DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF A HYBRID SOLAR DRYER USING FORCED CONVECTION PRINCIPLE

Abstract

In developing countries like Nigeria, local farmers are always facing challenges on drying and preservation of the agricultural products after harvesting due to losses in quality and quantity of the products by using local drying method, to address the problem, solar drying system is used. This study presented design, construction and performance assessment of a hybrid solar dryer using forced convection principle for drying of tomato slices. The system consists of solar collector, drying chamber with four drying trays, solar photovoltaic for powering fans and adding more heating in the evening and/or cloudy hours and chimney. The result revealed that for all the testing days, the air temperatures at the drying chamber were greater than that at ambient, solar collector and chimney outlet. It was also found that the solar dryer has a drying rate of 0.274kg/hr while the dryer efficiency and collector’s efficiency were 50.2% and 43.03% respectively. It was recommended that the solar drying system should be used to dry and preserve the agricultural products without losses in quality and quantity of the products.

Keywords

• Air Temperature
• Chimney
• Drying Chamber
• Relative Humidity
• Solar Collector

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