"To dry the nuts, I need air that’s 110F, so if ambient is 80F, then I need a 30 degree heat gain. I’ve got 600,000 cu. ft./min. of air to heat, so at night, when things cool down here, I use a lot of natural gas! I looked for ways to reduce my energy costs and found SolarWall. Now there are times when I don’t need to run natural gas at all because I’m getting enough heat from the SolarWall panels on the roof to shut off the burners... What I like about it [SolarWall], it’s simple. There’s no maintenance, no moving parts. Once you set it up it’s real simple."
-Ron Keyawa, Keyawa Orchards
SolarWall en aplicaciones agrícolas
Los sistemas SolarWall se han instalado en cientos de edificios agrícolas y ganaderos. Establos, pocilgas y gallineros no sólo precisan que el aire en el interior se encuentre a una temperatura muy cálida (normalmente de hasta 29,5 ºC), sino que el aire de ventilación ha de ser continuo, lo que suele traducirse en unas facturas de calefacción astronómicas, sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que muchas granjas y viveros utilizan propano para calentar el aire de entrada.
En las aplicaciones agrícolas, se ha atribuido a los sistemas SolarWall la capacidad de disminuir el uso de combustibles tradicionales hasta en un 30%, motivo por el cual el uso de dicha tecnología está muy extendido entre la comunidad agrícola.
Asimismo, el sistema SolarWall contribuye a eliminar la humedad y a secar los viveros tras una limpieza en profundidad.
In poultry ventilation, SolarWall system can be designed to handle the minimum ventilation requirements for the winter, spring and fall months, as well as the first two weeks in summer for the brooding period. For poultry, the typical indoor temperatures begin at around 90°F (32°C) for the brooding period and are gradually decreased to around 70°F (22°C) as the chickens becomes bigger. This means that chicken barns (as well as other forms of livestock) can require heat for up to 10 months of the year. In these applications, SolarWall systems have been credited with decreasing the use of traditional fuel by up to 30%. This substantial – and ongoing - reduction in operating costs improves profitability, and illustrates why this solar ventilation technology is widely used in the chicken and hog communities.
As well, chicken producers have reported an additional benefit of solar poultry ventilation: cold drafts on chicken are eliminated because the metal SolarWall system provides an additional baffle that stops incoming cold wind.
The SolarWall system is also helpful for eliminating humidity and for drying nurseries after thorough cleanings.
Solar Crop and Process Drying
The SolarWall panels can also be used to displace expensive fossil fuels in crop and process drying. They can function as the primary heater, or in a preheating capacity. Using solar heat for drying has become popular because it is especially well suited for delicate crops, and will not burn or harm produce, which may happen with steam heated or fossil-fuel heated air.
Drying chambers can incorporate solar heating in either new construction or in retrofit applications by covering the entire roof and walls of the chambers and productions buildings with the SolarWall metal cladding. Each square meter of the paneling is roughly equivalent to a 500-watt heater.
Crop and Process Drying Applications
- dries all types of produce
- excellent for tea, coffee, fruit, spices, rubber, cocoa
- beans, rice, timber, nuts, manure
- wall or roof mount
- works with tunnel, trough, conveyor and other types of driers
For more information on solar drying and commercial drying operations visit our SolarWall process drying section.
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