Research Article
A New Approach to Integrating Renewable Energies in the Design of a Shea Kernel Solar Mill
Issue:
Volume 12, Issue 4, December 2024
Pages:
67-80
Received:
10 September 2024
Accepted:
8 October 2024
Published:
22 November 2024
Abstract: The development of the agri-food sector in West African countries is limited by energy and technological factors. As a result, the main shea nut producers in these countries, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Mali, export their production to the benefit of large industries in northern countries. One of the most difficult operations involved in transforming shea nuts into shea butter is grinding. Processing shea kernels into shea butter requires a mill or grinder. The types of energy (diesel and electricity) used by these mills are fossil-based, difficult to access and pose huge environmental issues. The objective of this work is to design a mill, operating with photovoltaic solar energy as an energy source, in a design approach using design rules and industrial engineering tools. To this end, a survey on the practices of the networks of agri-food equipment stakeholders on the use of renewable energy and the characterization of the network of solar mill stakeholders were carried out. The results of the surveys and the network characterization of the stakeholders, combined with those of the literature review, made it possible to define rules for integrating renewable energy into the design of the solar mill. The use of functional analysis and a tool to help choose energy-efficient technological solutions enabled to apply the rules for integrating renewable energy into the design of the shea kernel solar mill for validation purpose. The results of the functional tests of the solar mill showed a production capacity of 270 Kg of shea kernel paste, a solar energy consumption of 11,532 kWh equivalent to an energy consumption of 1.82 USD in 6 hours operational time per day.
Abstract: The development of the agri-food sector in West African countries is limited by energy and technological factors. As a result, the main shea nut producers in these countries, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Mali, export their production to the benefit of large industries in northern countries. One of the most difficult operations involved in transforming...
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Research Article
General Models for Monthly Average Daily Global Solar Irradiation
Jacques Marie Ilboudo,
Dominique Bonkoungou*
,
Sosthene Tassembedo,
Zacharie Koalaga
Issue:
Volume 12, Issue 4, December 2024
Pages:
81-90
Received:
2 November 2024
Accepted:
20 November 2024
Published:
3 December 2024
DOI:
10.11648/j.sjee.20241204.12
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Views:
Abstract: With the world’s growing demand for electricity and the crucial need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s more important than ever to develop renewable energies, particularly solar power. The study carried out in this document is in line with the same principle, i.e. to improve the exploitation of solar energy. Its aim is to develop a mathematical model for mean monthly daily global solar irradiation that is independent of measurement data and suitable for all sites worldwide. For this study, we used daily global solar irradiation data for a horizontal surface. These data are from 60 sites worldwide and cover the period from 2000 to 2023. To examine the quality of the models established in the document, we carried out an investigation into performance tools. We have presented two, including MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Based on the daily global solar irradiance data from the 60 sites, the empirical model of extraterrestrial daily solar irradiance, and computational tools, we have formulated mathematical expressions of solar irradiance. It has the particularity of being independent of measurement data such as the duration of the day and temperature of the sites. It requires only the latitudes of the locations to estimate the solar potential values of the sites. A study of the performance of the established model showed that the model of monthly mean daily global solar irradiation values has fairly acceptable accuracy and fairly good correlation.
Abstract: With the world’s growing demand for electricity and the crucial need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s more important than ever to develop renewable energies, particularly solar power. The study carried out in this document is in line with the same principle, i.e. to improve the exploitation of solar energy. Its aim is to develop a mathemati...
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