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SOLAR DRYERS FOR DRYING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Conference Paper · April 2015

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 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

IC-QUEST 2015 ISSN: 2321-7758

SOLAR DRYERS FOR DRYING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

LOKESH R. DHUMNE1, VIPIN H. BIPTE2, Prof. Y. M. JIBHKATE3

1
Research scholar, Heat Power Engineering, Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Dist. Nagpur, Maharashtra, India lokesh.dhumne@gmail.com
2
Research scholar, Heat Power Engineering, Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Dist. Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, vipinbipte05@gmail.com
3
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Kavikulguru Institute of Technology & Science,
Ramtek, Maharashtra, India; ymjibhkate@yahoo.co.in
ABSTRACT
1
This paper attempts to discuss about the need of drying agricultural products and the various
methods used for drying agricultural products. Drying is one of the oldest methods for preserving agricultural
products. Drying process theoretically requires approximately 2.4 MJ energy for every one litre of water to
evaporate. Many of our food crops are 80-90% water and most of this needs to be removed for long term
storage. In practice, most of the dryers used have an operating efficiency of less than 50% and this indicates
that significant amounts of energy are used in this post-harvest activity. Open air sun drying of agricultural
products is the traditional method employed in most of the developing countries. Sun drying is used to
denote the exposure of a commodity to direct solar radiation and the convective power of the natural wind.
Drying is cheapest and most common method of preservation and storing of agricultural products.

Index Terms— Solar dryer, agricultural product, convection, ambient temperature, drying rat
I. INTRODUCTION
Many of the agricultural products have high
moisture content which makes them vulnerable to
microbial and other spoilages due to biochemical
reactions. Therefore drying or dehydration activities
must be carried out as preventive measures to lower
moisture content of the product. Drying is a process
of removal of water from the food to inhibit
biochemical processes and microbial growth. Drying
Increases the shelf-life of the product, so that it can
be available during off seasons. The open air sun
drying is one of the oldest and well known processes
for preserving agricultural product for a long time.
There are certain new techniques are introduced for % Relative
efficient drying process such as hot air drying or
dielectric heating. But these processes require a
huge amount of energy which is generally obtained
from conventional energy sources like fossil fuels.
With the depletion of fossil fuels and hike in energy
prices, more and more emphasis is being given to
utilize renewable energy sources for drying.
II. PRINCIPLE OF DRYING
Bacteriological shelf life of dried products depends
on the water activity also known as relative
moisture content of the product. For each product,
relative moisture content matches to a certain
value. It is important to know this relative moisture
content. Relative moisture content is measured in
percentage and can be in between 0% to 100%.
Dried products have low water activity or relative
moisture content.
The relation between the moisture content of
product and its relative growth of micro-organisms
is given in Table I
Table I
Moisture Grow of micro organisms
Content
> 95% All organism can grow
75% All yeasts, moulds and most bacteria
All moulds and some yeasts and
60%
bacteria
40% All moulds and only Staphylococci

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
80 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
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Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in
25% Most moulds
15% Some moulds
< 10% No growth of micro organisms
The relative moisture content higher than 43%
causes enzymatic and chemical spoilage in the
product. But the oxidation of fats cannot be avoided
by drying the product. Most of dried fruits contain
20-25% of moisture. Drying is the process of
removing water from the product. Drying the
outside parts of product is very simple and
evaporation of water can happen very fast by
heating up the air and by moving the air fast. This is
very much important to transport this water from
the product to the outside. This process can be
increased by heating up the product. In practice
there is a maximum temperature at which the
product can be dried, because too high temperature
can damage it (structure, taste and smell). During
the drying process, also other conditions like
contamination of foreign bodies, chemicals, dust
and bacteria is also important. For fast and perfect
drying, the circumstances must be optimal and
process should be controlled. Modern drying
systems can do this in very effective and economical
manner.
METHODS OF DRYING
Solar dryers are available in various ranges of size
and design and are used for drying of various
agricultural products. Various types of Dryers are
available as per requirement of farmers. Primarily all
the drying systems are classified on the basis of their
operating temperature ranges that is High
Temperature solar dryer and Low Temperature Solar
dryer. Following criteria's are required for the
classification of solar dryer:-
 Air movement mode
 Insulation exposure
 Air flow direction
 Dryer arrangement
 Solar contribution
 Type of fruit to be dried
The various modern techniques used for drying
agricultural products are as follows:
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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
81 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
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Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
Vol.3., S2, 2015
A. SUN DRYING
Sun drying is one of the most widespread and cheap
methods practiced by most developing and
underdeveloped countries, especially in tropics,
where good sunshine hours available throughout
the year. In this process food commodities are laid
on a platform in a thin layer for uniform drying. The
sun’s heat not only reduces the moisture level as
desired, but also kills insects present in the food
product. Sun drying has certain limitations as it is
dependent on the weather and sunshine hours.
During uncertain rain and precipitation, the
materials are not dried properly, which causes
microbial growth and other qualitative
deteriorations. The drying process usually takes a
long time, thus causing infestation from insects,
birds, and animals. Also, this method of drying
requires a large area. Despite these disadvantages,
sun drying is still practiced in many parts of the
world.
B. SOLAR DRYER
The open air drying or sun drying has many
limitations and due to the rise of fuel prices,
depletion of fossil fuels, the use of modern drying
technologies are not economical for drying
agricultural product. Hence solar drying systems
have been developed as a successful and
economical tool for drying agricultural product.
Solar drying is achieved by direct sun radiation and
greenhouse effect. The solar energy received by the
drying chamber is dependent on the sunshine hours,
climate, weather, atmospheric clearness, and
location. According to E V Fodor [1], on a clear day
solar radiation available to any location is
dependent on the angle of the sun relative to
horizon. Solar energy is free, renewable, abundant,
and an environment friendly energy source. This
reduces drying time due to effective utilization of
solar energy. It maintains the quality of the food
products and acts as an ideal substitute for fossil
fuel based dryers. The two basic limitations faced by
the solar dryers are sunshine hours and weather
change. There are two types of solar driers; the
Passive Type (natural convection) dryer and the
Active Type (forced convection) or Hybrid Solar
dryer.
As per Ekechukwu [2], these solar driers may be
again sub-grouped under three categories: (i)
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

Integral type (direct mode), (ii) distributed type

(indirect type), and (iii) mixed mode.
In a direct type, solar drying material is placed in a
drying chamber having a transparent cover through
which solar radiation enters and heats the food
materials to be dried. In an indirect mode, solar
energy is captured by a solar collector, which in turn
heats the air. This heated air is then passed to the
drying cabinet/chamber. In mixed mode, solar
energy is collected in separate solar collector and
heated air is then passed over the drying material.
The drying materials absorb the solar energy directly
Fig. 1.Natural solar dryer ( the arrows
through the transparent cover and walls.
refer to air streamlines)
C. SOLAR NATURAL DRYER
D. SEMI ARTIFICIAL SOLAR DRYERS
These are directly irradiated solar dryers, where the
These are direct heated solar convective dryers. In
products absorb solar energy directly. The dryers are
these dryers, air is preheated by solar energy in a
provided with transparent cover, such as glass or
collector. The drying system usually consists of a
polyethylene. The upper layer is heated and dried by
solar collector and a fan for maintaining a specified
direct solar radiation and the subsequent layers are
air flow through the drying space. These dryers are
heated through conduction. Polyhouse or
cheap to construct and can be employed where the
greenhouse drying is an example of solar natural
drying material is not sensitive to periodic changes
dryers. Since the drying process is dependent on
in the drying conditions caused by periodic nature of
weather and sunshine hours, a constant drying
the solar radiation and changing atmospheric
temperature cannot be maintained. High outdoor
conditions. K Lutz [6] and his co-workers had
temperature, low humidity, and clear skies are the
developed a multipurpose solar tunnel dryer
ideal conditions for solar dryers. The inside air
consisting of a fan, solar heater, and tunnel dryer.
temperature of the polyhouse is about 20–30 °C
The use of this dryer had reduced the drying time
warmer than the outside air temperature, which
considerably with better end product quality.
makes the drying faster as compared to open sun
E. SOLAR ASSISTED OR INDIRECT TYPE SOLAR DRYER
drying, thus reducing drying time. Pangavhane et
In this type of dryer, solar energy is used to heat a
al.[3] have designed a solar dryer consisting of a
fluid or sand pebble, which in turn heats the drying
solar air heater and a drying chamber. They
air. These usually have auxiliary energy source, such
observed that the drying time in a solar dryer was
as a thermo-generator fuelled by biomass, natural
four days as compared to seven days in open sun
gas or oil, to be used in situations where solar
drying and 15 days in shade drying for production of
energy collected is insufficient for drying purpose.
resins from grapes. A solar tunnel dryer designed for
Better control of temperature results in a better
drying agricultural crops, by Bala et al.[4], consisted
quality product. The solar dryer developed by El-
of a transparent plastic covering the flat plate
Sebaii et al.[7] consisted of a flat plate solar air
collector. The drying tunnel is connected in a series
heater connected to a cabinet, acting as a drying
to supply hot air directly into the drying tunnel using
chamber.
two DC fans operated by a solar module. Bena and
Fuller [5] described that biomass-generated energy
serves as a backup for such direct convection type
natural solar dryers, thus improving the dryer
efficiency.

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
82 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in
Fig. 2 Indirect Type Solar Dryer
The air heater is designed to insert various storage
materials under the absorber plate to improve the
drying process. Sand is used as a storage material.
Since heat dissipated by sand is gradual, it reduces
the drying time by 12 hours and the total drying
time can be achieved in eight hours with suitable
pre-treatment given to the fruits.
F. HYBRID DRYER
These dryers are usually direct-type solar dryers, but
are backed up by an auxiliary energy source, so that
during the less sunshine hours and cloudy weather
the energy back-up can be utilized to dry food
materials without interruption. This usually results in
better product quality. Bhattacharya et al. [8] have
developed a hybrid solar dryer using direct solar
energy and a heat exchanger. The dryer consists of a
solar collector, reflector, heat exchanger cum heat
storage unit, and a drying chamber. The drying
chamber is placed beneath the collector. The dryer
is operated during normal sunny days as a solar
dryer and as a hybrid solar dryer during cloudy days.
Drying is also carried out at night using stored heat
energy, in which it is collected during the daytime
and with electric heaters located at water tank. The
efficiency of the solar dryer is enhanced by recycling
about 65 per cent of the drying air in the solar dryer.
Under mid-European summer conditions, it can
increase the air temperature 30–40 °C above the
ambient temperature.
G. THE HOHENHEIM SOLAR DRYER
The original design for this solar dryer was
developed at the Institute for Agricultural
Engineering in the Tropics and Subtropics at
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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
83 (ICQUEST_2015) Organized by Bapurao Deshmukh College of Engineering, Sevagram, Wardha – 442 102,
th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015
Vol.3., S2, 2015
Hohenheim University in Germany known as the
Hohenheim solar dryer [9]. The dryer is one of the
direct type family of solar dryers and can be
conveniently described as a long low transparent
tunnel. In its standard form, the solar dryer is 18
metres long and 2 metres wide. It consists of two
sections or zones. The first eight metres of the unit
act as the solar collector and the second ten metres
are used for the drying bed. Each zone has the same
cross-section and is covered with a transparent film
glazing (Fig. 2) and therefore both the solar collector
surface and the crop simultaneously absorb any
solar radiation incident on the unit.
Fig. 3 Cross section through the Hohenheim solar
dryer
ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR DRYERS
The various advantages associated with the use of
solar dryers are:
 Solar dryer can save fuel and electricity and
drying time in solar dryer is reduced in
comparison to open drying method.
 Fruits and vegetables dried in solar dryer
are better in quality and hygienic than dried
in open.
 Products are protected against flies, rain
and dust; product can be left in the dryer
overnight during rain, since dryers are
waterproof.
 It Reduces Losses and Better market price
to the products
 Materials required for fabrication of solar
dryer are locally available.
 The use of solar dryer involves no fire risks.
 The dryers can be connected in series and
hence its capacity can be enhanced as per
requirement and it can be dismantled easily
 International Journal of Engineering Research-Online
A Peer Reviewed International Journal Vol.3., S2, 2015
Articles available online http://www.ijoer.in

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Proceedings of 4 International Conference On Quality Up-gradation in Engineering, Science & Technology
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th
Maharashtra, India; 11 April.,2015

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