DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR TUNNEL DRYER FOR DRYING OF SILKWORM PUPAE
Loading...
Date
2017-07-14
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GKVK, BENGALURU
Abstract
A forced convection solar tunnel dryer of 60 kg capacity for drying of silkworm pupae
having size 6.5 1.8 1.1 m (L W H) with MS square tube frame structure was
developed and covered with 5 mm thickness toughened glass. The solar tunnel dryer
consisted of solar collector section and drying section. In drying section four trays with
mesh bottom of size 1.2 0.9 0.08 m were used to facilitate the loading and unloading of
the products. A closed thermo pore was used as insulation material to reduce the heat loss
from the dryer. In solar tunnel dryer, the drying required 6.5-9 hours and in open sun
drying it was 18-22 hours for different treatments of silkworm pupae drying from
moisture content of 103.32-145.45 per cent (d.b) to attain safe moisture content of 9.97-
8.72 per cent (d.b). The results showed that the drying rate of silkworm pupae under solar
tunnel dryer was found to be very high during initial phase of drying due to higher
moisture diffusion. Chemical analysis indicated that the quality parameters of solar tunnel
dried silkworm pupae were superior compare to open sun dried silkworm pupae. The
thermal efficiency of solar tunnel dryer for drying of silkworm pupae was found to be
35.36 per cent. The pupae samples dried in solar tunnel dryer were completely protected
from insects, dogs, crows, monkeys, vultures, dust and also the quality was superior. The
payback period for drying of silkworm pupae under solar tunnel dryer was found to be 26
months.
Description
Keywords
null