Apricot draying system was supported by solar energy

SUMMARY PhD Thesis APRICOT DRYING SYSTEM WAS SUPPORTED BY SOLAR ENERGY Celal SARSILMAZ Fırat University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Machines Engineering 1998, Page: 164 The apricot cultivated in Elazığ and Baskil district is mostly delivered as dried apricot. The product is generally dried on the ground under direct sunlight ignoring the hygiene. It is a necessity to dry this product in a close and hygienic environment in order to be able to increase the share and exportation. Since natural drying has hazardous effects on both the product and human health. New drying methods have been tried to develop among them the second most economical method following natural drying system is the system using solar energy. For this reason, in this study a new solar energy air drier system designed by us was investigated. With this aim, first a new and original collector was designed and manufactured. The collector has three dosorbing and enlarged surface. It has some advantages like using "air heated with solar energy" and protecting the products against the harmful effects of natural drying. Then, considering the production capacity of the district a new drier, which is called as "Cylindrical Drier of Rotary Column" by us, was designed and manufactured. The drier dries the same amount of the production in two days insted often days in natural drying. It also has the advantage of sulfuring during the drying period thus providing a big cost save.VI With this original and new drier it was aimed to dry apricots in different quality and size homogeneously with an optimum air rate and rotation speed, which had not been succeeded by the producers till that time. In this study, the characteristic drying properties of the apricot besides the physical and chemical properties were determined. The sun radiation, external air temperature and moisture amount, the air temperatures at the entrance and exit of the collector, the intershelf temperature of the collector, the cabin moisture, the cabin entrance and exit temperatures and moistures, temperature variations inside the apricots during the drying process were investigated in the same production term. In addition, the variations in moistures of artificially and natural dried apricots in this period were compared. Finally, it was proved that the spinning and rotation speed of apricots with the combination of the collector and cabin have an important effect on homogenous drying.