the drying process for small and micro
community enterprises.

2. Determine the conceptual design of a compact solar cabinet dryer

The conceptual design is an early stage of the design process [4]. This will be conducted step by step to meet the
requirements of the users. It is very important to have interactions between the users and the researchers to solve the
problem and find the solutions. There are four steps in series to determine the conceptual design in this study,
such as (1) study of the existing drying process (2) interview the users to learn about the specific needs (3) synthesis
the gathering information to find the key concept and (4) determine the conceptual design.
2.1 Studying on the existing drying process
Drying is one step of the production process of the pound pork products. There are many kinds of the meat
products that available in the market. Pound pork is one kind of the favorite one that has already cooked. It is ready
eat pork in which somebody like to eat as a snack.
The detail procedure of pound pork production comprise of five steps in series. The first step, the fresh raw pork
will seasoning with some kind of sauce and other ingredients and then left it in the refrigerator for one night. The
second step, the seasoning raw pork will be dried in the open sun drying and/or gas oven drying. And follow with
the third step, baking pork in the electrical oven. The fourth step, pressing the baked pork in to the plate (pound
pork).
From the studying found that for drying process of the seasoning raw pork mostly uses hybrid process between
open sun drying and gas oven drying. But there are obstacle because of the open sun drying require much work
space thus the drying with open sun will take only one day and continue drying with the gas oven. For in case of
1050 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

the days that have low solar intensity may be use only for gas oven drying. The open sun drying of seasoning raw
pork showed in Fig.1.

Fig. 1. The open sun drying of seasoning raw pork.

2.2 Interview the pound pork producer

Based on the gathering information from the survey and interview of the pound pork producers in the topic about
production process including the problem and obstacle, advantage and disadvantage of the existing drying process
including with the open sun drying and gas oven drying and the feature and pattern of solar dryer that meet the
requirements of the producer .
The conclusion remarks from the survey and interview was introduced into ten subjects such as (1) direct sun
drying cannot control the temperature and drying time (2) direct sun drying cannot control the hygiene of the drying
products according to the drying products may contaminate with the dust and insects (3) open sun drying requires
much available space (4) drying by using gas oven, get very high temperature in which made the drying pork is too
hard and resulting on the pork is cracked when pressed. (5) drying by using gas oven increase the fuel cost
(6) the producer prefer to use sun drying (7) the solar dryer should get the optimum temperature because too high
temperature may make the pork is too hard (8) solar dryer should ease of operation (9) the material that be used for
fabricated the solar dryer should available in the local and not costly and (10) solar dryer should be durable.
2.3 Synthesis the gathering information and find the key concept
The key concept was introduced from the synthesis of the conclusion remarks. The key concept to use as base
line to determine the conceptual design of the solar dryer comprise of (1) functional (2) feature (3) safety of
operation (4) durable (5) ease of operation and (6) the investment cost.
2.4 Determine the conceptual design
From considering based on the six of key concepts, the conceptual design was determine as the detail presented in
the table 1.
Table 1. The conceptual design of solar dryer
key concept gathering information conceptual design of solar dryer
from the survey and interview
1. functional - drying products in open solar drying cannot 1.the temperature within the solar cabinet
control the temperature and drying time should be optimum for drying the pork
- the solar dryer should have the optimum 2. the temperature distribution within the
temperature that suit for drying of solar dryer should be uniform
seasoning raw pork 3. take short time than use open sun drying
- the user prefer to use solar dryer. 4. ease of operation
2. feature - solar cabinet dryer should be compact and no 1. the compact solar dryer
need require much more work space.
3. durable - solar cabinet should construct with the suitable 1the main structure should made from the
material that have durable. suitable material
4. safety - drying with open sun drying may the cause of 1. use materials for food grade
dust contamination and insect 2. safety for operation
5.user friendly - the solar dryer is easy to operate 1. easy for operation
2. easy to move
3. easy for cleaning .
6. cost - the investment cost should be not costly 1. the investment is not high
2.fabricated by using the local materials
 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054 1051
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3. Overview of a compact solar cabinet dryer

A compact solar cabinet dryer was designed and fabricated based on the conceptual design that has been
determined. A greenhouse solar cabinet dryer based on downdraft design was developed to overcome the drawbacks
of updraft design that need to install the solar collector house separately from the drying chamber and required much
work space. For the downdraft in the present design, the solar cabinet installs below the solar collector house thus
the hot air from solar collector will be drafted down and supply to the drying products and remove the moisture out
at the air outlet. The solar cabinet dryer comprises of two transparent parts made from acrylic sheet . The first part is
the greenhouse drying chamber; the design is a square cubic shape with the dimension of 1.2 x1.2 x 1.2 m.
The second part is the greenhouse roof which connects with the drying chamber. It was fabricated with four
trapezoid acrylic sheet and attached with four uppermost side of the drying chamber house with titled angle of 15
degree with the horizontal plane. The greenhouse roof and the greenhouse drying chamber are partitioned with black
coating aluminum sheet to provide as the absorber plate. The air from the outside will flow through the blacken steel
pipe in which designed to preheated the coming air before naturally flow to the solar collector house and heated up.
The hot air is drafted down by DC fan and supplied to the drying products that placed on the trays. There are five
trays in parallel at 20 cm. intervals in the drying chamber. The pictorial of the developed solar dryer showed in
Fig.2.

Fig 2. Pictorial of the developed solar dryer

4. Results and discussion

The results of drying seasoning raw pork with solar cabinet dryer and with the open sun drying will be presented.
The results will be presented in four topics respectively (1) the parameters involved for drying process in solar
cabinet dryer (2) the temperature distribution for each drying tray (3) dehydration rate from solar drying process and
(4) dehydration rate from open sun drying.
4.1 Parameter involved for drying process in solar cabinet dryer
There is a number of parameter that involved for drying process in a solar cabinet dryer. The factors that
influence on the temperature within solar cabinet dryer can be classified in to two groups such as the external factor
and the internal factor. From considering the frame of solar cabinet dryer is as boundary thus the external factors
will comprise of solar intensity and ambient air temperature; the internal factors will comprise of the preheated
ambient air temperature, the temperature within the heat collector house and the drafted hot air temperature.
The testing results of drying seasoning raw pork during two days will be presented. The results of average value of
external and internal parameters that influence on the temperature within solar cabinet dryer showed in table 2.
Table 2. The average value of external and internal parameters during two days drying
parameters quantity quantity
1st day drying 2nd day drying
solar intensity (W/m2) 51.8 54.2
ambient air temperature ( C) 33.84 33.17
preheated ambient air temperature ( C) 45.9 46.3
hot air temperature within solar collector house ( C ) 57.96 59
drafted hot air temperature ( C) 49.8 52
1052 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

From the results showed in table 2 found that the external parameters influence directly on the internal
parameter. The external parameter such as solar intensity influence directly on the internal parameters in series such
as preheated ambient air temperature, hot air temperature within solar collector house and drafted hot air
temperature flow through the solar cabinet dryer as obvious. And there are the noticed results that for preheating
ambient air it will help to increase the ambient air temperature in which resulting directly on the hot air temperature
within solar collector house and drafted hot air temperature.
4.2 The temperature distribution on the drying tray
The drying of the seasoning raw pork within solar cabinet dryer of total 10 kilograms will be distributed in to
five trays equally. The pictorial of drying within solar cabinet dryer showed in Fig. 3.

Fig 3. The pictorial of drying within solar cabinet dryer

The average temperature of each tray during two days drying using solar cabinet dryer showed the results in
table 3.
Table 3. The average temperature of each tray with solar cabinet dryer
1st day average 2nd day average
number temperature (C ) temperature (C )
tray no 1 48.63 48.6
tray no 2 48.63 47.04
tray no. 3 47,21 47.01
tray no.4 46.91 46.78
tray no. 5 46.42 45.75
average 47.56 47.04
The results showed that the average temperature for each tray is almost uniform. The temperature is in the range
of 45.75-48.63. degree Celsius. The temperature at uppermost tray is highest and the temperature at the upper tray is
higher than the lower tray. The temperature difference among the tray is in the range of 1- 3 degree Celsius. From
this results showed that the characteristic of the temperature distribution is suitable for drying meat production
process that requires the optimum temperature in the range of 47-50 degree Celsius.The graphical of the temperature
distribution of each drying tray showed in Fig. 4.

Fig 4. The graphical of the temperature distribution of each drying tray

 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054 1053
6 Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

From the result showed that the graphical of temperature distribution of each tray is almost the same line. These
results showed that the temperature within the solar cabinet dryer is uniform.
4.3 Dehydration rate from drying process within solar cabinet dryer
To evaluate the drying performance of the solar cabinet dryer, the percentage of weight loss was calculated. The
starting weight of the seasoning raw pork that prepared for drying with solar dryer is 10 kilograms. The seasoning
raw pork will lie down on the stainless tray in which each tray the weight is around 2 kilogram.
The dehydration rate of the seasoning raw pork showed in table 4. The results showed that the weight remain
after drying of the fresh pork 10 kg for two days is 5.15 kg in which the weight loss average is in the percentage of
48.5.
Table 4. The weight loss during two day drying of seasoning raw pork by solar cabinet drying
number weight 1st day drying weight loss 2nd day drying weight loss
(kg ) weight remain (%) weight remain (%)
(kg ) (kg )
tray no 1 2 1.3 35 0.9 55
tray no 2 2 1.3 35 0.95 52.5
tray no. 3 2 1.35 32.5 1.0 50
tray no.4 2 1.4 30 1.15 42.5
tray no. 5 2 1.4 30 1.15 42.5
Total 10 6.75 32.5 5.15 48.5

The seasonings raw pork after two days drying showed in Fig 5. From the results found that the drying products
is suitable for making pound pork.

Fig.5 The drying pork after two days drying

4.4 Open sun drying of seasoning raw pork

The open sun drying of the seasoning raw pork was investigated during two days drying. The seasoning raw pork
was dried on the nylon tray showed in Fig 6.

Fig.6 The open sun drying of the seasoning raw pork

1054 Woranuch Jangsawang / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 1048–1054
Author name / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 7

The dehydration rate of the seasoning raw pork with open sun drying showed in table 5. The results showed the
average weight remain after drying of the fresh pork 9.68 kg for two days is 5.16 kg in which the weight loss
average is in the percentage of 46.6.
. Table 5. The weight loss during two day drying of seasoning raw pork by open sun drying
number weight 1st day drying weight loss 2nd day drying weight loss
weight remain
(kg ) (%) weight remain (%)
(kg )
(kg )

Tray no 1 9.4 6.4 31.94 4.5 52

Tray no 2 10 7.5 25 5.8 42
Tray no. 3 9.5 7 26 5.0 47
Tray no.4 10 7 30 5.0 50
Tray no. 5 9.5 7.2 24 5.5 42

Total 9.68 7.44 27.4 5.16 46.6

The comparison results between the percentage of weight loss for open sun drying and solar cabinet drying the
results showed that under the same environment of drying, using solar cabinet dryer get the weight loss higher than
using open sun dryer.
5. Conclusions
The participation research (PAR) was conducted in this study to meet the specific requirements of the users. The
results from the study found that the developed solar dryer is suitable for specific use of drying meat products.
It is noticed that with the special design of preheating ambient air help to increase the ambient air temperature pass
through the solar collector house.
The results of drying the seasoning raw pork for the duration of two days showed that the average temperature of
each drying tray is in the range of 45.75-48.63 degree Celsius. The temperature at uppermost tray is highest and the
temperature at the upper tray is higher than the lower tray. The temperature difference among the tray is in the range
of 1- 3 degree Celsius. The temperature distribution of each tray is almost uniform throughout the cabinet dryer. The
quality of the drying products was accepted by the users.
From the results can conclude that the characteristic of the temperature distribution is suitable for drying process
in food manufacturing process that require the optimum temperature in the range of 47-50 degree Celsius and the
uniform temperature throughout the solar cabinet dryer will help to control the quality of the drying products.
The comparison results between the percentage of weight loss for open sun drying and solar cabinet drying
showed that under the same environment of drying, using solar cabinet dryer get the weight loss higher than using
open sun dryer.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express her gratitude to the upper central research administration networks for the fund
support for this study and the women’s group of pound pork production for small and micro community enterprise
to give the information, guidance and support.

References

[1] Duffie J.A., Beckman W.A. Solar engineering of thermal process. New York: John Wiely; 1980.p. 7.
[2] Department of Alternative Energy and efficiency. Solar energy map Thailand. available from http://www2.dede.go.th/solarmap/ retrieve on 15
April 2017.
[3] Macmillan S, Steele J, Austin S, Kirby P, Spence R (1999). Mapping the early stages of the design process - A comparison between
engineering and construction. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Engineering Design, August 1999, Munich, Germany, pp.
1175-1178.
[4] Brace Research Institute, 1980, Types of solar agricultural dryers, Sunworld, 4(6), pp. 181- 200.