COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SOLAR TUNNEL DRYER OF DIFFERENT COVER MATERIALS FOR DRYING MORINGA LEAVES

P. VIJAYAKUMARY¹*, P. SUBRAMANIAN², S. PUGALENDHI³, S.A. RAMJANI⁴, J. GITANJALI^5
1Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
²Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
³Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
⁴Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Trichy, 621216, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
⁵Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
* Corresponding Author : vijayakumarybioenergy@gmail.com

Received : 01-12-2020     Accepted : 26-12-2020     Published : 30-12-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 24       Pages : 10497 - 10499
Int J Agr Sci 12.24 (2020):10497-10499

Keywords : Solar tunnel dryer, Polyethylene, Polycarbonate, Quality, Colour
Academic Editor : Dr S Sriramajayam, Dr Rajeev Ranjan
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to the Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, 641003, Tamil Nadu, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Solar tunnel dryers of 4' x 4' with polyethylene sheet (0.2 mm) and polycarbonate materials of 4 mm, 6mm and 8 mm thickness were developed. Performance of the solar tunnel dryers was evaluated at no load and full load conditions. Under no load condition, the temperature inside the solar tunnel dryers made of polyethylene, 4 mm, 6mm and 8 mm thickness polycarbonate are observed as 45°C, 49°C, 51°C and 50°C respectively. Dryers were evaluated under load conditions by drying moringa leaves. The time required for drying the leaves from 83% initial moisture content to 8% was observed to be 5 hours, 4.5 hours, 4 hours and 4.5 hours polyethylene, 4mm polycarbonate, 6mm polycarbonate and 8mm polycarbonate dryers. It took 6.5 hours to dry the moringa leaves in open sun drying. Dried products were analysed for the quality. It was observed that, Vitamin C, Protein content and Iron content of moringa leaves dried in 6 mm polycarbonate solar tunnel dryer were higher than that dried in other driers. From the colour analysis, it was observed that the “a” value of moringa leaves dried in 6 mm polycarbonate solar tunnel dryer fits with the standard value

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