Experimental Study of Notoginseng Drying Based on a Solar Air Heating System

A solar air drying system including solar air collector, drying cabinet and air blower for notoginseng drying has been constructed and tested. Two identical air solar collectors with two air channels, V-groove absorption heat plates and a single glass cover have been employed. The results of test show that the solar air collectors can obtain a good thermal performance in winter season. When the air flow mass rate is fixed at 0.0597kg·s-1, the maximum values of thermal efficiency and outlet air temperature are 76.0% and 62.2°C, respectively. The experimental analysis between two sampling notoginseng drying suggests that the solar drying is very effective, and the drying time has been shorten to about 440 minutes from 990 minutes of the traditional drying by sun. It is also observed that using the solar drying system notoginseng has a higher quality than traditional drying method.