Thermal Investigation and Food Quality Analysis on a Solar Tunnel Drier

A comprehensive study carried out in a solar drier in regards to thermal performance and food quality is appended in this paper. A lab-scale solar drier has been designed and tested for thermal performance, economics, and food quality. The drying temperature ranged between 32 and 54 °C. Ivy gourds were chosen for drying experiment, and the dried products were subjected to color and texture analysis. The color deviation (ΔE) for solar dried and open sun-dried samples was 4.59 and 10.1, respectively. The hardness of solar dried and open sun-dried sample was 84.29 and 30.87 N, respectively. The economic analysis was done by three methods. The annualized cost method showed that the cost of drying unit weight of product using solar tunnel drier was ₹ 10.94 and using conventional drier was ₹ 17.39. The payback period of the drier was estimated to be 3.5 years with a lifetime savings of ₹ 397,011.00.