Abstracto

Development of Solar Dryer Incorporated With Evacuated Tube Collector

T.Rajagopal, S.Sivakumar, R.Manivel

An indirect type forced convection solar dryer is fabricate with the components like evacuated tube collector, drying chamber and blower. The performance of the designed drier is evaluated by carrying drying experiments with copra at Coimbatore district Tamilnadu, India. A short survey of these showed that applying the forced convection solar dryer not only significantly reduced the drying time but also resulted in many improvements in the quality of the dried products. Solar drying of copra is carried for forced convection and is compared with natural convection solar drying. The temperature of the drying chamber ranges from 49ºC to 78ºC for natural and forced convection while the ambient temperature ranges from 28ºC to 32ºC. Initial moisture content of copra ranges from 51.7% to 52.3% and the final moisture content obtained about 7 to 8%. The forced convection solar dryer takes less time than the natural convection solar dryer to attain the equilibrium moisture content. Solar drying copra obtained was free from smoke, dust, bird and rodent damage