SIMPLE DESIGNING AND FABRICATION OF HOT-AIR DRYER FOR INDUSTRIAL AND LABORATORY PURPOSES

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The primary purpose of this experiment is to design, fabricate, and test the efficiency of a low-cost hot-air dryer. This type of dryer will help remove the maximum percentage of the moisture from fruits, rice, etc., so that they can be stored for longer times with high nutritional contents.
 Methodology: Diameters, length of the column, and mesh size were calculated. The length and width of the pipe were taken as 35 cm*15 cm, respectively. For the purpose of fabrication, metal pipes were selected, welding equipment was used which joins by the fusion of the materials, then some wet particles were put in the mesh for testing, air is blown in the upward direction with high velocity, solid particles blow up in the air, and hot air will remove the moisture of the wet particles in the vapor form after a fixed time mesh was removed and the dried particles were weighed.
 Main Findings: The drying process mainly depends on air temperature, velocity, and time. It was found that the food gets spoiled with the high temperature, velocity, and time; this leads to a lower nutritional value. It can dry 1000 kg of particles for 10 hours with 4433.2875 kg of flow air per hour when the temperature driving force for the heat transfer in flow systems is 80.750C.
 Applications of this study: The main applications of the design and fabrication presented in this research work are that it will replace some of the costly drying equipment like rotating tray air dryers.