Application of wavy absorber plate in solar dryer for higher drying speed in solar food dryer

Abstract

Conventional food drying by using ambient air is the oldest and widely applied method to preserve agriculture product. This method, however, shows several challenges, e.g. contamination problem, inhomogeneous drying process, difficulty in control of water content which may lead to product degradation. Contamination during this method could be due to many factors, e.g. dirty air, insect, wind which may carry out garbage and animals’ sewage and rain. An alternative solution to overcome these challenges is by developing solar dryer method. This method is widely applied particularly in the area with abundant supply of solar energy. In this research, solar dryer is equipped with wavy plate consisting of two ducting. Two ducting design is expected to result in higher drying temperature compared than one ducting. The research was worked out through experimental method. Data of solar radiation, temperature of ambient air and drying room collected in this research was then synchronized with speed of drying process. The prototype developed in this research showed that drying speed could achieve 8.51% per hour.