Department of Farm Power and Agro Energy, College of Agricultural Engineering, Raichur-584101.
A mini multi-rack solar dryer was fabricated and its performance was evaluated for grapes drying at College of Agricultural Engineering, Raichur. The results indicated that the drying time requiredfor solar drying using the dryer was 50 hours to reduce the moisture content from 83.0% (w.b) to 15.0% (w.b), while the corresponding drying time for open sun drying was 80 hours. Thus there was net saving of 37.5 per cent in drying time over open sun drying. The dehydration ratio calculated to be as 4.2:1 and the total soluble solids (T.S.S.) was 24°Brix for fresh fruits while it was 38°Brix for dried fruits.
