IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)

e-ISSN: 2278-1684, p-ISSN: 2320-334X

PP 70-73
www.iosrjournals.org
Design and Performance Evaluation of Solar dryer
P. K. Wankhade1, Dr. R.S.Sapkal2, Dr. V.S.Sapkal3
Chemical Technology Department, S. G. B. Amravati University.

ABSTRACT: Drying is an essential process in the preservation of agricultural products. Drying preserves
foods by removing enough moisture from food to prevent decay and spoilage. Drying of foods, the key is to
remove moisture as quickly as possible at a temperature that does not seriously affect the flavor, texture and
color of the food. Various drying methods are employed to dry different agricultural products. In present work
local made solar dryer is used which is modified in form of vents for natural air flow in dryer and also platform
constructed, which is made up of galvanized wire mesh which allow the free flow of air around the product by
natural circulation. Fan/blower is used for forced circulation and to increase the air velocity. And
experimentation was carried out in both cases on some agricultural product to study the effects on performance
in different parameters after drying in the month of march and april. The results also revealed the dependence
of the dryer performance on the proper air circulation through the system. The dryer efficiency increased as the
air velocity through the system increased.

Keywords: Food Preservation, Drying methods, Solar dryer, Performance evaluation, Drying efficiency.

I. INTRODUCTION
Drying is the reduction of moisture from the products and is a most important process for preserving
agricultural products since it has a great effect on the quality of the dried products. The major objective in
drying agricultural products is the reduction of the moisture content to a level which allows safe storage over an
extended period. In addition, drying enhances the storability, transportability, nutritional value retention, flavor
and texture of food products. It is used for the preservation of a wide variety of agricultural products. However,
the ever-rising cost of electricity and natural fuels in addition with growing concern about their availability in
both the short and long terms, has resulted in growing interest in the use of renewable resources especially solar
energy. Drying of agricultural products such as corn, rice, millet, beans, sorghum, groundnut, pepper, okra,
potato, and yam chips requires a considerable amount of energy, which must be available when the crop is
harvested. The application of solar energy in drying of agricultural products has tremendous potential, since it
can easily provide the low temperature heating required for drying. Drying processes using solar energy range
from traditional open sun drying to solar dryers. The climatic conditions during harvest season in some areas
may be such that unheated or natural air can be used to reduce the moisture content in the crop to safe storage
moisture.
However, in the natural air drying technique has the problems of contamination, infestation,
microbial attack, and the required drying time for a given commodity can be quite long. Where feasible, solar
drying often provides the most cost-effective drying technique which provide air with greater drying potential
which in turn flows by natural or forced convection through a bed of the product to be dried. Since the material
is contained there is less contamination and it is less susceptible to adverse weather conditions (Akbulut and
Durmus, 2010). Solar energy in is available for 8 to 9 months in a year with average sunshine hours ranged from
6.5 to 8 hours per day. The average solar energy ranged between 450-500 cal/cm² in a day. At present the fruits
are used for drying due to their availability and good market value at local level. It is a fruit dried and used as
sour agent in cookery. The only alternative available is drying (Senadeera et al.,2003), which is most important
techniques of food preservation (Menon and Muzumdar, 1987). To reduce the processing losses during the
drying and to retain the quality of dried product, it is necessary to dry such fruit in the close chamber(Lambert,
1980) with preventing product from dust, insect, larva, birds and animal (Ong, 1999). By keeping importance of
drying, low cost solar dryer was fabricated to carry out solar drying study.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Dryer setup:
In all the views, it can be deduced that to achieve better drying rates, a proper circulation of heated air
through the dryer is required. In the developing countries, the agricultural practice of drying is mostly
undertaken in the rural areas where electricity does not exist to power the fan. In this study a vents for natural
circulation was incorporated into the dryer, to increase the rate of air circulation through the dryer. Also

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IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
e-ISSN: 2278-1684, p-ISSN: 2320-334X
PP 70-73
www.iosrjournals.org
presented in this work is the detailed explanation of the design, construction and performance evaluation of the
solar dryer. The experimental set up used for determining the influence of various drying methods on the drying
behavior of agricultural product. The laboratory scale batch type hot air dryer is used and solar dryer used in
present which is modified in form of vents for natural air flow in dryer and also platform constructed as in
FIG.1. It is made up of galvanized sheet of 28 gauge size. Glass of 3mm thickness is placed at about 30°
inclined. Area of surface area of drying platform is about 0.6 m2, which is made up of galvanized wire mesh.
And its inner surface is coated with black colour. Vents are provided for natural air flow in dryer.

FIG1: Schematic Diagram of Solar Dryer

1. Wire mesh platform, 2.Vent for air flow
3. Glass cover
Measurements:
The temperature and humidity at different location inside the drying chamber and outside environment
was measured with thermocouple. In order to measure reading at a different point of air column through top and
bottom of drying bed, temperature sensor were set at inlet and outlet as well as mid position of drying chamber.
Airflow rate along the drying chamber was calculated by measuring the velocity of exist air opening through an
anemometer.
Moisture Content:
The percentage moisture content was determined by using following formula,
𝑀𝑖 − 𝑀𝑑
𝑀𝑐 = 𝑥 100%
𝑀𝑖
Where, Mi is the mass of sample before drying and Md is the mass of sample after drying.
Drying Rate:
The drying rate of sample during drying period was determined as follows,
𝑀𝑖 − 𝑀𝑑
𝑅𝑑 =
𝑡
Where, t is time interval of drying readings
Moisture Ratio:
The Moisture ratio of prawns was computed by using the initial moisture content (IMC) and equilibrium
moisture content (EMC)
𝑀 − 𝑀𝑒
𝑀R =
𝑀𝑜 − 𝑀𝑒

where, MR is the dimensionless moisture ratio, M, Me and Mo are the moisture content at any time, the
equilibrium moisture content and the initial moisture content in kg respectively.
Drying Efficiency:
Amount of heat required to evaporate the moisture inside the product is called as drying efficiency.
Total heat in case of solar dryer is the availability of solar radiation on collector surface of the dryer. This drying
efficiency was calculated by equation,
𝑊 𝑥 ⧍𝐻𝑙
𝜼𝑑 =
𝐴𝑐 𝑥 𝐼𝑐

Where, W= moisture evaporated (kg), ⧍𝐻𝑙 = Latent heat of vaporization of water, 2320 (kJ/kg), Ic= Total
hourly isolation upon collector, (Wm²), Ac= Area of collector (m²)
Sample Analysis:

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IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
e-ISSN: 2278-1684, p-ISSN: 2320-334X
PP 70-73
www.iosrjournals.org
The sample slices were then weighed exactly 100 gms. for each treatment. These were kept for drying
in three replications. For solar drying the weighed okra and potato slices were taken in paper plates and kept
inside the solar dryer platform. Observations on physiological loss in weight and colour change in each sample
were recorded at the particular interval of 1 hour in solar drying. The change in color of slices was observed for
further analysis. The texture of end produce was also tested by breaking the dried slices and the produce was
categorized into different grades. Temperature and relative humidity in solar drying was recorded throughout the
drying period using hygrothermometer.
The solar drying experiments were carried out during the periods of March-April under the clean climatic
conditions of vidarbha. Each experiment started at 8:00 am and continued till 18:00 pm. To determine the
moisture loss of drying samples during experiments, samples were taken out of the solar dryer and weighed at
various time intervals, ranging from 30 min at the beginning of the drying to 1hr during the last stage of the
process during natural circulation. The moisture loss of samples was determined with the help of a digital
electronic balance having an accuracy of 0.01 g. Same process is carried out by introducing blower at the vent
opening of solar dryer, which supplies continues air about 1-1.5 m/s through solar dryer around the sample
platform in form of forced circulation. And weighed at the same interval. These were again spread in the dryer
in the next morning and the drying process was continued until no further changes in their mass were observed.

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In the no load condition of solar drying, radiation and temperature inside the cabinet were measured
with time of day in the interval of 30 minute were plotted in Figure 2. Maximum temperature observed at at
14.15 pm was 57°C ,whereas maximum ambient temperature observed was 37.2°C. Initial moisture content of
okra slices was found to be 85 percent and 76 percent in potato slices. These samples were dried up to 10
percent moisture content inside the solar dryer. Time required to each condition for sample drying was
calculated. The effect of different drying conditions on drying time, color and texture of the okra slices were
determined. The result shown that there was a general decline in moisture content of the sample from 100 g to
15 g in all methods of drying.
The results analyzing to drying of sample are recorded in different conditions natural circulation solar
drying and forced circulation solar drying are shown in fig. 3. The data indicated that the loss of moisture was at
its highest magnitude in the first hour of drying however the moisture loss was slowed down in the subsequent
drying period. The hourly variation of the temperatures in air and the drying cabinet compared to the ambient
temperature for the day of drying are shown in Fig. 2. The hourly variation of the incident solar radiation shows
the effect of air velocity on the drying efficiency. The system drying efficiency increases as the air velocity
increases. This clearly reveals the dependence of the dryer performance on the air velocity shown in Fig. 3. The
average air velocity through the solar dryer during the period of test at forced circulation was 1.5 m/s. Fig. 4.
Shows the effect of air velocity on the drying efficiency. The system drying efficiency increases as the air
velocity increases. This clearly shows the relevant of the dryer performance on the air velocity. Dryer is tasted
with natural circulation and forced circulation through dryer which effects the drying efficiency. Efficiency
founds when air flows naturally through vents, it is around 10 m/s to 35 m/s, whereas it is found in the range
of 15 m/s to 54 m/s. during air flows or forced to flow through dryer by fan /blower.

Fig 2: Temperature variation Fig 3: Moisture content variation FIG 4: Efficiency variation with air
during test with time velocity

IV. CONCLUSION
In this work, practical way of low cost preserving food items by the use of solar dryer has been
experimented. The fabrication of the dryer does not require high technology and once installed the maintenance
cost is minimum. The dryer was tested and the following conclusions can be drawn based on the results
obtained, the maximum drying air temperatures was found to be 57°C inside the dryer cabinet. The average
International Conference on Advances in Engineering & Technology – 2014 (ICAET-2014) 72 | Page
IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE)
e-ISSN: 2278-1684, p-ISSN: 2320-334X
PP 70-73
www.iosrjournals.org
drying air temperature in the drying cabinet was higher than the ambient temperature in the range of 5°C in the
early hours of the day to 20-25°C at mid-day. The average temperature in the drying cabinet was also found
higher than that of the air-heater in the range of 2-5°C, which justified the additional heat received from direct
solar radiation through the transparent walls. About 80% and 55% weight losses were obtained in the drying of
pepper and yam chips, respectively, in the dryer. In the two cases, the use of the dryer led to considerable
reduction in drying time in forced circulation in comparison to the natural circulation drying. The system
efficiency increased as the air velocity increased.

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