Design and Fabrication of Solar Food Dryer

Preservation of food is a very important task to meet needs of people and to preserve food the most common and effective method is sun drying. This Mechanical project on design and fabrication of solar food dryer aims to solve the problem of effective food preservation as the lack of appropriate preservation and storage systems caused considerable losses, thus reducing the food supply significantly. You can also Subscribe to FINAL YEAR PROJECT'S by Email for more such projects and seminar.

The high temperature dryers used in industrialized countries are found to be economically viable in developing countries only on large plantations or big commercial establishments. Therefore the introduction of low cost and locally manufactured solar dryers offers a promising alternative to reduce the tremendous post harvest losses. The opportunity to produce high quality marketable products seems to be a chance to improve the economic situation of the farmers. However, taking into account the low income of the rural population in developing countries, the relatively high initial investment for solar dryers still remains a barrier to a wide application.

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To classify the various types of solar dryers, it is necessary to simplify the complex constructions and various modes of operation to the basic principles. Solar dryers can be classified based on the following criteria:

1. Mode of air movement
2. Exposure to insulation
3. Direction of air flow
4. Arrangement of the dryer
5. Status of solar contribution

There are many types of solar dryer as told above and each one of them is explained on this report. Passive solar dryers are also called natural circulation or natural convection systems and are generally of a size appropriate for agriculture use. They can be either direct or indirect. Natural-circulation solar dryers depend for their operation entirely on solar-energy. In such systems, solar-heated air is circulated through the crop by buoyancy forces or as a result of wind pressure, acting either singly or in combination.

The working and effectiveness of solar dryers is majorly dependent on the weather conditions. Both the heat required for removing the moisture as well as the electricity necessary for driving the fans are generated in the most cases by solar energy only. In addition to the pre-treatment of the product, the weather conditions have the biggest influence on the capacity of product that can be dried within a certain time period.

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The main components of solar dryer are as follows

1. Flat solar collector
2. Drying chamber.
3. Insulated panel(main body).
4. Ventilation system.


Component required to manufacture solar food dryer for this project are Glass thickness 3.2mm, Mild steel Sq pipe, CRC sheet, Glass wool insulation, Pop rivets, Screws, Welding, Aluminium channel, Hinges, Silicon sealant, Black paint, Tower bolt and Glass thermometer.

The project is constructed in order to get outside knowledge and involve in practical applications beyond in our day-to-day academic studies under in the module of “Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering”. Designing of the solar dryer minimizing shortcomings associated with than low efficiency, cost not portable solar dryer. Net cost of the device is Rs.5400. Use this report for your reference and study work only.

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