Design and fabrication of an automatic indirect active solar dryer for sweet potato chips.

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to come up with a design and fabrication of an automatic indirect active solar dryer for sweet potato chips. Its main objectives were to; design and fabricate an automatic indirect active solar dryer, test the performance of an automatic indirect active solar dryer and carryout financial analysis of the prototype. An automatic indirect active solar dryer was successfully designed from readily available local materials with both moisture content and drying temperature sensors software program installed to monitor moisture content levels and drying temperatures of sweet potato chips in the cabin. The dryer that utilizes renewable and sustainable solar energy, is environmentally friendly, cost effective and easy to operate by small scale sweet potato farmers for proper drying of their products. The product colour and nutrient content levels were not affected as compared to direct solar dryers, hence resulted into improved post-harvest handling techniques with a drastic reduction in the losses thus promoting value addition and shelf life of the product.