Drying of copra in a forced convection solar drier

A forced convection solar drier was designed, fabricated and tested for the drying copra under Indian climatic conditions. Drying copra in the drier reduced its moisture content from about 51.8% to 7.8% and 9.7% in 82 h for trays at the bottom and top, respectively. The copra obtained was graded as 76% milling grade copra (MCG1), 18% (MCG2) and 6% (MCG3) according to Bureau of Indian standards (BIS: 6220-1971). The thermal efficiency of the solar drier was estimated to be about 24%.