OPTIMIZATION OF SOLAR DRYER FOR THE DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

摘要

Currently, several solar dehydrator designs exist on the market, and some of thesendesigns require expensive materials, which makes the prototype expensive and difficultnto obtain for small producers. The aim of this study was to build a low-costnsolar dryer with high energy efficiency based on a previous solar dryer model. Thenoptimization of the previous solar dryer model was characterized via temperaturenprofiles and drying kinetics to identify gaps. Theoretical and numerical modelingnwas used to correct the gaps, and a new prototype was then built. The inclinationnangle was changed from 45° in the previous model to 20° in the new model. Asncompared with the old model, the results indicated that the new model improvednthe efficiency by 43.75% for banana fruit, thereby demonstrating the optimizationnof the new model.