Design and construction of a novel round the clock solar crop dryer with water recovery :

Abstract

This study introduces a round the clock solar crop dryer for a farmer or entrepreneur who can afford a relatively expensive dryer going into crop storage and marketing. It involves detailed design of five different subsystem requiring different areas of knowledge. This particular part of the main objective handles the drying chamber together with its trays. the chamber is designed to facilitate removal. It is an indirect batch and tray dryer requiring 3m2 collector and the drying chamber takes 1.5m2 of the collector, both the collector and the drying chamber are manufactured as one assembly. For places with an equatorial climate, the system as predicted to be adequate for a start, moisture removal with limits 75Kg, this changes from 25% to 12% moisture content. This system uses solar collector for the day time and a heat pump for the night and cloudy weathers which is powered by a photovoltaic system. With such a system drying is achieved round the clock and prevents moisture reabsorption. The interior chamber is designed to meet the national food hygiene standards as required by UNBS on good manufacturing principles. The chamber is appropriately insulated to minimize heat transfers to the outside while the outer casing is designed to meet the requirements imposed by the team member handling industrial design. It is therefore concluded that this dryer system is so helpful in reducing food waste hence having a constant food supply round the year.