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OPTIMIZATION OF SOLAR DRYER FOR THE DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

2012; Wiley; Volume: 37; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1745-4549.2011.00668.x

1745-4549

ELIZABETH SÁMANO DELGADO, Héctor Eduardo Martínez‐Flores, Ma. Guadalupe Garnica‐Romo, Jorge I. Aranda-Sánchez, Carlos Rubén Sosa-Aguirre, Consuelo de Jesús CORTÉS-PENAGOS, J. L. Fernández‐Muñoz,

Freezing and Crystallization Processes

ABSTRACT Currently, several solar dehydrator designs exist on the market, and some of these designs require expensive materials, which makes the prototype expensive and difficult to obtain for small producers. The aim of this study was to build a low-cost solar dryer with high energy efficiency based on a previous solar dryer model. The optimization of the previous solar dryer model was characterized via temperature profiles and drying kinetics to identify gaps. Theoretical and numerical modeling was used to correct the gaps, and a new prototype was then built. The inclination angle was changed from 45° in the previous model to 20° in the new model. As compared with the old model, the results indicated that the new model improved the efficiency by 43.75% for banana fruit, thereby demonstrating the optimization of the new model. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The solar dryer developed in this study will be applied to dehydrate fruits and vegetables with a capacity of up to 10 kg. It is a dryer built with low-cost materials, simple operation and high energy efficiency. Preserved safe products are obtained with solar dryer.