3.17 - Industrial and Agricultural Applications of Solar Heat

The agricultural and industrial uses of solar heat are reviewed in this chapter. Constraints are discussed in terms of the temperatures required for particular applications and critical factors influencing economic viability. The desired properties of both water and air heating solar collectors are outlined together with the attributes of specific collector types that render each to have particularly suitable applications. The full range of principal system component layouts for solar industrial process heat applications is presented and the operational limits of systems are discussed. System design strategies and methodologies are summarized. A range of specific applications are presented and their current state of development and use discussed; these include solar drying, solar furnaces, greenhouses, heating and ventilation of industrial and agricultural buildings, solar cooking, solar distillation, and solar refrigeration.