A Study on Size of Moisture Ventilation for Chili Drying by Hybrid Energy Dryer

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the suitable size of moisture ventilation for chili drying by electric energy and electric energy combined with solar energy that would affect the remaining moisture and the drying rate.  The experiment was tested for two conditions with different range of moisture ventilation at 32, 64, 96 and 128 cm², respectively, and the temperature was controlled at 70±3 ºC for 5 hours of drying time. The result showed that the suitable condition of chili drying with electric energy by opening the ventilation at 96 cm² was able to reduce the chili weight from 800 gram to 125 gram with 10.63 % dry-basis (d.b.), 1.04 % moisture removal/min and 10.8 units of the electric consumption. Likewise, the suitable condition of the drying chili using electric energy combined with solar energy by opening the ventilation at 96 cm² was able to reduce the chili weight from 800 gram to 232.5 gram with 13.10 % dry-basis (d.b.), 1.05 % moisture removal/min and 20.8 units of the electric consumption. It can be concluded that the moisture and drying rate of the materials would be decreased faster if the moisture ventilation was suitable.  Both drying conditions were suitable for chili drying due to the remaining moisture in dried chili was similar to the standard criteria of dried chili.