FORCED CONVECTION DRYING OF INDIAN GROUNDNUT: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

In this paper, convective and evaporative heat transfer coefficients of the Indian groundnut were computed under indoor forced convection drying (IFCD) mode. The groundnuts were dried as a single thin layer with the help of a laboratory dryer till the optimum safe moisture storage level of 8 - 10%. The experimental data were used to determine the values of experimental constants C and n in the Nusselt number expression by a simple linear regression analysis and consequently, the convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) was determined. The values of CHTC were used to calculate the evaporative heat transfer coefficient (EHTC). The average values of CHTC and EHTC were found to be 2.48 W/m(2) degrees C and 35.08 W/m(2) degrees C, respectively. The experimental error in terms of percent uncertainty was also estimated. The experimental error in terms of percent uncertainty was found to be 42.55%. The error bars for convective and evaporative heat transfer coefficients are also shown for the groundnut drying under IFCD condition.