PLC controlled dryer conveyor design and manufacturing

In this study, the dryer conveyor system (KKS) design and manufacturing has been carried out. KKS is a direct (passive) solar powered cabin type drying system. First, the sizing calculations of the drying cabinet were performed. Secondly, the amount of air required for cabin ventilation was calculated. Thirdly, a conveyor belt system has been designed in order to facilitate the loading and unloading of the product to be dried. Later, a glass that allows the passage of solar radiation to be placed on the cabin, fan, and sensor such as weight meter, temperature meter and humidity meter were selected. After the design process and the necessary equipment selection, the drying system was manufactured. PLC is used to control the conveyor belt system of the drying system and to collect and record data such as temperature, humidity and weight. In order to evaluate the performance of the drying system manufactured, fresh plum fruit harvested in Adana in August and September was selected. At the end of the experiment, it was aimed to obtain ready-to-eat semi-dried plums and the experiment was carried out in September. In the experimental study, the weight measurements of the wet product from the beginning to the end of the drying process, the temperature and humidity values of the cabin inlet air, the air in the cabin and the cabin exit air were measured and recorded. The experiments took seven days, as the fresh plum fruit has a very high water content and water activation and the experiments were carried out in September. Basic calculations were modeled with MATLAB, the drying process was plotted on a psychrometric diagram, and other graphs were drawn to see system performance. Satisfactory results were obtained in the experiments. Since the solar radiation is higher in August compared to September, it is concluded that drying the fresh plum fruit after harvesting in August will give better results.