Experimental study of a solar dryer with different flow patterns of air in the drying chamber

Abstract

A novel aberrant sun based dryer is outlined and developed to ponder the regularity of drying in the drying chamber.The system is comprised of a Collector (Solar), drying chamber and a blower.Tests were conducted to compare the conditions when air is distributed through the bottom alone and when the air is distributed to each tray separately and adjudge the method that gave better drying. Dryer efficiency, drying rate, initial and final content of moisture of the green peas in two conditions and also temperature issued in each tray under the two conditions also studied. Mass of green pea, reduced from 120 grams to 66, 78 and 80 grams for trays T1, T2 and T3 respectively when air is distributed through bottom alone and it reduced to 52, 52 and 54 grams when air is distributed evenly to each tray.The average efficiency of the dryer in the first condition is 19.2% and that of the second condition is 22.6% which shows the second condition is a desirable option for the drying process.The temperature of drying air is the most vital factor during drying.Air velocity and air humidity is also an important factor for bettering the rate of drying.