ABSTRACT
The solar drying system uses solar energy to warm the air and dry any laden food, which has the added benefit of reducing agricultural product loss and assisting in the preservation of agricultural output.The limitations of natural sun drying, such as exposure to direct sunlight, vulnerability to pests and rodents, lack of sufficient monitoring, and the higher expense of mechanical dryers, led to the development of a solar dryer to take these limitations into consideration. The design and construction of a Hybrid Solar dryer are described in this project. The dryer is made up of an Biomas Combustion chamber (air warmer) and sun drying chamber with a rack of two trays. The air drawn in through the air intake is heated by the solar collector before being sent into the drying chamber, where it is used to dry (remove moisture from the loaded agricultural product or food component). The design was based on the Benin city locaton geography, and accurate design specifications required the acquisition of meteorological data. For the construction, readily available materials were mostly used, including mild steel metal sheet, polyurethane glass, Stanless Steel, and Aluminium. The dryer's ideal temperature was 60.5 o C, whereas the surrounding air temperature was 34.50 o C. In contrast to 156.8g and 125.3g in cassava and plantain, respectively, using the sun drying method, 199.9g and 153.6g in chilly pepper, respectively, were achieved using the solar dryer, indicating a difference of 43.1g and 28.3g, respectively, The dryer's high drying rate suggests that it can dry food goods quickly to a safe moisture level.
