Mathematical models for predicting the plenum chamber temperatures developed by a solar tunnel dryer
and the drying of Tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) in the solar tunnel dryer was developed, and simulated
in Visual Basic 6 (Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0™). Based on Student’s t-test, the simulated and actual
data for both plenum chamber temperature and moisture ratio did not differ significant at 5% level of significance.
In addition, the simulated and actual moisture ratios showed similar trends, and reduced exponentially
with drying time. Further, the performances of models at 10% residual error interval were 83%
and 81% for plenum chamber temperature and moisture ratio, respectively. Finally, strong linear correlations
existed between simulated and actual data for plenum chamber temperature (R2 = 0.961), and for
moisture ratio (R2 = 0.995). Therefore, the model can be used to predict the drying of Tilapia fish in a solar
tunnel dryer.