INVESTIGATION OF THE THERMAL EFFICIENCIES OF A SOLAR DRYER

This paper deals with the construction and performance of a solar powe red drying system consisting of a solar air heater and a drying chambe r. The thermal efficiencies of both the solar air heater and the dryin g section as a function of typical physical parameters and the experim ental results for different food products at different air flow rates are discussed. The results of this study indicate that the present dry ing system has thermal efficiencies between 0.3 and 0.8 during drying experiments and that the higher how rates increase the overall drying performance and especially efficiency.