Solar heated commercial wood drying kiln
A project involving the demonstration of active solar heating - flat plate air collector techniques applied to the lumber kiln drying process is presented. This demonstration included the detailed building and mechanical planning, design, product research, construction and use with monitoring of a SOLAR KILN. The solar kiln was sized for small scale commercial kiln drying needs (up to 4000 board feet per load) and incorporated techniques and technology appropriate for small scale and remote rural locations. The project site, located in the Sierra foothills of California, elevation 3000 feet (1600 Btu/day-ft/sup 2/ average daily solar insolation); is not served by the electrical utilities. To provide power for the air circulating direct current blower motor, a photovoltaic array was incorporated into the kiln construction. The solar kiln is derivative of other small scale flat plate air collector kilns previously built in the United States, most notably the experimental kiln work at the United States Forest Products Laboratory. However, this project more thorougly addressed the need for even temperature controls by increasing the efficiency of the collectors and incorporating thermal storage (rock bins) to reduce night time and cloudy day temperature fluctuations. Through a 12 month testing period, the solar kiln has proven effective as a low cost alternate to air drying for relatively rapid, controlled, drying of local hardwoods.
- Research Organization:
- Gold (Jeff), North San Juan, CA (USA); Boyd (Bruce), North San Juan, CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-80R950025
- OSTI ID:
- 5748162
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/R9/50025-T1; ON: DE85013405
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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