DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A HYBRID TRAY DEHYDRATOR

Abstract

Dehydration is one of the oldest methods used by the human beings for the conservation of food. Over the time, this method has developed new techniques to improve the process and obtain good quality products. The objective of this project was to obtain drying kinetics of Persian lime (Citrus latifolia Tanaka) through the use of a hybrid convection dryer. The dryer operates with an optimum temperature range between 45° to 75 °C; the heating system works with 127 volts electric resistors powered by a bank of rechargeable batteries by means of solar panels and alternating current when the batteries have been discharged. The lime used were cut into slices of a thickness of 0.5 cm and with an average diameter of 7±1 cm which were dehydrated at 45 °C (590 min), 65 °C (550 min) and 75 °C (320 min) such time-temperature relation obtained humidity of less than 3% on a wet basis.