Design and analysis of a solar drier with a parabolic shaped dish type collector for drying peanut

Abstract

Abstract The present work deals with the performance evaluation of an active indirect solar dryer integrated with a parabolic dish collector to dry peanuts. Peanut is a widely available edible seed in India, obtained from a legume crop (Arachis hypogaea) which is used either directly in food or for extracting cooking oil. The system mainly consists of a parabolic collector which is provided with an insulator made of plywood with air gaps and aluminium foil wrapping, and a drier consisting of four trays where the peanuts are dried. The flow of hot air through the tray is maintained using an exhaust fan positioned at the top of the drier. The fan exhausts the moisture extracted from the product to make the flow of air without any localization. From the analysis it is found that the parabolic dish collector generates a maximum temperature of 79 °C at 12.30 PM and dries 1.5 kilograms of peanut in 5 hours of a day. Thus, hot air from the parabolic dish concentrator reduces moisture content of peanut by 21% more than obtained from open solar drying.