DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND CHARACTERISATION OF CABINET SOLAR DRYER WITH STORAGE FACILITY

Abstract

A passive solar cabinet dryer with dimensions (0.909 m X 0.602 m X 0.601 m) was constructed using wood as the frame for the outside cover, while the inside was lined with foam as an insulator and Aluminum plate painted black was used as the receiver. A flat plate collector which was a double layered glass served as the uppermost covering. Solar thermal storage device was integrated with the dryer. The performance of the solar dryer was evaluated using plantain chips, pepper and fish. The drying inside the dryer was compared to drying in the open air. The drying process was done in six days. The amount of energy trapped or absorbed by the dryer was computed. Also, throughout the period under study, the temperature in the dryer was found to be higher than the ambient temperature. This gave the dryer a lot of advantage over the open air drying