Experimental performance of a new design of solar dryer for drying osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes

The performance of a new design of a solar dryer for drying osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes is presented. The dryer consists of drying cabinet, heat exchanger, 16-m2 water type solar collector, and water type heat storage unit. The cabinet size is 1.0 m wide × 3.0 m long × 1.4 m high with the load capacity of 100 kg for osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes. Three batches of osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes were dried in this dryer during May-June, 2014. For each batch, 100 kg of osmotically dehydrated cherry tomatoes were dried. There was a considerable reduction in drying time in the new solar dryer as compared to natural sun drying. The dried products were completely protected from rains and insects and were of high quality dried products. The efficiencies of the solar collector was 21%-69%. The pay-back period of the dryer is estimated to be 1.37 years.