Experimental studies on natural convection open and closed solar drying using external reflector

For low temperature agricultural crop and meat drying, dryers utilizing the renewable energy source (solar energy) appear to be an efficient technique as it is ecofriendly, energy efficient, and available in free of cost. This work presents the experimental investigation on a solar food dryer equipped with external reflectors to enhance the rate of drying efficiency by removing the moisture content available in the anchovy fish. A comparison of conventional open solar drying is carried out to assess the parameters such as drying efficiency, moisture removal rate, and heat energy required for drying the anchovy fish using the modified solar dryer using the natural convection technique. From the experimental results it is observed that the relative humidity greatly influence the rate of drying. The average relative humidity during the experiments using open solar drying is found as 50-65% whereas, the using solar dryer the average relative humidity inside the chamber is found as 20-35%. The relative humidity of the fish using open solar drying is higher as compared to solar dryer drying as the drying products are kept in open atmosphere. The physical examination results on the dried products proved that using a modified solar dryers, the dried product is free from insects, and dust. Also, it is found that the loss of color from the product is a minimum while compared to conventional open solar drying. The results showed that the thermal efficiency of top tray (dryer 1) and bottom tray (dryer 2) is comparatively higher as compared to that of conventional open solar drying and found as 16.73 and 19.34 %, respectively. Results also showed that nearly 20.05% of the energy could be saved using the modified solar dryer as compared to the open solar drying technique.