Design, construction and testing of a hot water food dryer

Abstract

The study includes design, fabrication and testing to hot water food dryer. The drying theory depends upon hot water as source of energy for drying the product. Potatoes product was selected to test the dryer performance. The drying was done under constant condition of 63oC temperature , 13%relative humidity and 1.5 (m/s) air speed. Three different drying methods were used based on the location of fan which was uesd inside the drying chamber (top, bottom or both).The dried products were subjected to moisture content test .Also organoleptic properties evaluation was done for color, taste, flavor and general appearance. The results indicated that, bottom fan drying method scored lower percentage 3.25% moisture content followed by both fans 3.49%. The organoleptic evaluation indicated that, the dryer gave the prefer results with both fans 1.29, 2.18, 2.53 and 2.24 for color, taste, flavor, and general appearance respectively