SOLAR DRYER

Mechanical Engineering

Different commodities are dried locally using different methods including natural drying in open area, solar drying. Different solar dryer designs can be found in various parts of india and a suitable design can be selected for the prototype depending on the type of drying contents, climatic condition, etc. Open air drying was reported as most common method of drying agro-commodities. The farmers were not happy with with uncontrolled open air method and desired to design a simple and easy to use low cost dryer suitable for drying any agro commodities in a clear or /rainy day. The purpose of this project was to study, design, fabricate and test a solar cabinet type of dryer for drying mango. Main emphasis was givenin designing a simple dryer to be made from locally available materials and different products or materials are dried like cereals,legumes, condiments, fruites, vegetables, meat and fish mostly in open air or under shade. A prototype dryer was designed for 1kg of mango slices to be dried by means of direct solar heat in conjunction with an auxiliary heater. Mango pulp is perfectly suited for conversion to juices, nectars, jams, bakery fillings, fruit meals to children, flavours for food industry, to make ice-cream& yog hurt. Processed mangoes enable exporters to serve their market even during off season period for fresh mangoes. Having gained the confidence on the dryer performance, detailed tests were conducted to study the effects of drying modes. From performance and graphs it is seen that the percentage moisture removal desired at the design stage was achieved.

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