Determination of industrial characteristics of helix tea drying machine

Tea is beneficial for human health and it is second consumed beverage after water. Tea?s history is up to 4500 years and it is important source of income for our region and country.Tea is processed via five stages. These are withering, rolling, oxidation, drying and classification respectively. This work is intended to describe the ?Helix Tea Drying Machine? which was designed and constructed to be used at the fourth stage of process.Helix tea drying machine, push the oxidized tea leaves to forward spilled inside with the help of helical wings. Synchronously with progression of the leaves through the body, water is vaporized from the oxidized tea by the contact of heated pipe, helical wings and the body by water.This work describes the design details of helix tea drying machine and problems that were seen in field work; determined the optimal rotation speed of pipe and humidity ratio of dried tea.