International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395 -0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 03 | Mar -2017
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
www.irjet.net
Design and Construction of Solar Dryer for Drying Agricultural Products. Prof. Pravin M. Gupta1, Amit S. Das2, Ranjit C. Barai3, Sagar C. Pusadkar4, Vishal G. Pawar5. 1Assistant
Professor,Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, J.D.C.O.E.M, Nagpur. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, J.D.C.O.E.M, Nagpur. ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------2345Students,
Abstract-The solar drying system utilizes the solar energy
to heat up a air and to dry any food substance which is loaded, which is not only beneficial but also it reduces wastage of agricultural products and helps in preservation of agricultural products, but it also makes transportation of such dried product easily and promotes the health and welfare of the people. This paper presents the design and construction of a solar dryer for drying a agriculture product. The dryer is composed of solar collector (air heater) with the baffles and a solar drying chamber containing rack of four net trays both being assimilated together. The air allowed in through air inlet is heated up in the solar collector chamber and channeled through the drying chamber where it is utilized in drying (removing of the moisture content from the food substances or agricultural product which is loaded in it). The design was based on the geographical location which is Nagpur and meteorological data were obtained for proper design specification. Locally materials were used for the construction are wood, glass, aluminium metal sheet and net for the trays.
Introduction Drying is an excellent way to preserve foods. Drying was probably the first ever food preserving method used by mans. It involves the removal of moisture from agricultural product so as to provide a product that can be safely stored for longer period of time. “Sun drying” is the earliest method of drying farm produce ever known to man and it involves simply laying the agricultural products in the sun on mats, roofs or drying floors. This has several disadvantage since the farm produce are laid in the open sky and there is greater risk of spoilage due to adverse climatic situation like wind, rain, moist and dust, loss of product to insects, birds and rodents; totally dependent on good weather and very slow drying rate with danger of mould growth thereby causing deterioration and decomposition of the product. The process also requires large area of land, takes time and highly labour intensive. In solar drying, solar dryers are specialized devices that control the drying process and protect agricultural product from damage by insect, dust and rain. In addition, it takes up less space, takes less time and relatively inexpensive compared to artificial mechanical drying.The solar dryer can be seen as one of the solutions to the world’s food and energy crises. With drying, most agricultural product can be © 2017, IRJET
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preserved and this can be achieved more efficiently through the use of solar dryer. Some Background to the Concept Attempts to Harness Solar Energy The idea of using solar energy to produce high temperature dates back to classical times. The solar radiation has been used by man since the starting of time for heating his domicile, for agricultural purposes and for personal uses. Reports abound in literature on the 18th century works of Archimedes on applying the sun’s rays with flat mirrors; Antoine Lavoisier on solar furnace; Joseph Priestly on applying rays using lens. In the 19th century, improvement of solar distillation unit covering 4750sq meters of land, operated for 40 years and, generating 22712.47 liters of water from salt water per day has been reported. Also, John Ericson’s work on conversion of solar energy into mechanical energy through a device, which produced 1hp (746 W) for each 9.3m2 of collecting surface has also been reported. Modern research on the use of solar energy started during the 20th century. Improveent include the invention of a solar boiler, small powered steam engines and solar battery, but it is hard to market them in competition with engines running on inexpensive gasoline. During the mid 1970’s shortages of oil and natural gas, increase in the cost of fossil fuels and the reduction of other resources energize efforts in the United States to develop solar energy into a practical power source. Thus, interest was rekindled in the comparison to natural “sun drying”, solar dryers generate higher temperatures, lower relative humidity, lower product moisture content and reduced spoilage during the drying process. Thus, solar drying is a better alternative solution to trapping of solar energy for heating and cooling, the generation of electricity and other purposes.
Capturing Solar Energy Solar radiation can be transfer either into thermal energy or into electrical energy. This can be done by useing of thermal collectors for conversion into heat energy or photovoltaic collectors for conversion into electrical energy. Two main collectors are used to save solar energy and convert it to ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal
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