ANFIS modelling of a natural convection greenhouse drying system for jaggery: an experimental validation

The aim of the current research work is to generate an adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model so as to forecast the jaggery temperature, the greenhouse air temperature and the moisture evaporation for drying of jaggery inside the greenhouse for natural convection mode. The experiment was conducted separately for 0.75 and 2.0 kg of jaggery pieces having dimensions of 0.03 x 0.03 x 0.01 m(3) for complete drying. The jaggery was dried in a roof-type even span greenhouse with a floor area of 1.20 x 0.78 m(2). An ANFIS model was developed in MATLAB software so as to calculate the jaggery temperature, the greenhouse air temperature and the moisture evaporated and was also used to forecast the thermal performance of the greenhouse on the basis of solar intensity and ambient temperature. This model was experimentally validated. It was shown that the analytical and experimental results for jaggery drying are in good agreement.