International Journal of Computational Engineering Research||Vol, 03||Issue, 6||

www.ijceronline.com ||June|2013|| Page 1

Design and Construction of an Adjustable and Collapsible Natural
Convection Solar Food Dryer

1
Yusuf Abdullahi,
2
Musa Momoh,
3
Mahmoud Muhammad Garba,
4
Muazu Musa
1&2
Department of Physics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria
3&4
Sokoto Energy Research Centre Sokoto-Nigeria













I. INTRODUCTION
Drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. For several thousand years, people have been
preserving dates, figs, apricots, grapes, herbs, potatoes, corn, milk, meat, and fish by drying. Until canning was
developed at the end of the 18th century, drying was virtually the only method of food preservation (Ekechuku &
Norton, 1999; Whitefield,2000). The dried fruits and vegetables are lightweight, do not take up much space and do
not require refrigerated storage. The food scientist have found that by reducing the moisture content of food to
between 10% and 20%, bacteria, yeast, moulds and enzymes are all prevented from spoiling it since micro
organisms are effectively killed when the internal temperature of food reaches 14
o
f (Harringshaw,1997). The flavor
and most of the food nutritional value of dried food is preserved and concentrated (Scalin,1997). Moreover dried
food does not require any special storage equipment and are easy to transport (Scalin1997). In ancient time of
alchemy, drying was by natural sun drying and today in most rural communities of developing countries it is still
being practiced. The diverse crops are spread on the ground and turned regularly until sufficiently dried so that they
can be stored safely.

Direct sun drying is associated with numerous shortcomings, as products are affected by ultraviolet
radiation, dust, rain showers, morning dews, animal and human interference, to mention but a few. In addition, open
sun drying is slow, has no quality control and has a risk of contamination, creating a potential health hazard. The
products quality is seriously degraded, sometimes to the extent that they are inedible (Whitefeild,2000;Diamante &
Munro 2004). These caused huge post harvest losses and significantly contributed to non availability of food in
some developing countries. Estimation of these losses are generally cited to be order of 40%, but they can be nearly
80% (Bassey,1989; Togrul and Pehlivan,2004). Artificial mechanical drying method such as electric dryers, wood
fueled dryers and oil burn dryers were therefore introduced mostly in developing countries (Nejat.1989). However
increase in the cost of electricity and fossil fuel has made these dryers very non-attractive. Although the spreading of
the crop on the ground or on a platform and drying it directly by sun drying is cheap and successfully employed for
many products throughout the world, where solar radiation and other climatic conditions are favorable, because of
the disadvantages of open-air sun drying process, high cost of mechanical drying mentioned above and a better
understanding of the method of utilizing solar energy to advantage, have given rise to a scientific method called
solar drying (Aklilu.2004). In solar drying, solar dryers are specialized device that controls the drying process and
protect agricultural produce from damage by insect, pest, dust and rain, and in comparism to the natural sun drying,
solar dryers generates higher temperatures lower relative humidity, lower produce moisture content, and reduce
spoilage during the drying process, in addition, it takes up less space, take less time and relatively inexpensive
compared to artificial mechanical drying method (Geda- Gujurat Energy Development Agency, 2003,
www.geda.com). Studies showed that food item dried in a solar dryer were superior to those which are sun dried
when evaluated in terms of taste, color and mould contents (Nandi, 2009). According to Oguntola. et,al.(2010), solar
dried food are quality products that can be stored for extended periods, easily transported at less cost while still
providing excellent nutritive values. Thus solar drying is a better alternative solution to all the drawbacks of natural
sun drying and artificial mechanical drying.

ABSTRACT
A new model of a box type adjustable and collapsible natural convection solar food dryer, capable of
taking 14,688 pieces equivalent to 16.52kg of fresh groundnut with maximum moisture content of 35%, at
maximum capacity of 3.39m
2
,
and 3,672 pieces equivalent to 4.06kg of groundnut at minimum capacity of
0.8475m
2
, was designed and constructed using locally available materials.

KEY WORDS : Adjustable, Collapsible, Solar, Food Dryer

Design And Construction Of An Adjustable
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II. MATERIALS AND METHOD
2.1. MATERIALS
The materials used for the construction of the solar dryer includes: Wood, paint (black and red), plastic
cover, iron sheet, iron rod. Drying material was groundnut.

2.2.Design Considerations
The dryer was design such that it could be adjustable and collapsible, the following factors were taken into
consideration; (i) The Dryers capacity and design dimensions - were such that the dryer has maximum drying
chamber area of (2.60m x1.30m) equals to 3.39m
2
, and minimum drying chamber area of (0.615m x 1.30m) which
is equal to 0.8475m
2
. It could be adjusted by (0.615m x 0.23m) which is equal to 0.14145m
2
at each moment to get
the maximum or minimum size of the drying chamber. The reasons for these dimensions are because of the
adjustable and collapsible nature of the solar dryer, and the fact that according to (Seyed et.al, 2011), the mean
length and width of one fresh groundnut with maximum moisture content of 35% taken from four varieties (Goli,
Velencia, Iraqi-1 and Iraqi-2) are 20.450mm and 10.575mm respectively. Converting the length and width to metres,
the mean length and width are 0.02045m and 0.01058m respectively. This implies that a groundnut has a mean area
of (mean length x mean width) which is equal to (0.02045m x 0.01058m) which is equal to 0.000230796m
2
. If we
divide the maximum area of the drying chamber by the mean area of a groundnut, the dryer is capable to taking
14,688 pieces of fresh ground a maximum moisture content of 35%, at maximum capacity, and 3672 pieces at
minimum capacity. Also according to (seyed, et.al, 2011) the mass of one fresh groundnut is 1.125g at maximum
moisture content of 35%. This implies that one groundnut has a mass of 0.001125kg. Multiplying 0.001125kg by
14,688 pieces, the dryer can carry 16.52kg of fresh groundnut with maximum moisture content of 35% at maximum
capacity, and 4.06kg at minimum capacity.

[1] Temperature the minimum temperature for drying food is 30
o
C and maximum temperature is 60
o
C, 45
o
C is
consider average and normal for drying vegetables, fruits, roots, tuber crop chips and some other crops
(Whitefield 2000). According to (Ronoh et.al,2010), if drying temperature is too low at the beginning, micro
organism may grow before the grain is adequately dried, that care should be taken to ensure that the
temperature is not too high that will affect the color, texture and flavor of the food
[2] Air gap air gap of 5cm is recommended for hot climate passive solar food dryer (Oguntola et,al 2010). For
the purpose of this design, an air inlet and outlet gap or vent of diameter equals to 10.0 cm was created with
the view of allowing more air flow into the dryer and decreasing it temperature in order to remove the free
water molecules which is important at the initial stage of drying.
[3] The glass cover used for the design of the dryer is 4mm thick and the solar collector is iron sheet, 0.9mm
thick. Both the glass cover and solar collector are approximately (130.0 x 61.5) cm x 4. This is because the
dryer is made up of four segments integareted into one. Each of the segment is (130.0 x 61.5) cm.
[4] The dryer is a direct and passive dryer in which both the drying chamber and solar collectors chamber are in
the same place, it has no drying trays, but could be fixed if desired.
[5] (vi) The solar collector and drying chamber are painted black because black paint is good absorber of heat
and poor radiator of heat, so it absorbs the solar energy falling on the solar collector and coverts it to heat
energy required for drying of food crops in the drying chamber.
[6] The bottom cover is a plywood of size (61.5 x 130.0 x1.0) cm
,
multiplied by 4 segments of the dryer. The
bottom covers are painted red to prevent water and moisture from spoiling them quickly. Wood is a poor
conductor of heat, as such, it will minimize heat lost due to conduction at the bottom of the dryer. The iron
sheet which was painted black was used as a solar collector, and placed directly on top of the plywood, to
form the solar collectors chamber.
2.3. Design Calculations / Theory
(i) Angle of tilt ( | ) of solar collector
According to Sukhatme (1996), angle of tilt ( | ) of solar collectors is
| = 10 + lat | (1)
Where lat | = latitude of the place that the drier was designed, which is Sokoto. For the purpose of this design, |
= lat | , since there was no angle of tilt. The dryer could function satisfactorily without angle of tilt.
(ii)There are three major factors affecting food drying: temperature, humidity and air flow. They are interactive.
Increasing the vent area by opening vent covers will decrease the temperature and increase the air flow, without
having a great effect on the relative humidity of the inlet air. In general more air flow is desired in the early stages of
drying to remove free water or water around the cells and on the surface. Reducing the vent area by partially closing
the vent covers will increase the temperature and decrease the relative humidity of the inlet air and the air flow
Design And Construction Of An Adjustable
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(Wave Power Plant Inc. 2006). Oguntola et,al (2010 ) reported that volumetric flow rate of air V
a
can be expressed
as ) ( ) ( ) / ( m w m h s m v V
a
= Where v is the average air wind speed in( m/s), h is the height of the air gap or
vent in( m), w is the width of collection, which implies the width of the air gap or vent in (m).
) ( ) / (
2
m A s m v V
a
=
,
A is the area of air gap or vent in (m
2
). For the purpose of this design, the air inlet and
outlet gaps or vents are circular in shape, therefore, the formula used to calculate the volumetric flow rate of air is
average wind speed (m/s) multiply by the area of the air gaps or vents which are circular in shape. It is expressed as
n v A V
a
= (2)
Where =
a
V Volumetric flow rate of air (m
3
/s)
A = Area of air gap or vent (m
2
)
v = average wind speed (m/s)
n = number of air vents
But A = r
2
, = r
radius of air or vent
so that, we obtain
n vr n v r V
a
2 2
t t = = (3)
(iii) Mass flow rate of air is expressed (Oguntola, 2010) as
a
m =
a a
V (4)
Where
a
m = mass flow rate of air,
a
= density of air (kg/m
3
) and
a
V = volumetric flow rate of air (m
3
/s)
(iv) Solar insolation is given by Olaloye(2008) as
c
I = H R (6)
Where
c
I = solar insolation (W/m
2
)


H = average daily solar radiation on horizontal surface Olaloye (2008)
R = average effective ratio of solar energy on tilt surface to that on the horizontal surface= 1.0035.
For the purpose of this design,
c
I = H, because the solar collector was not tilted to any surface hence no
any effective energy ratio R.
(v) Energy Balance on the Absorber.
The total heat energy gained by the collectors absorber is equal to the heat lost by heat absorber of the collector
(Bukola et,al 2008)
c c
A I =
p R convec cond u
Q Q Q Q Q + + + +

(7)
c
I = rate of total radiation incident on the absorbers surface (W/m
2
)
A
c
= collectors area (m
2
)
Q
u
= rate of useful energy collected by the air (W)
Q
cond
= rate of conduction losses by the absorber (W)
Q
convec
= rate of convective losses from the absorber (W)
Q
R
= rate of long wave re radiation from absorber (W)
Q
P
= rate of reflection losses from the absorber (W)
Putting
R convec cond l
Q Q Q Q + + = (8)
where
l
Q is the total heat loses( the three heat losses)
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If is the transmittance of the top glazing and It is the total solar radiation incident on the top surface, therefore,
c c c c
tA I A I t = (9)
The reflected energy from absorber is given by expression
c c p
tA I Q t = (10)
= reflection co- efficient of absorber.
Substituting eqn (8), (9) and (10) into (7), yields
c c l u c c
tA I Q Q tA I t t + + =
l c c u
Q A I Q = ) 1 ( t
For an absorber,

(1- ) = o and hence ,
l c c u
Q tA I Q = ) (ot (11)
l
Q composed of different convection and radiation parts. It is presented in the following form (Bansel et,al. 1990)
) (
a c c l l
T T A U Q = (12)
l
U = overall heat transfer co efficient of the absorber (W/m
2
K
-1
)


c
T = temperature of collectors absorber (K)
a
T = ambient air temperature (K).
) ( ) (
a c c l c c u
T T A U tA I Q = ot (13)
If the heated air leaving the collector is at the collectors temperature, the heat gained by the air Qg is
) (
a c pa a g
T T c m Q = (14)
a
m = mass of air leaving the dryer per unit time (kg/s) mass flow rate of air
-
m
pa
c = specific heat capacity of air at constant pressure (jkg
-1
k-
1
)
The collectors heat removal factor, F
R
, is the quantity that relates the actual useful energy gain of a collector in eqn
(13) to the useful energy gained by air in eqn (14) expressed by (Bukola and Ayoola,2008) as
F
R
=
( ) | |
a c l c c
a c pa a
T T U t I A
T T c m

to
)
(


(15)
Equation (14) can be re- written in terms of
R
F
g
Q = | | ) ( ) (
a c c l c R c
T T A U t I F A ot (16)
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The thermal efficiency of the collector is defined as the ratio of heat output to the heat input or ratio of
energy output to energy input, which is the same as the ratio of the energy addition to the air as it passes through the
collector to the energy incident on the collector.
c c
c
A I
Qg
= q
(17)
(vi) The total energy required for drying a given quantity of food item can be estimated using basic energy balance
equation for the evaporation of water (Youcef et,al. 2001, and Bolaji 2005) as in equation 18, where the oil and fat
evaporated from groundnut is negligible at that temperature change.
) (
2 1
T T c m L m
pa a v w
= (18)
m
w
= mass of water vapour evaporated from the food item (kg)
L
v
= latent heat of vaporization of water (kj/kg)
m
a
= mass of drying air (kg)
T
1
and T
2
= the initial and final temperatures of drying air respectively (K)
C
p
= specific heat capacity of air at constant pressure (kjkg
-1
k
-1

(vii) The dryers efficiency (d) is expressed as follows
t A I
ML
n
c c
v
d
= (19)

d
= dryers efficiency (%)
M = Mass of moisture evaporated (kg)
L
v
= Latent heat of vaporization of water (kj/kg)
I
c
= Solar insolation (W/m
2
)
A
c
= Area of solar collector (m)
t = Time of drying (hrs)
(viii) The collectors efficiency (c) is expressed (Ezekoye et,al.2006) as follows
c c
p a
A I
T C V
nc
A
=

(20)
c = Collectors efficiency (%)
Cp = Specific heat capacity of air (kj / kg k)
T = (T
c
- T
a
) = Temperature elevation (K)
A
c
= Area of solar collector (m
2
)
I
c
= solar insolation (W/m
2
)
= Density of air (kg/m
3
)
V
a
= Volumetric flow rate of air (m
3
/s)
(ix) Moisture content on percentage wet basis is expressed (Senger2009) as follows

1
2 1
W
W W
MC
wb

= (21)
MC (w
b
) = Moisture content on percentage wet bases.
W
1
= Weight of sample before drying in kg.
W
2
= Weight of sample after drying in kg.
(x) Moisture content on percentage dry bases is expressed (Senger,2009) as
2
2 1
W
W W
MC
db

= (22)
(xi) Drying rate is expressed (Ceankoplis, 1993) as
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t A
Q Q M
R
s
d
c
) (
2 1

= (23)
Where R
c
= drying rate (kg/mol), M
d
= total weight of dried sample, A
s
= surface area of dried solid (m
2
), t = drying
time (hrs), Q
1
= initial moisture content (% wb) and Q
2
= final moisture content (% wb)
(xi) Relative humidity is the mass of moisture present in air to the mass of moisture the air is capable of holding at
that temperature.
III. CONSTRUCTION.
The solar dryer was constructed such that it could be collapsible and adjustable. The sketch and pictorial
views are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively. It is made of the following component parts: solar
collectors chamber, dryers chamber, air vent or gap. The following parts were assembled to form the component
parts Yamma, Zaci, Maik, Kwa, Bosso, Shako, Shiwe, Mawo, Gbaiko, Shanu, Kpi, solar collector and plastic
covers. The words in italics are some words in my dialect. They were used in this work because the work is my
intellectual property and also to project my dialect. The English meaning of the words are as follows: Yamma is a
traditional title in my village, Zaci is also a traditional title in my village, Maik is a short form of Maikunkele which
is the headquarters of Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State- Nigeria, Kwa means well done, Bosso is my
town and as well the name of my Local Government, Shako is a District in my Local Government Area, Shiwe
means look, Mawo means I have heard, Gbaiko is a name of a village in my Local Government Area, Shanu and
Kpi are also names of Villages in my Local Government Area Bossos are the two opposite ends that form the part
of the box shape of the dryer. Each Bosso is (260.4 x 24.5 x 2.0) cm in size that could be adjusted by 65.1cm at a
time, to give a minimum length of 61.5cm and maximum length of 260.4cm depending on the desired length
required. A Bosso is made up of four yammas, each of size (61.5 x 24.5 x 2.0) cm. Each Yamma has two maiks and
an air vent of 10.0cm in diameter. The four yammas are coupled together with the aid of zaci which are pieces of
iron each of length 7cm long, and 20 kwas, ten at the top and ten at the bottom. Each kwa is a bolt about 2.5cm long
slotted into two maiks and tied with a nut at the other end to keep the yammas firmly held together.


Plastic Cover
Bosso
Kwa




260.0cm

Shako


Mawo
23.0cm
Shanu

Shiwe
130.0cm

61.5cm
Yamma Gbaiko


Figure 1, The sketch of the Solar Food Dryer

Shakos are the other two opposite ends of the dryer that gives it a box shape, each shako is (134.0 x 24.5 x
2.0) cm. It is none adjustable. This implies that when the two Bossos and two Shakos are coupled together, a box
shape solar dryer is formed which could be (260.4 130.0 x 23.0) cm
3
or (184.5 130.0 x 23.0) cm
3
or (123.0
130.0 x 23.0)cm
3
and (61.5130.0) cm
3
in size, depending on the adjustment. The dryer has 10 Mawos, which are
the legs. Each Mawo is (38.0 x 4.0 x 4.0) cm. The solar dryer has a total of 12 Shanus, each Shanu is (123.0 x 4.0 x
4.0) cm in size, each Shanu is supported to the two Bossos by two slotted nails at the two ends. The Shanus provides
the support for the bottom cover, the solar collector and drying chamber. Since the whole dryer has four segments
Design And Construction Of An Adjustable
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integrated together as one, at each boundary between two segments there is one Shiwe. Each Shiwe is (123.0 x 8.0 x
2.0) cm in size, and is supported to the two Bossos by four slotted nails, two at the opposite ends. Shanu provide the
base in which two different bottom covers and two different solar collectors overlap to seal any gap that heat could
possibly escape from the bottom of the dryer. There are total of three Shiwes in the whole dryer, located at the three
boundaries between the segments. The dryer also has three Gbaikos, each Gbaiko is and iron rod of length 137.2
cm and 1.0cm thick. It has threads at the two ends which nuts are used. Gbaikos are located close to the boundaries
between the segments, Gbaikos helps to straighten any bend at the boundary/joint between segments to ensure that
Bossos remain straight with the aid of nuts at it two ends, as shown in figure 1. The bottom covers and solar
collectors are held very firmly on the Shiwes and Shanus which are the base support, with the aid of Kpi. There are
total number of 8 Kpis, and the average size of each Kpi (54.0 x 2.5 x 2.5) cm. Each Kpi is supported by three screw
to the Bosso. The four plastic covers are supported to the dryer by four slotted frames, each frame is (123.2 x 61.5)
cm in size. The frames are constructed such that they fit and overlap very well into the dryers frame to ensure that
heat does not escape from the sides. The pictorial view of the dryer is shown in figure 2.


Inlet air vent





260.0cm



Solar collector and
dryers chamber


23.0cm Outlet air vent




130.0cm




Figure 2. The Pictorial view of Solar Food Dryer. As seen in figure

figure 3, it shows how Kwa clearly looks. It shows how the bolt was slotted into the maiks and tied with a nut at the
other end.



Figure 3. Bosso showing how Kwa looks, Clearly. Kwa
Likewise, Figure 4, shows how Zaci and Maik were used in the construction, and how the four Yammas
were coupled together
Design And Construction Of An Adjustable
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Figure 4. The use of Zaki and Maik in the construction, and how the four Yammas were coupled together

IV. CONCLUSION
A new model of a box type adjustable and collapsible natural convection solar food dryer, capable of taking
14,688 pieces equivalent to 16.52kg of fresh groundnut with maximum moisture content of 35%, at maximum
capacity of 3.39m
2
,
and 3,672 pieces equivalent to 4.06kg of groundnut at minimum capacity of 0.8475m
2
, was
successfully designed and constructed using locally available materials.

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