Development and Performance Evaluation of Force Convection Solar Dryer

Use of solar energy for drying crop results in saving of conventional fuels and also offers advantages of less pollution and reduced dependence on the unreliable supply of conventional fuels. Forced convection solar dryers usually lead to a faster drying rate for the higher air flow rates and better control of air temperature is possible to obtain a better quality of the dehydrated product. A solar assisted forced convection dryer was developed and fabricated to study the effect of air flow rate and air temperature on the energy requirement for the dehydration of aonla. It has mainly consisted of a finned type - corrugated flat plate solar air heater, solar air heater outlet trapezoid, a centrifugal blower, auxiliary heating chamber, drying chamber, plenum chamber, drying chamber outlet trapezoid, temperature control unit, and flow measuring unit. Thermal performance of the developed solar air heater was determined at different airflow rates. Developed model is useful for scientific community.