Experimental Studies on Drying Characteristics of Tomato in a Solar Tunnel Greenhouse Dryer
S. Arun1, S. Ayyappan2, V. V. Sreenarayanan3

1S.Arun, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.
2S. Ayyappan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.
3Dr. V.V. Sreenarayanan, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, (Tamil Nadu), India.

Manuscript received on 20 September 2014 | Revised Manuscript received on 30 September 2014 | Manuscript published on 30 September 2014 | PP: 32-37 | Volume-3 Issue-4, September 2014 | Retrieval Number: D1206093414/2014©BEIESP
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Abstract: A natural convection solar tunnel greenhouse dryer was designed and developed for studying the drying characteristics of tomatoes. Three experimental runs with 30 kgs of tomatoes were carried out in the dryer during the month of June 2014. The performance of the dryer was studied (drying time and product quality) in comparison with open sun drying method. It was found that the solar tunnel greenhouse dryer took only 29 hours for reducing the moisture content of tomatoes from 90% (w.b.) to 9% (w.b.) whereas the open sun drying took 74 hours for the same. Also, the quality of dried tomatoes produced from solar tunnel dryer are much superior compared to that of open sun drying.
Keyword: Moisture content, Open sun drying, Quality, solar tunnel Dryer, tomato.

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