Experimental study on insulation and heat sink in solar drying system: A case study

The growing energy demand requires an expansion of sustainable activities and development. Unfortunately, burning fossil fuels causes pollution and greenhouse gases, leading to climate change. Solar energy is an alternative energy that is abundant and clean to traditional energy sources. The current innovative approach employs heat sinks, traditionally utilized for electronic component cooling, as efficient thermal transmitters in solar drying applications. The proposed setup maximizes sustainability by minimizing reliance on non-renewable resources, offering a greener alternative for drying processes. Therefore, the current study investigated the effect of heat sinks and insulation on water evaporation. The present study investigates two water depths: 14 mm and 18 mm. Eight configurations were tested: insulated setup with heat sinks at 14 mm water depth, insulated setup with traditional test rig at 14 mm water depth, uninsulated setup with heat sinks at 14 mm water depth), and uninsulated setup with traditional test rig at 14 mm water depth; the aforementioned steps were also replicated for a water depth of 18 mm. The heat sink significantly improved the evaporation at 14 mm, but deteriorated the evaporation at 18 mm water depth. Contrary to expectations, the insulation deteriorated the evaporation rate for all cases as the ambient temperature exceeded the water temperature. The insulation reduced the evaporation rate by 15% at 14 mm and 7% at 18 mm water depth. Furthermore, heat sinks are commercially available as a cooling system, so this setup offers an effective and practical solution to enhance water evaporation in solar drying applications.