Review of solar assisted heat pump drying systems for agricultural and marine products

Combining solar energy and heat pump technology is a very attractive concept. It is able to eliminate some difficulties and disadvantages of using solar dryer systems or solely using heat pump drying separately. Solar assisted heat pump drying systems have been studied and applied since the last decades in order to increase the quality of products where low temperature and well-controlled drying conditions are needed. This paper reviewed studies on the advances in solar heat pump drying systems. Results and observation from the studies of solar assisted heat pump dryer systems indicated that for heat sensitive materials; improved quality control, reduced energy consumption, high coefficient of performance and high thermal efficiency of the dryer were achieved. The way forward and future directions in R&D in this field are further research regarding theoretical and experimental analysis as well as for the replacement of conventional solar dryer or heat pump dryer with solar assisted heat pump drying systems and solar assisted chemical and ground source heat pump dryers which should present energy efficient applications of the technologies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.