Development and Performance Evaluation of an Okra Drying Machine

An okra dryer was designed, constructed and evaluated in this study for post-harvest processing of the fruit. The dryer consists of a heating chamber, two drying trays, a blower of 1 hp, two heating elements of2000W each, 4 roller tyres for ease of mobility, a control box which consist of a thermostat that regulates the temperature in the dryer. The result of evaluation of the dryer in no load indicated that it was able to yield temperature very close to the preset (by the thermostat) after about 3min. The dryer was evaluated by drying okra of different thickness (5 and 10mm), in two trays at two heights (25cm and 50cm from the bottom) and at a preset temperatures of 50 and 70°C. Moisture losses from the slices were obtained at intervals of 30, 45, 60 and 90min. The result showed that increase in temperature from 50 to 70°C, increases moisture loss from the slices. Slices of 5mm thickness were observed to dry faster than 10mm slices with those on the upper tray losing more moisture. The study further showed that slice thickness of 5mm dried at 70°C in the upper tray level of 60cm from the base of the dryer are suitable for drying okra slices in the dryer.

並列關鍵字

Development ； drying ； evaluation ； okra dryer ； post-harvest ； slices

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