Development of an arduino controlled refractance window dryer sub-system :

Abstract

Refractance Window Drying (RWD) is one fourth-generation drying technology that can be employed to dry heat-sensitive products such as juices and purees. The dried products retain their product color, aroma, antioxidant compounds, and nutritional properties. The Temperature and relative humidity of the air above the food product are difficult to be controlled manually. This project, therefore, employs the use of Arduino and different sensors to monitor and control the Temperature and relative humidity of the air above the food product in a Refractance Window Dryer. DHT22 sensor is used to measure the temperature and Relative humidity of the air above the food product, an Arduino compatible soil moisture sensor is used to measure the moisture content of the food product. An LCD is used to display the readings of the temperature, moisture content, and relative humidity. The dc fans are used to extract moist air from the system. Based on the value of the relative humidity of the air above the food product, the moisture sensor sends a signal to the controller to turn on the dc fans so that the moist air is extracted from the machine. The program code was written using an Arduino Integrated Development Environment and uploaded into the system via a USB drive. The code uploaded into the system was able to run successfully Keywords: Arduino, Sensor, Extractor fan, LCD, program code