Fabrication and testing of double-sided solar collector dryer for drying banana

A double-sided solar collector dryer was designed to be installed on both sides of a drying chamber. The solar collector was tilted at an angle of 15 degrees to the ground and had a total receiving area of 7 m(2). After drying banana from an initial moisture content of 68.5% (w.b.) for 5 days, the banana final moisture contents in the dryer and from open sun drying were 17.4% (w.b.) and 27.3% (w.b.) respectively. The highest air temperature in the drying chamber was 62.7 degrees C and the average temperature was 54.1 degrees C, which was 13.6 degrees C higher than from natural sun drying. The high drying rate of the solar collector dryer reduced the banana moisture content 1.3-1.5 times faster than by sun drying. The average thermal efficiency for the dryer and solar collector were 13% and 21.9%, respectively.

Automated summary

A double-sided solar collector dryer was designed and tested, showing a higher efficiency than natural sun drying and a faster drying rate for bananas. The thermal efficiency of the solar collector was significantly better than that of the dryer.