Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388120, Gujarat, India.
Forced circulation solar dryer for 100 kgs of onion flakes has been designed and installed to demonstrate its technical feasibility. The system consists of solar air heaters, blower, drying chamber and electrical back up. Experiments were conducted using the system to dry onion flakes and potatoes chips. The results indicate that onion flakes could be dried in the solar dryer in 6. 5–7 hours during the month of April-June. The cost of drying was estimated to be Rs. 5.00 per kilogram of dried Onion flakes. The quality of the dried product was found to be acceptable.
