Review of research and development work on solar dryers for grape drying

This paper mainly deals with the development trends of solar dryers used fo r grapes drying. Several typical installations, including traditional metho ds, are presented. Technical and economical results indicate that solar dry ing of grapes is feasible. However, the farmer's acceptance of solar drying was still very limited. This may be due to the small capacity of the dryer s and too long pay back period or to sociocultural factors. Further researc h and development work should be continued in order to over rule these fact ors. As research and development work has made significant progress, it see ms that a review of all developed solar drying units is appropriate. (C) 20 01 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.