Experimental and Comparison Studies on Drying Characteristics of Red Chillies in a Solar Tunnel Greenhouse Dryer and in the Open Sun Drying Method
S. Arun1, N. Yashwanth2, R. Adharsh3
1S. Arun, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, India.
2N. Yashwanth, Mechanical Engineering, Easwari Engineering College, Chennai, India.
3R. Adharsh, Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, India.
Manuscript received on October 12, 2014. | Revised Manuscript Received on October 19, 2014. | Manuscript published on October 20, 2014. | PP: 13-16 | Volume-2, Issue-11, October 2014. | Retrieval Number: K05291021114/2014©BEIESP
Open Access | Ethics and Policies | Cite
© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: A natural convection solar tunnel dryer was designed and developed for carrying out the experimental and comparison studies of drying characteristics of red chillies during the month of April, 2014 in Negamam region of Pollachi, Tamil Nadu (India). About 50 kgs of red chillies were loaded into the dryer and is repeated for three trails. The drying parameters such as drying time and product quality were taken into account to find out the best drying method for red chillies. The red chillies which has an initial moisture content of 72.98% (w.b.) was reduced to a final moisture content of 7.5% (w.b.) over a time period of 56 hours in the solar tunnel greenhouse dryer whereas the open sun drying method took 122 hours for reducing the moisture content of red chillies to the same level. Also, the quality of red chillies produced from the solar tunnel greenhouse dryer was found to be superior to that of the open sun drying method.
Keywords: Drying time, moisture content, open sun drying, product quality, red chillies, solar tunnel greenhouse dryer.