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Performance Evaluation of a Simple Solar Dryer for Food Preservation

Conference Paper · June 2005

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 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

Performance Evaluation of a Simple Solar Dryer

for Food Preservation
B. O. BOLAJI
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Federal University of Technology
P.M.B. 704, Akure, Nigeria
e-mail: bobbolaji2007@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the design, construction because it is abundant and inexhaustible (Bather and
and testing of a simple solar dryer for food preservation. Its Caruthers, 1981).
construction was accomplished using mainly inexpensive
Solar energy has been used for centuries by man for
locally available materials to make it relatively affordable to
drying animal skins and clothes, preserving meat and fish,
the average poor farmer dwelling in the rural area. The dryer
temperature was found to be above the ambient temperature drying agriculture crops and evaporating sea water in order
by an average of 51 % throughout the day-light time and the to extract salt (Adaramola et al., 2004). Due to unexpected
temperature rise was up to 75 % for about three hours high prices of agricultural products, their preservation is
immediately after 12.00 h (noon). The drying rate and the becoming more and more important nowadays. Also food
system efficiency were 0.46 kg/h and 59 % respectively. The preservation should be given priority in developing
rapid rate of drying in the dryer reveals its ability to dry food
countries where agriculture plays crucial role in providing
items reasonably rapidly to a safe moisture level and
employment for the majority of the population.
simultaneously it ensures a superior quality of the dried
product. The results obtained indicate that solar dryers have Food and energy are the essential factors of the
a future especially in food preservation. human survival, so the efforts for greater food production
and smaller energy dissipation can undoubtedly provide
Keywords: solar energy; dryer, food preservation; performance more peaceful and secure future for mankind (Kilkis,
evaluation. 1981). The farmers in developing countries are confronted
with the problem of preserving their harvested crops to
I. INTRODUCTION prevent spoilage during storage. Farmers suffer heavy
losses of food in the post-harvest period during which the
The continuous rise in the cost of non-renewable energy
harvested crops pass through series of well-defined steps,
sources, the fast rate at which they are being depleted and
like threshing (or shelling), drying and final processing.
the growing concern about their availability in both the
Therefore, there must be a great interest in any device or
short and long terms, has resulted in growing interest in the
process, which can contribute to economic and industrial
use of renewable resources. Solar energy is the driving
growth of developing countries.
force behind several of the renewable forms of energy.
Solar energy is an ideal alternative source of energy

8
 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

Drying is a process by which water is removed from a dried under controlled conditions of temperature and
substance. According to Ikejiofor (1985), two types of humidity.
water are present in food items; the chemically bond water
and the physically held water. In drying, it is only the
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
physically held water that is removed. The main reason for
A. Theoretical Consideration
drying food items is to reduce its water content to a level
where it can be safely stored for future use. The heat gained by the dryer per unit time, Q g is
given by the Hottel-Whiller-Bliss equation (Duffie and
The efficiency of solar dryers is not very high because
Beckman, 1991):
of the diffuse nature of solar radiation, which put a limit to
their use (Othieno, 1985). Any attempt to increase Qg = A[I – UL(Ti – Ta)] (1)
efficiency by using concentrators or reflectors increases Where: A = area of transparent cover (m2)
construction cost astronomically. However, it has been I = incident insolation (W/m2)
discovered that most agricultural products dry efficiently at UL = overall heat loss for the collector (W/K)
temperatures attainable using simple solar dryer (Fath,  = solar absorptance
1995).  = transmittance
Traditionally many cereal crops, vegetables and fruits Ti = temperature of incoming air (K)
are dried by thinly spreading them on a prepared ground or Ta = temperature of ambient air (K)
platforms in open sunlight. Large losses are generally Since the dryer draws the ambient air directly, the last term
incurred when this method is used. The losses are on the right-hand side vanishes and the rate of energy
attributed to birds, rodents and domestic animals and wind collection is simply:
blowing the product beyond recovery. Further Qg = AI (2)
disadvantage of this technique is due to lack of control over If the mass of air leaving the dryer per unit time is M a, the
the drying rate, which usually results in under-drying or heat gained by the air Qa is (Pratota et al., 1997):
over-drying. Under-drying leads to deterioration of product Qa = MaC(To – Ti) (3)
due to fungi or bacteria whereas the over-drying may leads Where: C = specific heat capacity of air (kJ/kg.K)
to case-hardening, followed by bursting resulting in the To = temperature of out-going air (K)
spoilage of the product. A simplified energy equation for the dryer is Q g = Qa, that
is,
Due to increasing demand for food items, practical
AI = MaC(To – Ti) (4)
ways of cheaply and sanitarily preserving foods are
Therefore, the required surface area of the transparent
needed. Solar dryers will dry the products reasonably
cover, which determines the size and dimensions of the
rapidly to a safe moisture level, and simultaneously it
dryer, is obtained from:
ensures a superior quality of the dried product. Therefore,
M a C To  Ti 
the aim of this study is to develop a simple solar dryer in A (5)
which the problems exhibited by the open-air (traditional)
I

drying can be overcome and agricultural products will be

9
 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

The total energy required for drying a given quantity of Adegoke and Bolaji (2000), is the best recommended
food items can be estimated using the basic energy balance orientation for stationary absorber. This inclination is also
equation for the evaporation of water (Howe, 1980): to allow easy run off of water and to enhance air
circulation. Vents were made at the low end of the front of
MwLv = MaC(To – Ti) (6)
the cabinet and at the upper end of the back of the cabinet
Where: Lv = specific latent heat of vaporization of water
to facilitate and control the convectional flow of air
from the food surface (kJ/kg)
through the dryer. A drying tray was constructed with wire
Mw = mass of water from the food item (kg)
mesh, which fitted snugly and covered the entire floor of
The mass of water Mw is estimated from the initial
the dryer. Access door was also provided at the back of the
moisture content Mi and the final desired moisture content
cabinet to allow the loading of the drying tray with food
Mf as follows:
items.
Mi  M f 
M w  M wc   (7)
100  M f 
Mwc = mass of the wet crop or food item (kg) C. Operation of the Dryer

During drying water at the surface of the substance Fig. 1 shows the essential features of a simple solar
evaporates and water in the inner part migrates to the dryer. The dryer is a passive system in the sense that it has
surface to get evaporated. The ease of this migration no moving parts. It is energized by the sun’s rays entering
depends on the porosity of the substance and the surface through the transparent top. The trapping of the rays is
area available. Other factors that may enhance quick drying enhanced by the inside surfaces that were painted black
of food items are: high temperature, high wind speed and and the trapped energy heats the air inside the dryer. The
relative humidity. In drying grains for future planting, care greenhouse effect achieved within the dryer drives the air
must be taken not to kill the embryo. In drying items like current necessary for faster drying. If the vents are opened,
fish, meat, yam chips, plantain chips etc., excessive heating the hot air rises and escapes through the upper vent while
must also be avoided; it spoils the texture and quality of the cooler air at ambient temperature enters through the lower
item. vent. Therefore, an air current is maintained, as cooler air
at a temperature Ti enters through the lower vent and hot
B. Construction of the Solar Dryer air at a temperature To leaves through the upper vent.

The materials for making simple solar dryer are cheap When the dryer contains no item to be dried, the
and easily obtainable in the local market. The solar dryer is incoming air at a temperature “Ti” has a relative humidity
shown in Fig. 1. The transparent top cover is a clear “Hi”, and the out-going air at a temperature “To” has a
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic sheet with a total surface relative humidity “Ho”. Because To > Ti and the dryer
area of 1.22 m by 0.90 m. The dryer cabinet is made of 25 contains no item, Hi > Ho. Thus there is tendency for the
mm plywood. The front is higher than the rear giving the out-going hot air to pick more moisture within the dryer as
o
top cover an inclination of about 17.5 . This is a result of the difference between Hi and Ho. Therefore,
o
approximately 10 more than the local geographical insolation received is principally used in increasing the
0
latitude (Ado-Ekiti Nigeria, 7.5 N), which according to affinity of the air in the dryer to pick moisture.

10
 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

Access door Drying tray

Outlet vent 1220

900

470

200
17.50

200
860 Inlet vent

All dimensions in mm
Fig. 1: Simple solar dryer

D. Dryer Performance Evaluation dM  M i  M f 

  100%
 (8)
The solar dryer was tested to evaluate its dt  t 

performance. During the testing period, the temperatures
The system drying efficiency is the ratio of the energy
profile of the dryer was determined by measuring the
required to evaporate the moisture to the energy supplied to
hourly temperatures inside the drying cabinet and the
the dryer, and is computed from, Eq. 9, (Itodo et al., 2002):
ambient air between the hours of 08.00 and 18.00. The
 M w Lv 
results obtained are shown in Fig. 2. d     100% (9)
 AI 
The dryer was loaded with yam chips (4 mm average
Dryer temperature
thickness) and its weight was measured at the start and at 65 Ambient temperature
one-hour intervals thereafter. Knowing the initial weight 60
and the final weight at the point when no further weight 55
Temperature (oC)

loss of yam chips was attained, the weight loss was used to 50
calculate the moisture removed in kg water/kg dry matter 45
at intervals as the yam dried. The results obtained are also 40
shown in Fig. 3. The dryer performance was evaluated 35
using the drying rate and the system drying efficiency. The 30
drying rate, which is the quantity of moisture removed 25
from the food item in a given time, was computed from, 20
Eq. 8, (Itodo et al., 2002): 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Time of the day (Hours)

Fig. 2: Hourly variation of the dryer and the ambient temperatures

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 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

1.8 IV. Conclusion

1.6 A simple and inexpensive solar dryer was design
1.4 and constructed using locally sourced materials. The hourly
(kg water/kg dry matter)

1.2 variation of the temperatures inside the dryer compare to

Moisture content

1.0 the ambient temperature shows that the temperature in the

0.8 dryer is always above the ambient temperature by average

0.6 of 16 oC (51 %) throughout the daylight hours. The

temperature rise was up to 25 oC (75 %) for about three
0.4
hours immediately after noon time (between 13.00 h and
0.2
15.00 h). The drying rate and system efficiency were 0.46
0.0
11 137 9
15 17 19 kg/h and 59 % respectively. The dryer exhibited sufficient
Time of the day (Hours) ability to dry food items reasonably rapidly to a safe
Fig. 3: Drying curve for yam chips in the solar dryer moisture level and simultaneously it ensures a superior
quality of the dried product.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results achieved are possible indications that
Fig. 2 shows the hourly variation of the temperature
solar dryers have a future especially in food preservation.
inside the dryer compared to the ambient temperature. The
However, a lot still has to be done to improve the
average temperatures in the dryer and ambient air were
performance of passive solar dryers. A possible area of
47.3 oC and 31.3 oC during the daylight respectively,
improvement is on the use of solar storage systems in the
therefore, the heating temperature inside the dryer was dryer to store heat for use when insolation is insufficient
higher than the ambient temperature by an average of 16 oC due to adverse weather conditions and in the night when
(51 %) throughout the daylight and up to 25 oC (75 %) insolaton is totally absent.
between 13.00 hour and 15.00 hour, which indicates
prospect for better performance than open-air sun drying. REFERENCES
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 The 6th Annual Engineering Conference Proceedings, FUT Minna June 2005

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