ABSTRACT - An indirect type forced convection solar dryer is
fabricate with the components like evacuated tube collector,
drying chamber and blower. The performance of the designed
drier is evaluated by carrying drying experiments with copra at
Coimbatore district Tamilnadu, India. A short survey of these
showed that applying the forced convection solar dryer not only
significantly reduced the drying time but also resulted in many
improvements in the quality of the dried products. Solar drying of
copra is carried for forced convection and is compared with
natural convection solar drying. The temperature of the drying
chamber ranges from 49ºC to 78ºC for natural and forced
convection while the ambient temperature ranges from 28ºC to
32ºC. Initial moisture content of copra ranges from 51.7% to
52.3% and the final moisture content obtained about 7 to 8%. The
forced convection solar dryer takes less time than the natural
convection solar dryer to attain the equilibrium moisture content.
Solar drying copra obtained was free from smoke, dust, bird and
rodent damage.