Large-scale greenhouse solar dryers have been used for drying various products and this type of dryer is usually equipped with LPG burner as auxiliary heater, which creates more operating cost. To overcome this problem, phase change material (PCM) thermal storage was proposed to substitute for the LPG burner. In this work, the performance of a large-scale greenhouse solar dryer integrated with a PCM as a latent heat storage for drying of chili was investigated. Experimental studies were conducted to compare the performance of this dryer with that of another large-scale greenhouse solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage and open sun drying. Chili with an initial moisture content of 74.7% (w.b.) was dried to a final moisture content of 10.0% (w.b.) in 2.5 days, 3.5 days, and 11 days using the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage, the solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage and the open sun drying, respectively. The performance of the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage was also evaluated using exergy analysis. The exergy efficiency of the drying room of the solar dryer integrated with the PCM thermal storage and the solar dryer without the PCM thermal storage for drying of chili was found to be 13.1% and 11.4%, respectively and the thermal storage helps to dry chili during adverse weather conditions. The results of exergy analysis implied that the exergy losses from the dryer with the PCM should be reduced.

大型温室太阳能干燥器已经用于干燥各种产品，并且这种干燥器通常配备有LPG燃烧器作为辅助加热器，这会增加运营成本。为了克服这个问题，提出了相变材料（PCM）储热器来代替LPG燃烧器。在这项工作中，研究了与PCM相集成的大型温室太阳能干燥机作为辣椒干燥潜热存储器的性能。进行了实验研究，以比较该干燥机与另一台没有PCM储热和开放式阳光干燥的大型温室太阳能干燥机的性能。使用集成了PCM蓄热装置的太阳能干燥机，在2.5天，3.5天和11天之内将初始水分含量为74.7％（wb）的辣椒干燥至最终水分含量为10.0％（wb），没有PCM蓄热器的阳光干燥器和没有阳光直射的干燥器。还使用火用分析评估了与PCM蓄热器集成的太阳能干燥器的性能。集成了PCM储热器的太阳能干燥机和没有PCM储热器的辣椒干燥机的干衣机的火用效率分别为13.1％和11.4％，并且热存储有助于在干燥过程中干燥辣椒不利的天气条件。（火用）分析结果表明，具有PCM的干燥机的（火用）损失应当减少。集成了PCM储热器的太阳能干燥机和没有PCM储热器的辣椒干燥机的干衣机的火用效率分别为13.1％和11.4％，并且热存储有助于在干燥过程中干燥辣椒不利的天气条件。（火用）分析结果表明，具有PCM的干燥机的（火用）损失应当减少。集成了PCM储热器的太阳能干燥机和没有PCM储热器的辣椒干燥机的干衣机的火用效率分别为13.1％和11.4％，并且热存储有助于在干燥过程中干燥辣椒不利的天气条件。（火用）分析结果表明，具有PCM的干燥机的（火用）损失应当减少。