Design, development and control of a portable laboratory for the chili drying process study

Agricultural products such as chilies generally require drying for preservation. Traditionally, the chili drying process has been accomplished by burning fossil fuels in ovens or by open air drying. However, this process leads to severe losses in the quality and quantity of the final product. In this paper, a portable laboratory has been designed, developed and controlled using a mechatronic design philosophy in order to facilitate the chili drying process study. This portable laboratory can simulate different drying conditions under a controlled environment in order to find the best drying parameters for different kinds of chilies. Their computer based intelligence can monitor and control temperature, humidity, air flow, electric current and weight through a graphical user interface (GUI). The modeling and control technique of the system is described in detail. Simulation results using the mathematical model and experimental results under different drying conditions are presented to demonstrate the high performance of the portable laboratory and its great potential.