Comparative Studies of Two Developed On-farm Solar Dryers for Vegetables

This research work was carried out to provide local farmers with on-farm solar dryers to minimize post-harvest losses of vegetables. Two dryers (Mixed mode and Indirect mode on-farm solar dryers) were constructed using locally available materials. The dryers basically consist of a blower, a collector area and a drying chamber. Aluminum sheet is placed inside the collector which serves as the absorbing material. An electrical axial fan was placed before the air duct to supply air responsible for forcing heated air to blow over the vegetables to be dried. Incorporated in the drying chamber are trays which provide a platform where the products to be dried were spread evenly. Transparent polythene material of 0.2 mm thickness with wooden frame was used as cover for the dryers. The dryers were evaluated to determine drying time and performance efficiencies, using Baobab leaves, Tomato and Okra slices as test crops. Collected data were analyzed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). The effects of variation of the independent factors were verified using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 1% and 5% levels of significant. Mean separation was carried out on significant factors using Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT). The results obtained showed the performance of the developed dryers, which indicates that drying time of mixed mode on-farm solar dryer stood at 56 hrs and 46 hrs while that of the indirect mode dryer was 76.67 hrs and 57 hrs and that of open sun drying was 154 hrs and 127 hrs for tomato and okra slices respectively. Results obtained showed that average system drying, energy collection and pick up efficiencies for the three test crops were 16.35%, 21.1% and 8.05% for mixed mode dryer respectively and 28.63%, 45.3% and 0.3% for indirect mode dryer, respectively. From the results obtained the mixed mode dryer dried all the products faster while indirect mode has superior energy efficiencies.