Experiments on a new small-scale solar dryer

A new solar dryer, which consisted of a solar air heater and a drying chamber, was developed for drying food products. The present drying system was successfully tested using sultana grapes, green beans, sweet peppers and chilli peppers. The traditional sun-drying experiments were employed and compared with the solar-drying experiments. It was shown that the use of this type of solar dryer reduced the drying time significantly and essentially provided better product quality.