Performance Evaluation of Solar Tunnel Dryer for Drying of Garlic

Arjoo¹*, Yadvika², Y.K. Yadav²

¹Centre for rural development and technology, IIT-Delhi, India.

²Department of Processing and Food Engineering, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India.

Corresponding author Email: arzoo.nandal.89@gmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.5.2.09

Abstract:

This paper presents dying efficiency and performance of the solar tunnel dryer for drying of garlic. The dryer is a tunnel like semi-cylindrical in shape, poly house made up of UV-stabilized polyethylene sheet. The capacity is large enough that it can be used to dry 400 kg of garlic under controlled environmental conditions. The temperature inside the dryer was always higher than the ambient and the variation varied from 8-30 ºC. Initial moisture content of garlic was reduced from 66 % (w.b.) to about 9 % (w.b.) in 9 days which is considered to be a safe level. During the drying process the average thermal efficiency of the drier was estimated to be about 13.45 %. Drying time was considerably reduced with the use of a solar tunnel drier and pressing of the sample. Also, the final dried garlic was found to be good in terms of quality and sensory evaluation shows that it is highly acceptable.

Keywords:

Garlic; Solar Tunnel Dryer (STD); Thermal efficiency

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