Integrated Use of Flat Plate Solar Collector for the Dehydration Process of Fruit

Abstract

A solar collector connected to a drying chamber was constructed from available local materials (wood, metal and glass sheet) and designed for the purpose of drying of fruits, i.e., Apples and the solar collector transferred 552 Kj.m -2 .h -1 heats to the drying chamber for drying fruits in the year, 2016. The fruit crop was determined by the final moisture content of <10% and was preserved for one year without deterioration. From the result, the efficiency of the solar collector was measured 30%, 25% and 23% in the months of October, November, and December respectively and from the results, it was clearly stated that the solar collector was better for drying purposes. From the experimental results, it was concluded, that increasing the solar radiation and ambient temperature, the collector efficiency increased significantly. So it was recommended to dry the fruits by FPSC drying chamber from 09:00 AM to 04:00 PM with the decreasing of drying rate of the product up to 0.011 g.(H 2 O).g -1 (d. m).cm -2 .h -1 . Furthermore, it was recommended to cut the fruits into pieces and dried by the FPSC drying chamber for quick drying, good quality and taste of the dried fruits. At last, the samples were examined after 6 months; there was no attack found of insect and no spoilage result and a little difference were found in the color from lighter to darker transmittance.